News 
On the occasion of World Ocean Day celebrated on June 8th 2019, IWC Schaffhausen announced its support for a pioneering environmental project initiated by its partner Cousteau Divers. This organisation has set itself the objective of studying the effects of climate change by measuring the temperature below the ocean surface.
Not only does it influence climate, weather patterns or storm formation, but it also has a direct impact on fish and bird populations. In order to achieve this goal, data from precision sensors will be combined with measurements taken by thousands of amateur divers.
The ocean absorbs about 90% of the planet’s heat and produces more than half the oxygen we breathe. It acts as the Earth’s air conditioning system, and feeds hundreds of millions of people. A critical factor in understanding how the ocean stores and releases energy is its temperature. However, scientists still need more data in order to build a comprehensive picture of how ocean temperatures vary at depth, especially in coastal ecosystems, which are home to the vast majority of marine biodiversity.
To measure the ocean’s temperature reliably and with a high degree of precision, Cousteau Divers’ team of volunteer engineers, led by Brad Bazemore and Brendan Walters, have developed a prototype for a portable precision temperature sensor. The device will track GPS and underwater navigational information, and measure the temperature with high levels of accuracy. About 50 of these sensors will be deployed to dive centres globally, at locations selected with the help of scientific partners The entire project is open source, meaning that both the hardware and the software designs are available online, in order to foster innovation and creativity from the global communities of both divers and engineers.
July 04, 2019