The Bilim-2 research vessel sails the Gulf of İzmit as crew members work on the aft deck.
A new scientific initiative in the northwestern province of Kocaeli, launched earlier this year, is creating a digital twin of the Gulf of İzmit to track and model its marine ecosystem.
The two-year project by the Kocaeli Municipality and Middle East Technical University (ODTÜ) Institute of Marine Sciences aims to determine pollution loads, track water quality and test rehabilitation scenarios.
Researchers on the Bilim-2 vessel collected samples across 27 stations. A Scanfish device swept 50 miles, measuring temperature, salinity, depth, dissolved oxygen, nutrients, turbidity, phytoplankton and chlorophyll.
“We will transfer the collected data to a virtual environment and run simulations to see what the gulf will evolve into in the future,” ODTÜ academic Mustafa Mantıkçı said. He said it will act as a decision support system against climate change.
The team will install an Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler at the Osmangazi Bridge to measure water mass 365 days a year, while unmanned underwater vehicles gather seasonal data.
Kocaeli Municipal Environmental Protection and Control Department Head Birol Balcı said they base their sustainable management model on real-time data.
The gulf faces heavy pollution from surrounding industrial hubs. Authorities began cleaning bottom mud in 2008 with the TÜBİTAK Marmara Research Center and started tracking biological changes with Istanbul University in 2023 to boost fish populations.
