We are so excited to announce that FjordPhyto is now funded by NASA!! We are excited to become a part of this NASA community of citizen science practitioners to continue to bring FjordPhyto citizen science to Travelers heading to see the wonders of Antarctica!
In 2021, Eight citizen science projects out of 67 submitted proposals were awarded NASA funding in the 2020 CSESP Research Opportunities in Space and Earth Sciences (ROSES) solicitation. The 67 submitted proposals all underwent peer-review by an expert panel, which evaluated the quality of the proposals for the Earth Science Division (ESD) of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate. Final selection of awards was made by NASA’s ESD.
Seven proposals for collecting new data were selected to enter an 18-month prototype phase. These projects, like FjordPhyto, will focus on pairing ground-visual observations of phytoplankton dynamics and glacial meltwater with NASA’s ocean color remote sensing satellite data along the western Antarctic Peninsula. Proposals will be re-evaluated after one year to compete for funding for an additional three years in an implementation phase.
FjordPhyto partner tour operators and travelers will continue sampling phytoplankton from the waters along the Antarctic Peninsula but we can now also include more measurements and samples about the melting glacier water that enters the coast!
This project will support and enhance NASA research in Earth processes related to air, freshwater, snow, ice, ocean and coastal environments, and clouds.
To read the full proposal abstract that we submitted click here and scroll to the end for “FjordPhyto: Engaging Tourists to Understand Polar Phytoplankton Dynamics Using Field and Satellite Observations”
We are thrilled to have this support!