[IIOE2-EP66] Coastal Observations Lab in a Box

Lead Investigator :

1. Jethan d'Hotman, South African Environmental Observation Network, South Africa
   Js[dot]dhotman[at]saeon[dot]nrf[dot]ac[dot]za

Other Key Participants:

1. Tamaryn Morris - PI, South African Environmental Observation Network, South Africa
   t[dot]morris[at]saeon[dot]nrf[dot]ac[dot]za
2. Gregory Cowie - PI, University of Edinburgh (Emeritus), Scotland
   glcowie[at]ed[dot]ac[dot]uk
3. Juliet Hermes - PI, South African Environmental Observation Network, South Africa
   jc[dot]hermes[at]saeon[dot]nrf[dot]ac[dot]za
4. Thomas Bornman - PI, South African Environmental Observation Network, South Africa
   tg[dot]bornman[at]saeon[dot]nrf[dot]ac[dot]za
5. Aneesh Lotliker - PI, Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS), India
   aneesh[at]incois[dot]gov[dot]in

Period of Project: March 2026 - December 2030

Brief description of the Project:

The Indian Ocean is undergoing rapid change (e.g. in temperature, sea level, acidity, oxygenation and storm activity) while its rim and island nations are home to large populations that depend heavily on its resources and ecosystems. Despite this, there remains a severe shortage of reliable and comparable coastal oceanographic observations across much of the region. This gap is partly due to limited capacity and resources, but also to a common misconception that high-quality observations require expensive instruments, research vessels, and laboratories.

COLaB aims to close this critical gap by promoting the use of affordable instrumentation and providing hands-on training in methods to measure a broad suite of physical, chemical, and biological Essential Ocean Variables (EOV's). Rather than focusing on a single technique or research question, COLaB emphasizes the greatly expanded monitoring and interpretive power that comes from combining complementary approaches. We are working with various partners in the development of affordable oceanographic instruments, which, wherever possible, will be open-source and potentially made by the end-user. Importantly, all sampling, instrument deployment, and analytical work can be conducted without the need for a formal research vessel or laboratory. These methods require minimal infrastructure and can be applied across a wide range of environments, from rivers and wetlands to the continental shelf. All activities will adhere to international ocean best practices to ensure standardisation and comparability, in addition, all data collected will be openly shared through ERDDAP servers. Data quality will be maximised through use of common protocols and through instrument cross-calibration and interlaboratory analytical standardisation exercises. SAEON and INCOIS have been identified as hosts for ERDDAP servers and regional calibration hubs to ensure data standards and quality are maintained at a high level.

COLaB will deliver in-person regional training camps hosted at institutions across the Indian Ocean, with a strong emphasis on empowering early-career scientists to become multi-skilled coastal oceanographers and future trainers themselves. Training opportunities will also be extended beyond academia to include participants from NGOs, marine protected area management teams, port authorities, and the mariculture industry, among others. The in-person training will be supported by a suite of online learning materials and follow-up workshops to ensure ongoing capacity development. As a result of the increased accessibility to equipment and training, long term monitoring sites will be set up to collect invaluable environmental data for the region.

Region(s) of study:

COLaB aims to partner with under-resourced countries around the Indian ocean. Currently we have firm plans for a COLaB regional training camp in Maputo Bay in June/July 2026. The training in Maputo Bay will enable the continuation of environmental monitoring of two transects last visited in the early 2000s (the monitoring of these transects stopped due to a lack of capacity and funding).

Further training camps are planned in other rim and island nations across the Indian Ocean. Thus far, these include Indonesia (BRIN, Lombok), the Andaman and Nicobar Islands (Dakshin Foundation, NIOT), Kenya-Tanzania (Coastal and Marine Research Centre [Malindi]; Mafia Island Marine Park) Malaysia (Centre for Marine and Coastal Studies, Penang) and Bangladesh (University of Dhaka).

Other possible locations (in varying stages of negotiation) include Sri Lanka, Madagascar and SW Indian Ocean islands (Seychelles/Mauritius/Comoros/Mayotte etc), as well as the Gulf region (through ROPME). INCOIS is a UN Decade Collaborative Centre for Indian Ocean region. Also, through its International Training Centre for Operational Oceanography (ITCOocean), as well as its extensive teaching facilities and laboratories, and access to marine stations, it has extensive experience in delivering training in multiple aspects of marine science. Partnership with INCOIS will provide a valuable land base for COLaB training activities, as well as complementary expertise in specialist areas such as remote sensing and modelling applications. It will also greatly assist as a regional instrument calibration hub and in hosting an ERDAPP server for COLaB data management.