Research visit to Eilat, Israel
We recently visited the COLOR lab located at the Interuniversity Institute for Marine Sciences to initiate a new collaboration with Prof. Derya Akkaynak and her team.
The COLOR lab would like to establish an aquatic eddy covariance capability to study coral reefs in the Red Sea.
Prof. Akkaynak recently pioneered Sea-thru, a physics-based color reconstruction algorithm designed for underwater RGB-D images. It works without a color chart, or any information about the optical qualities or depth of the water body. You can read more about this exciting technology here: https://www.deryaakkaynak.com/sea-thru
During a 10-day research stay in Eilat, we worked with the COLOR lab to test whether it is possible to combine eddy covariance measurements of reef metabolism with a photogrammetry model of the reef, using Sea-thru for color reconstruction. The results were successful, and we are now co-developing research proposals and moving forwards with establishing eddy covariance capabilities at the IUI.
During the research stay, we also delivered a seminar to the COLOR lab and to the broader institute on state-of-the-art in aquatic eddy covariance research.
The visit was personally and professionally very enriching. We’re grateful to the COLOR lab and the IUI for their fabulous hospitality! We look forward to working closely with Prof. Akkaynak and her brilliant team, and to hosting them in Denmark in the near future.
