The Seabirds team was born from a shared love for the ocean and a collective determination to make a meaningful impact. Founded by an all-female team of explorers and changemakers, our journey began with a simple mission: empower youth to lifelong learners from all backgrounds to engage in hands-on science, contribute to ocean conservation, and redefine who belongs in exploration.

This Giving Tuesday, The Seabirds Foundation is raising $7,500 to purchase a SonTek CastAway-CTD. This professional-grade oceanographic instrument will allow our team to collect critical ocean data on conductivity, temperature, and depth - core indicators of environmental change in coastal and polar waters.

The Seabirds have led multiple citizen science expeditions, deploying hydrophones, collecting environmental samples, and engaging teenagers to lifelong learners in polar and coastal exploration. Adding access to a CTD will allow us to expand our impact from observation to measurable data collection - a critical next step in our mission.

The Seabirds work in regions where few organizations have regular access to high-quality environmental monitoring tools - such as Arctic Norway, Greenland, Antarctica, and nearly every ocean in between. Having our own CTD will enable us to:

Collect baseline ocean data on salinity, temperature, and depth to track changes in the marine environment.
Contribute valuable, open-access datasets to the global scientific community by including this data in our open-source ArcGIS storymap we're creating with NOAA
Train students, educators, and citizen scientists in field-based data collection and analysis.
Support marine mammal research, including work with species impacted by shifting ocean conditions.

This is more than an equipment purchase - it’s an investment in direct data, education, and action.

Link to SonTek CTD

“If not us, then who?
If not now, then when?”

― John Lewis

Giving Tuesday - Data for a Living Ocean

This Giving Tuesday, help us raise $7,500 to purchase a SonTek CastAway-CTD!

Team Members