Forces Of Nature - Space Apps Challenge

Forces Of Nature| A New Perspective

A New Perspective

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, protected areas and other forms of wilderness areas (e.g., arboretums, beaches, parks, marine monuments) have been closed worldwide. Your challenge is to lead the effort to examine any potential impacts of reduced human traffic in such local protected natural environments.

Potential Impacts Of Sea Turtle Infestations On Beach Coastlines.

Summary

Before COVID-19, sea turtle’s appearance on beaches didn’t happen frequently. After COVID-19, restricted human activities in natural environments like beaches caused sea turtles to appear on many shores nesting. As beaches are most likely exposed to erosion, the decomposition of turtles can release nutrients to the sand which can stimulate growing plants which positively affects the coastline. By using space data, we can observe the types of nutrients released and document the coastline changes.

How We Addressed This Challenge

The challenge of “A New Perspective” focuses on examining the impacts of social distancing and reduced human traffic hence Covid-19 on local protected natural environments. In our project, we focused on the impacts of limited social activities on beaches and tried to examine the response of marine animals to such changes and predict the consequences to these responses. Since the lock down, many beaches have recorded the comeback of thousands of sea turtles in their nesting season; Sea turtles spend most of their life cycle in the sea, but their eggs are laid on beaches in nests. Before Covid-19, the numbers of turtle nests were smaller because of human activities and the exploitation of turtle shells in industries like making Jewelries. However, since the lock down, thousands of sea turtles are striving on beaches in Florida and India as well! Sea turtle shells can hold advantages to the sand on the beach; as when these shells are burden and decomposed by microscopic organisms like nematodes, they can provide nutrients to the beach and stronger vegetation that helps in reducing erosion and improving coastlines. Space data can be used in examining the changes in the beach coastlines with big numbers of turtle nests using satellites and earth observing systems for documenting the impacts of turtle shell nutrients on preserving the coastlines from erosion.

How We Developed This Project

we were inspired by how natural environments are highly affected by human activities and how the COVID-19 restrictions ended up having positive impacts on the environment and we were very interested in how animals are surviving and coping without the aid or the presence of humans. Our approach was to search for the newest changes in different ecosystems and natural environments and examining the behaviors of animals during the lock down, and we focused our research on sea turtles as they appeared on beaches all over the earth during COVID-19 with numbers more than ever! And with the potential behind the nutrients in turtle shells for maintaining coastlines urged us to understand the importance of documenting the change in coastlines and relate it to the presence of sea turtles. We faced some obstacles during the hackathon . Due to COVID-19 and the lock down, we were not able to assemble for offline meetings. in addition, the topic of the space data and its techniques are more related to practical work and observing the natural impacts. On the other hand, most of our work was done virtually online to achieve the best outcomes.