Technology for the Sustainability of Coral Ecosystem in Thailand

Thailand is home to stunning coral reefs in both the Andaman Sea and the Gulf of Thailand. Coral reefs are critical to biological diversity. However, coral bleaching is presently occurring in numerous areas, and recovery is challenging.

As a result, WU researchers were assigned to use a coral sensor network to measure environmental conditions near coral ecosystems and conduct tsunami research on Racha Island in Phuket Province. Since 2020, Walailak University has been organizing a coral sensor network project to monitor the changing temperature, conductivity, and depth of the sea by placing a CTD sensor (Conductivity, Temperature, and Depth sensors) at Khon Khae Bay and Patok Bay on Racha Island, Phuket Province.

After three years, the researcher will begin the process of installing CTDs in Khon Khae Bay and Patok Bay to maintain and repair the data line system, change the battery, clean the sensor, and download the data into offline mode. The researcher corrected the error and transferred the information system to a station outside the building using solar energy, roughly 150 cm away from the sensor.

The collected data were then used for presenting management strategies in order to prevent coral damage.