A pair of virtual reality projects designed to simulate the impacts of human behavior on the marine life of the bay
DESIGNING A VIRTUAL REALITY SIMULATION TO ILLUSTRATE THE EFFECTS OF
IMPERVIOUS SURFACES FROM URBANIZATION ON THE BARNEGAT BAY WATERSHED
The Barnegat Bay Watershed is part of the Pinelands National Reserve and includes part of Ocean and Monmouth County in New Jersey. The populations of these counties have been rapidly growing each year and more than doubles throughout the summer months. Increased urbanization creates more housing, buildings, and pavement. Materials such as asphalt and concrete from roads are impervious to water, meaning water that previously percolated into the ground and returned to the bay now floods roads and flows on the surface. The flowing water carries the chemicals and materials it encounters, such as fertilizers and pesticides, and brings them into the bay as runoff. The introduced chemicals and nutrients disrupt the ecosystem, contributing to the Barnegat Bay’s problem of eutrophication and causing brown-tide algal blooms. Understanding the trend in urbanization and its effect on algal blooms is crucial in resolving the issue of runoff pollution.
Virtual reality allows people to visualize the change in urbanization of the watershed over a long period of time. A simulation was created in Unity 4.7 to demonstrate how the number of impervious surfaces increases overtime, their distribution, and how they impact algal bloom events. The team gathered urbanization data of the Barnegat Bay Watershed from 1995 to 2016. The data modeled instances of blooms over time. The simulation was displayed on the Oculus Rift and Google Daydream, allowing users to interact with the environment and see the effects of long-term urbanization in accelerated time.
The goal of the project is to educate the general public on the impact residents have on the Barnegat Bay Watershed. The simulation can be used to transport high school classrooms and community organizations onto the watershed so they can witness change over a long-period of time. As a result, the team learned methods of portraying scientific data and relationships in an interactive and educational medium to be used as a teaching tool.
Screenshots
Metedeconk River
An overhead view of the Metedeconk River area
Southern Bay
A wide view of the Southern Barnegat Bay
Oyster Creek
A close-up view of the Oyster Creek Nuclear Generating Station
DESIGNING A VIRTUAL REALITY SIMULATION TO DEMONSTRATE HOW EUTROPHICATION STIMULATES
Aureococcus anophagefferens BLOOMS AND ITS EFFECT ON MARINE LIFE IN THE BARNEGAT BAY
The Barnegat Bay is a significant body of water in New Jersey, serving as a key estuarine habitat for species that reside there. Long-term nutrient pollution from nonpoint sources has made the system eutrophic, increasing the risk of algal blooms, such as brown-tide blooms from Aureococcus anophagefferens. The increase in algal concentration reduces the amount of sunlight and dissolved oxygen entering the water, disrupting the ecosystem and killing a majority of fish and submerged aquatic vegetation.
With the advent of virtual reality, new methods of modeling eutrophication of the Barnegat Bay have become possible. A simulation was created in Unity 4.7 to demonstrate the relationship between several parameters, such as temperature, turbidity, and
dissolved oxygen, and how they impact different types of marine life in the bay. The team gathered data from the northern part, central part, and southern part of the Barnegat Bay. The data determined likely outcomes for the water quality and whether an algal bloom occurs. The simulation was displayed on the Oculus Rift and Google Daydream, allowing users to interact with the environment and change parameters to see varied scenarios.
The goal of the project is to educate the general public on the severe state of the Barnegat Bay. The simulation can be utilized to immerse high school classrooms and community organizations into the depths of the Barnegat Bay so they can witness these complex interactions and gain a visual understanding of the situation. As a result, the team learned methods of portraying scientific data and relationships in an interactive and educational medium to be used as a teaching tool.
