MarDATA Project Week “Digital Twin Cabo Verde”
Participation/Registration: MarDATA only!
MarDATA doctoral researchers and supervisors visit the Ocean Science Center Mindelo (OSCM). Together with the Master Students of the WASCAL Master Program “CLIMATE CHANGE AND MARINE SCIENCES”, data-related research questions will be addressed during a project week on the island.
The project week was designed to allow MarDATA doctoral researchers to apply their data science skills and expertise outside their own scientific questions. At the same time, the close involvement of WASCAL master's students should enable them to gain new insights into data-driven marine science and analysis methods.
The aim of the challenges dealt with during the week is divided into two parts. Firstly, they should give the participants the opportunity to apply the marine data science expertise they have acquired in real-life use cases. In addition, the week will serve to decisively support the efforts to create a "Cabo Verde" digital twin.
Accordingly, the focus of the research tasks (aka challenges) is on data processing, analysis or/and visualization. A total of three challenges were defined in advance. These cover (1) user-focused, (2) science-focused and (3) conceptual aspects of a digital twin “Cabo Verde” and are described in more detail below.
Challenge 1:
Scope:
The goal of this challenge is to practice the sifting, cleaning, merging and visualization of already collected and frequently incoming marine data and to enable the further use of the data currently collected in near-realtime with the help of a smartphone app used by artisanal fishermen. Data include socio-economic parameters (e.g., costs for fishing effort), parameters on catches (e.g., weight) as well as biodiversity data (pictures of species). Solutions ideally also include a roadmap for optimized integration of new/future data and options to provide immediate information to stakeholders. Further development of the app is not an explicit goal, but would be technically possible.
Challenge 2:
Scope:
The goal of this challenge is to practice the integration of existing marine data sets (in-situ point data, in-situ time-series, gridded fields, along-track data) that allows for joint analysis. The study region around the Cape Verde Islands serves as a specific example used in the hackathon but should not limit the scope of solutions to only those applicable in the tropical oceans. Solution can include visualization with existing infrastructure (e.g. Digital Earth Viewer, BELUGA), as well as further analysis using, e.g., machine learning methods. Particular attention should be paid to linking existing biomass data, hydroacoustic and (simulated) ocean circulation data. It would also be desirable to develop a blueprint for the integration of new/further data.
Challenge 3:
Scope:
The goal of this challenge is to design an overarching framework for the implementation of future digital twins of Cabo Verde. These sustainably built twins shall be able to access all required data to address specific what-if questions around the archipelago. Infrastructure and data workflow requirements are important here. Yet, the main focus shall lie on establishing an effective feedback loop among data interpreters and decision makers.
