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What does a healthy coral reef sounds like?
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And now listen to the sound of an unhealthy reef
Can you hear the silence?
The sound of recovery
In 2021, Marine Biology Professor Steve Simpson published a paper called "the sound of recovery", highlighting how coral reef restoration success is detectable with soundscapes.
The healthier a reef, the more we can hear fish sounds in it.
Calling in our corals: an example of unhealthy coral reef by Mary Shodipo
Corals are one of the most endangered ecosystems on Earth
Threatened by ocean warming and acidification, we are on track to lose over 90% of coral ecosystems by 2050, even if we manage to keep global warming within 2 degrees celsius.
Calling in our corals: placing microphones in the Sharm El Sheikh reef by Mary Shodipo
But the most recent research use sound to restore them
Scientists have discovered that certain audio frequencies can dramatically accelerate underwater regeneration. Soundscapes of healthy reef life are being used underwater to call life back into damaged reefs.
The 3rd Global Coral Bleaching Event
What is citizen science?
Citizen science is scientific research conducted through public participation.
By turning our collective ear to coral reefs and by listening out for sounds, we can help scientists monitor ecosystem health, track illegal fishing, and measure success at restoration sites.
Calling in our corals: scientists diving by Mary Shodipo
Take part into the first ocean listening collective
It takes only three minutes to help scientists Mary Shodipo and Steve Simpson to bring life back to coral ecosystems. They have thousands of hours of recordings to listen to identify which reefs are healthy and which ones are struggling.
Training AI to monitor ocean health
Taking part into Calling in our Corals will help training an artificial Intelligence bioacoustic model which will serve scientists to monitor and track ecosystem health in a way never done before and dramatically accelerate their research capacity.
Become a citizen scientist.
Lend marine scientists your ear and train your ear to determine if a reef sounds healthy. And then travel virtually to the reef to analyse its soundscapes, taking part to the first collective study on marine protection.
Launch the experience
Calling in our corals is part of the Heartbeat of the Earth initiative of Google Arts & Culture's Lab, a series of experiments using art and technology to make climate data more accessible.
Explore Calling in our corals here.
Read Steve's interview
Read Mary's interview
Thanks to Mary Shodipo and Steve Simpson for their collaboration.