The Danish marine environment is under pressure, and the need for more efficient monitoring is increasing. At the same time, offshore wind is being expanded on a large scale, which increases the pressure on marine areas.

In line with the WIN@sea project’s principles of multi‑use at sea, researchers from Aarhus University are working on solutions that can combine energy production and environmental monitoring within the same area.

As part of this work, researchers and engineering students have developed an automated jellyfish counter. The system uses image analysis to continuously detect and count moon jellyfish, which respond quickly to changes in the ecosystem and therefore serve as important indicators of the state of the marine environment.

Traditional counting is both time‑ and resource‑intensive, and the technology can therefore contribute to a more continuous and robust data foundation for marine environmental monitoring.

By integrating the jellyfish counter into monitoring efforts in, for example, offshore wind farms, the WIN@sea approach is supported by demonstrating how environmental data collection can be strengthened through innovative multi‑use solutions.

Se the informative video of the jellyfish in action here: