{"id":3368,"date":"2024-03-20T17:01:06","date_gmt":"2024-03-20T17:01:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.swoop-antarctica.com\/blog\/?p=3368"},"modified":"2025-04-15T12:20:29","modified_gmt":"2025-04-15T11:20:29","slug":"a-citizen-science-survey-of-south-georgias-seaweed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swoop-antarctica.com\/blog\/a-citizen-science-survey-of-south-georgias-seaweed\/","title":{"rendered":"A citizen science survey of South Georgia&#8217;s shoreline"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Zodiac cruising is one of the best activities you can do on a South Georgia cruise. Each trip is a shoreline safari, where you can be surrounded by rafts of penguins coming and going from the water, immense elephant seals lying in the surf like deflated bouncy castles and more fur seals claiming their spot on the beach than you can imagine. It\u2019s not uncommon for the wildlife to be so dense that it\u2019s simply impossible to land, making a zodiac cruise the only available option.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"576\" src=\"https:\/\/www.swoop-antarctica.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/Lizzie-ST-Andrews-1024x576.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-3374\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.swoop-antarctica.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/Lizzie-ST-Andrews-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.swoop-antarctica.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/Lizzie-ST-Andrews-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.swoop-antarctica.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/Lizzie-ST-Andrews-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.swoop-antarctica.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/Lizzie-ST-Andrews-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.swoop-antarctica.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/Lizzie-ST-Andrews-1200x675.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/www.swoop-antarctica.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/Lizzie-ST-Andrews-1980x1114.jpg 1980w, https:\/\/www.swoop-antarctica.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/Lizzie-ST-Andrews.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">King penguins seen on a zodiac cruise at St Andrews Bay<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>But what if you were to take a zodiac cruise in South Georgia and really slow things to look at it from a new perspective? And collect important scientific data at the same time? That\u2019s what I did when I took part in the South Georgia Big Seaweed Survey.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Citizen science in South Georgia<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>I was sailing on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.swoop-antarctica.com\/cruises\/ships\/seaventure\">Seaventure<\/a>, an expedition cruise ship with a strong offering of citizen science projects for its passengers to get involved in. While most of these are centred on the Antarctic Peninsula, like collecting plankton samples for the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.swoop-antarctica.com\/blog\/getting-a-microscopic-view-of-antarctica-with-citizen-science\/\">FjordPhyto project<\/a>, or carrying out <a href=\"https:\/\/www.swoop-antarctica.com\/blog\/counting-albatrosses-for-citizen-science\/\">seabird surveys <\/a>or <a href=\"https:\/\/www.swoop-antarctica.com\/blog\/how-cloud-spotting-in-antarctica-can-help-climate-scientists\/\">cloud observations <\/a>while at sea, joining Swoop\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.swoop-antarctica.com\/cruises\/south-georgia\/explorer\">South Georgia, Antarctica and Falklands Explorer<\/a> gave me the opportunity to try something entirely new.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"576\" src=\"https:\/\/www.swoop-antarctica.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/20221111_150023-1024x576.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-3366\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.swoop-antarctica.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/20221111_150023-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.swoop-antarctica.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/20221111_150023-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.swoop-antarctica.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/20221111_150023-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.swoop-antarctica.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/20221111_150023-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.swoop-antarctica.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/20221111_150023-2048x1152.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/www.swoop-antarctica.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/20221111_150023-1200x675.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/www.swoop-antarctica.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/20221111_150023-1980x1114.jpg 1980w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Patrolling the shoreline at Fortuna Bay looking for seaweed<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>But why look at seaweed? At first glance, travelling all the way to a remote island famed for its enormously noisy and colourful king penguin colonies and to spend time looking past the birds to the plants growing on the coast could seem a little quixotic. But as with all citizen science projects, changing the focus of your gaze promised to shed light on wider issues affecting its ecosystem.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Seaweed certainly isn\u2019t glamorous, but it can tell us important things about the health of a marine ecosystem. South Georgia is facing impacts from climate change that we don&#8217;t understand yet, from ocean warming and acidification to the spread of non-native species. But it\u2019s such a remote place that scientists just don\u2019t have the base data yet to look at the bigger picture.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"576\" src=\"https:\/\/www.swoop-antarctica.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/20221111_144657-1024x576.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-3363\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.swoop-antarctica.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/20221111_144657-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.swoop-antarctica.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/20221111_144657-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.swoop-antarctica.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/20221111_144657-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.swoop-antarctica.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/20221111_144657-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.swoop-antarctica.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/20221111_144657-2048x1152.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/www.swoop-antarctica.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/20221111_144657-1200x675.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/www.swoop-antarctica.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/20221111_144657-1980x1114.jpg 1980w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Running through the seaweed checklist<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>This is where the Big Seaweed Survey comes in, run by the Natural History Museum in London in conjunction with the Government of South Georgia &amp; the South Sandwich Islands. And we were promised that we\u2019d still see all the penguins we could ever wish for.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The first seaweed survey<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>I took part in one of the first surveys with Annette, Seaventure\u2019s citizen science coordinator and one of co-founders of the<a href=\"https:\/\/www.swoop-antarctica.com\/blog\/an-introduction-to-citizen-science-on-antarctic-cruise-ships\/\"> Polar Citizen Science Collective<\/a>. The procedure was pretty simple. When our visit to a location coincided with low tide, while everyone else headed out for a zodiac cruise or to attempt a landing, we\u2019d tour the shoreline making recordings.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"576\" src=\"https:\/\/www.swoop-antarctica.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/20221111_145407-1024x576.