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Innovation project
Each year FLL Challenge teams are tasked with creating an innovation project that solves a real world problem. This year the theme was Submerged, and teams were challenged to help ocean explorers by solving a problem in the ocean. Our team chose ocean acidification, and created a unique buoy that you can read about more below.
What is Ocean Acidification
The way we live on land is putting excess carbon into our atmosphere that is being absorbed by the ocean. This causes pH levels to go down, which means the ocean is becoming more acidic! Acidification will cause coral diversity to go down by 40% in the next 60-80 years, and by 2080, the coral won't be able to build their exoskeletons at all! This affects ocean explorers! Want to know how? Read more below!
Healthy coral
Coral affected by acidification
The ocean is becoming more acidic!
Problem Statement
A problem that scientific and recreational ocean explorers face is ocean acidification, which is changing the ocean's chemistry and harming vital coral reef ecosystems, causing obstacles for explorers like the extinction of species before they're discovered and reduced coral diversity.
Our Solution
The Kelper Helper. The design above was hand drawn and edited in Photoshop. The CAD drawing to the right was created in TinkerCAD and printed at school.
The Kelper Helper
The Kelper Helper
The Kelper Helper is a buoy that monitors and restores coral reefs. The Kelper Helper monitors acidification with a pH sensor, a pCO2 sensor, and a camera to monitor the coral. It transmits the data it collects through satellites and sends the information to scientists. It is powered by solar panels.
Our Kelper Helper is innovative and different from normal buoys because it restores coral reefs. We do this in 2 ways.
One, it has kelp which removes carbon from the water, helping protect & preserve coral exoskeletons. We created a unique kelp growing system connected to our marker buoys. We will use kelp native to the region our buoy is placed and work with local kelp farmers. See our map below for more details.
Two, the Kelper Helper has a speaker that plays recordings of healthy reefs. A recent study by Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution found that larvae will settle in reefs that sound healthy, which is what our speaker will mimic.
This is our CAD drawing, which we 3D printed with the help of our school's Tech Ed teacher to make a 3D model.
Our team came up with this kelp design, shown above in our 3-D model, because it would allow for maximum carbon intake while still allowing kelp farmers to easily harvest the kelp.
Researching and Sharing
We researched problems faced by ocean explorers in many ways, such as books, videos, documentaries, informational websites, like NOAA, science experiments, and field trips to UWM School of Freshwater Sciences and Aquarius Systems in North Prairie, Wisconsin.
We shared our project with five different experts and iterated our design based on their feedback. A HUGE THANK YOU to Aquarius Systems, UWM School of Freshwater Sciences, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, and Stonybrook University, whose professionals and experts helped our team learn and grow our Kelper Helper project.
A Plan for the Kelper Helper
There are many reefs that are being affected by acidification. These include reefs off the cost of Alaska, in the Caribbean Sea, and in the Great Barrier Reef. The reefs that are most affected are in the Northern Region of the Great Barrier Reef. Within this region there are many individual reefs that we plan to target. Currently, we plan to send the Kelper Helper to the Osprey Reef. We created the map below to show the places we plan to send our buoy. We'll collect data via our sensors, and use it to improve the Kelper Helper, so that we can send it to more reefs in need.
The map shows reefs being affected by acidification, and zooms in on the Northern Great Barrier Reef, and the individual reefs within that region.
Impact
25% of all marine life lives in coral reefs. The Kelper helper will help preserve those amazing ecosystems, allowing scientific explorers to continue learning from them, and divers to continue enjoying them. After all, if we don't do anything to help the coral reefs soon, there won't be any left by 2080!
Check out these cool infographics to learn more about ocean acidification and how you can help at home!
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