Catlin Seaview Survey

If you're going to reveal the oceans, why not collect imagery that can be used as a valuable scientific record, too? We recorded reefs on a 'Google scale' that enables scientists to monitor change over time. The Seaview Survey is the most comprehensive survey of the world's coral reefs that’s ever been carried out.

In addition to XL Catlin (our main sponsor) and Google, we teamed up with The University of Queensland and numerous other scientific partners to create a way of surveying underwater environments that was more than 30 times more efficient than the traditional method. The new technology was so successful that it allowed us to create the most extensive standardized global baseline record of coral reefs, and we've made it freely available to all.

But it's not just great science — the project's outreach campaign has generated over $200 million worth of media exposure around the issue of coral reef decline.