UK start-up Marla has announced the launch of its brand new tool – Marla.blue – an interactive map that forecasts underwater visibility and coastal conditions anywhere around the UK coast.
Founded by divers who happened to be scientists, Marla has created an AI model which uses satellite data, weather forecasts, coastal conditions, and diver visibility reports to predict underwater visibility for freedivers, scuba divers, open water swimmers and spearfishers in the UK.
“While diving in the South West, I found the unpredictable visibility very frustrating. I couldn’t find anything that would tell me the visibility. I have a background in AI, so I decided to create a model myself, and here we are!” explained Dima Karamshuk, Marla co-founder and AI scientist.
Marla has researched, designed and developed a platform, allowing divers to check the underwater visibility anywhere around the UK coast, with an error of fewer than a few metres. The forecast is for the vertical visibility in the water as seen from the sea surface, with a resolution of up to 300m.
Marla.blue lets you check today's visibility for any spot anywhere around the UK, and get the forecasted visibility for tomorrow on the interactive map. You can share your dive report as you exit the water, and can check the sea conditions for today and tomorrow, as well as for the past three days.
Marla.blue is asking for your help. They want all divers to share their vis reports from their dives, as each visibility report helps improve the model for future forecasts, as well as letting divers know the real-time conditions.
Marla’s technology can be scaled anywhere across the globe and the team has already started early user testing in Australia.
“Forecasting undersea visibility is tough, but we’re up for the challenge. With every divers’ valuable input, we believe in our collective ability to map the undersea conditions across the world’s oceans,” said Dima. “This is just the beginning of our journey.”
Marla.blue is live now, and is currently free for all users.
amazing!