Accessible ocean monitoring technologies in developing countries: NF-POGO Global Scholar perspectives on low-cost solutions

Observational oceanography is crucial to climate studies, biodiversity protection, and the Blue Economy. Unfortunately, global ocean health monitoring is uneven in both geographical and political terms. Over the past few decades, sophisticated continuous ocean monitoring systems have accelerated multidisciplinary marine research. However, such elaborate scientific infrastructure is not financially and logistically feasible in most resource-limited nations. Across the Global South, significant gaps exist in ocean monitoring data and the tools necessary for evidence-based environmental decision-making. How are future ocean science and technology leaders in developing nations attempting to bridge this divide? Through a collective lens, this essay draws on home-country experiences of the 2024-25 Nippon Foundation-Partnership for Observation of the Global Ocean (NF-POGO) Centre of Excellence scholar cohort. These ten early career scientists – from Bangladesh, Brazil, Egypt, Ghana, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Mexico, the Philippines, and Senegal – have been engaged in impressive projects ranging from battery powered tide gauges on Indonesian atolls to artificial intelligence-ready Sargassum drift forecasts from a laptop in Mexico.