JellyMonitor: developing a jellyfish early warning system for coastal power stations

Blockage of intakes by jellyfish and other marine objects causes serious economic disruption and gives rise to safety concerns for coastal power stations. To combat unexpected arrival of clogging materials, a consortium of CTL, UEA, Cefas and EDF Energy will design, build and test an imaging system for the detection of jellyfish in coastal waters. The system will be designed for use by power station operators to provide an early warning of jellyfish blooms in their vicinity. The aim is to integrate different types of cameras in an innovative, rugged sensor package which can transmit data back to land. The cameras will be able to see even in turbid water by using ultrasound. The system will be built and tested in three stages: 1) under controlled conditions in a large saltwater aquarium facility, 2) during supervised short deployments at a coastal test site and 3) during an extended autonomous installation at a power station site. The instrument will ultimately be used as part of a comprehensive early warning and mitigation service for coastal power station and desalination plant operators , with potential also for use in aquaculture.