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-3361\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.swoop-antarctica.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/20221111_145407-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.swoop-antarctica.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/20221111_145407-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.swoop-antarctica.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/20221111_145407-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.swoop-antarctica.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/20221111_145407-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.swoop-antarctica.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/20221111_145407-2048x1152.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/www.swoop-antarctica.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/20221111_145407-1200x675.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/www.swoop-antarctica.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/20221111_145407-1980x1114.jpg 1980w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Recording the different species on camera<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>It felt like having our own private zodiac cruise, getting close to bull fur seals sitting imperiously on the rocks and then scanning the waterline and comparing what we could see to the laminated identification card that laid out all the different types of seaweeds.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>At some locations there would be enormous ropes of bull kelp swaying with the tide, while in other places I was soon able to quickly pick out Antarctic turf foot from bladder weeds and palm weeds. We took photos of calcified crusts in rock pools and noted bands of bleaching above the high tide mark \u2013 the possible signs of warming waters. It was all strangely compelling, and I searched for seaweeds as intensely as I\u2019d looked for whale spouts on the crossing to South Georgia.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"576\" src=\"https:\/\/www.swoop-antarctica.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/20221111_145434-1024x576.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-3364\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.swoop-antarctica.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/20221111_145434-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.swoop-antarctica.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/20221111_145434-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.swoop-antarctica.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/20221111_145434-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.swoop-antarctica.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/20221111_145434-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.swoop-antarctica.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/20221111_145434-2048x1152.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/www.swoop-antarctica.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/20221111_145434-1200x675.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/www.swoop-antarctica.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/20221111_145434-1980x1114.jpg 1980w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">A fur seal, indifferent to our efforts<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>At each location, we carefully recorded what we\u2019d seen along with a GPS reading and reference photos so that the researchers back at the Natural History Museum could check what we\u2019d collected. And then, with our data neatly collected for the seaweeds of Fortuna Bay, we turned our zodiac around and went to see the penguins.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The next day we went out again at Elsehul, a bay almost completely surrounded by cliffs, where we constantly shifted our gaze from the albatrosses nesting in colonies above us to the kelp and other seaweeds on the waterline.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"576\" src=\"https:\/\/www.swoop-antarctica.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/20221112_134026-1024x576.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-3358\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.swoop-antarctica.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/20221112_134026-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.swoop-antarctica.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/20221112_134026-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.swoop-antarctica.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/20221112_134026-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.swoop-antarctica.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/20221112_134026-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.swoop-antarctica.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/20221112_134026-2048x1152.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/www.swoop-antarctica.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/20221112_134026-1200x675.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/www.swoop-antarctica.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/20221112_134026-1980x1114.jpg 1980w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Citizen scientists at work. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>It\u2019s something of a cliche to say that a trip to South Georgia makes you feel as if you\u2019re in the middle of a David Attenborough wildlife documentary. But taking part in the survey was the first time I felt like I was in the segment at the end of the film where they go behind the scenes with the camera crew and scientists to show how they made it.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Seaweed survey results<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Back at home, I was eager to find out what had happened to the data I helped collect. I reached out to Professor Juliet Brodie and Dr Rob Mrowicki, the research leads for the project at the museum, to get some more insight.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"576\" src=\"https:\/\/www.swoop-antarctica.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/20221111_145920-1024x576.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-3365\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.swoop-antarctica.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/20221111_145920-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.swoop-antarctica.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/20221111_145920-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.swoop-antarctica.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/20221111_145920-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.swoop-antarctica.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/20221111_145920-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.swoop-antarctica.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/20221111_145920-2048x1152.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/www.swoop-antarctica.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/20221111_145920-1200x675.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/www.swoop-antarctica.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/20221111_145920-1980x1114.jpg 1980w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">The data is in<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>In 2021, they carried out survey work in South Georgia and recorded the <a href=\"https:\/\/link.springer.com\/article\/10.1007\/s00300-023-03136-6\">first instances of a non-native seaweed<\/a> on the island, after collecting samples of sea lettuce in Grytviken. By comparing it to samples in the museum collection collected before the First World War, it\u2019s thought that this species was accidentally introduced by whaling ships \u2013 just as <a href=\"https:\/\/www.swoop-antarctica.com\/blog\/the-epic-battle-to-make-south-georgia-a-rat-free-haven-for-wildlife\/\">rats and mice had been brought to the island<\/a>. The data collected by citizen scientists would help the museum build a bigger picture of the island\u2019s ecology.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Mrowicki shared a map showing all the data that had been collected that season. \u2018With the more coastal surveys where people are recording different key species of seaweeds on the shore, these produced 39 new records of these different species along the entire north coast of South Georgia, which was big improvements to the data that we had already,\u2019 he said.