Thank you to the volunteers who helped fill this map with color!

Sixty-five volunteers have taken 860 color measurements of Casco Bay since we launched our Color by Numbers pilot project last spring. Our volunteers put a modern twist on a century-old oceanographic tool, using their smartphones and tablets to photograph and match the color of the water to the Forel-Ule color scale. This index of 21 colors—from blue to brown—measures color as a revealing indicator of the health of oceans and lakes.

Thank you to everyone involved in the Citclops project for creating, and providing the EyeOnWater app and website we utilized in this project.You can learn more about those involved with the Citclops project here.

Our next steps are to meet with our partners at Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences in Boothbay Harbor and evaluate the measurements collected this year. Then we will be assessing this pilot project over the winter.

Thank you to everyone who participated in this important pilot project!