Become a Citizen Scientist with Smartfin

Welcome to the future of science and data collection – enter the Smartfin. Through this genuine piece of modern ingenuity, you may now become a ‘citizen scientist’ whilst you surf. The Smartfin is the brainchild of Dr Renaud Joannes-Boyau, a surfer and researcher at Southern Cross University. The fin is equipped with a GPS, Bluetooth, rechargeable battery and an array of sensors that record environmental data such as temperature, location, motion and wave characteristics. Once you have returned from your ‘field work’ or more accurately surf session, you simply upload the data from your smartphone via an app. This data can then be accessed almost immediately by anyone in the international scientific community. “Using the data collected with Smartfin, we’ll be able to better understand trends in ocean warming and acidification and mobilize communities to take action to combat these problems caused by climate change. The coastal range is very hard to monitor because there’s a lot of currents, movement, and it’s really hard to follow the entire coast. The good thing is surfers go out continuously in one area”, Dr Joannes-Boyau said.