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"576\" src=\"https:\/\/www.swoop-antarctica.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/20221112_125427-1024x576.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-3359\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.swoop-antarctica.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/20221112_125427-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.swoop-antarctica.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/20221112_125427-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.swoop-antarctica.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/20221112_125427-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.swoop-antarctica.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/20221112_125427-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.swoop-antarctica.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/20221112_125427-2048x1152.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/www.swoop-antarctica.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/20221112_125427-1200x675.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/www.swoop-antarctica.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/20221112_125427-1980x1114.jpg 1980w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Seaweed (and albatrosses) at Elsehul<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>In addition, there had been a raft watch, photographing seaweed rafts at sea between South Georgia, the Falklands and Antarctica, which had generated over 150 data points.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>All the photos taken by participants in the project \u2013 including my own snaps \u2013 are now archived at the Natural History Museum. \u2018The photographs have been amazing,\u2019 Mrowicki said. \u2018They allow us as scientific experts to validate people&#8217;s observations of seaweeds, which are very tricky to identify \u2013 even for us. They&#8217;re also an important record in themselves, having photos from South Georgia where not many people have the chance to go and observe. As well as the data that people record on their forms, having the photos gives us an important baseline to monitor change over time.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Building up that baseline of data is exactly where citizen science has the power to have a big effect. \u2018We&#8217;ll be able to start looking more closely at trends over time, in terms of seaweed diversity and distribution of species, the numbers of rafts at different times throughout the season, or in different years,\u2019 he said. \u2018The more data that we build up over time from the project, the more insights we will be able to get.\u2019&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The big (seaweed) picture<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>South Georgia remains one of the most incredible places I\u2019ve ever visited. The scale of its wildlife is staggering. Like many others, I was drawn there by the king penguins, the fur seals and the albatrosses \u2013 and they didn\u2019t disappoint. But taking part in a project like this made me appreciate them even more, as being on the outermost arms of a complicated ecological web, where every species plays its own role, even if it\u2019s not always well understood.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"576\" src=\"https:\/\/www.swoop-antarctica.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/elsehul-6-1024x576.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-3362\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.swoop-antarctica.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/elsehul-6-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.swoop-antarctica.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/elsehul-6-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.swoop-antarctica.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/elsehul-6-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.swoop-antarctica.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/elsehul-6-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.swoop-antarctica.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/elsehul-6-2048x1152.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/www.swoop-antarctica.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/elsehul-6-1200x675.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/www.swoop-antarctica.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/elsehul-6-1980x1114.jpg 1980w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">A vital part of South Georgia&#8217;s ecosystem<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Being able to contribute to building a picture of the island\u2019s baseline biodiversity felt like a great extra to add on to my trip, especially at a time when we know that ecosystems like South Georgia\u2019s are facing extreme challenges. So if you find yourself down in the Subantarctic, don\u2019t skip the penguins and the seals but do spare a thought for the seaweed as well.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\">*<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Zodiac cruising is one of the best activities you can do on a South Georgia cruise. Each trip is a shoreline safari, where you can be surrounded by rafts of penguins coming and going from the water, immense elephant seals lying in the surf like deflated bouncy castles and more fur seals claiming their spot [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":3362,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[70],"tags":[87,48],"class_list":["post-3368","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-stories-and-inspiration","tag-citizen-science","tag-south-georgia"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.9.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>A citizen science survey of South Georgia&#039;s shoreline - Swoop Antarctica Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"We take part in a citizen science project on South Georgia, surveying the Subantarctic island&#039;s seaweed for the Natural History Museum in London.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.swoop-antarctica.com\/blog\/a-citizen-science-survey-of-south-georgias-seaweed\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A citizen science survey of South Georgia&#039;s shoreline - Swoop Antarctica Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"We take part in a citizen science project on South Georgia, surveying the Subantarctic island&#039;s seaweed for the Natural History Museum in London.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.swoop-antarctica.com\/blog\/a-citizen-science-survey-of-south-georgias-seaweed\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Swoop Antarctica Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-03-20T17:01:06+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-04-15T11:20:29+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.swoop-antarctica.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/elsehul-6.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2400\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1350\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Paul\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Paul\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"8 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.swoop-antarctica.com\/blog\/a-citizen-science-survey-of-south-georgias-seaweed\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.swoop-antarctica.com\/blog\/a-citizen-science-survey-of-south-georgias-seaweed\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Paul\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.swoop-antarctica.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/2a8eebf1a7ae296308c6aa697699e569\"},\"headline\":\"A citizen science survey of South Georgia&#8217;s shoreline\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-03-20T17:01:06+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-04-15T11:20:29+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.swoop-antarctica.com\/blog\/a-citizen-science-survey-of-south-georgias-seaweed\/\"},\"wordCount\":1395,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.swoop-antarctica.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"keywords\":[\"citizen science\",\"south georgia\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Stories &amp; 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