---
id: twins/digital-reefs
about:
  label: Digital Reefs
  description: >-
    Project at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) building digital
    twins of coral reefs, explorable in 3D over time for testing management
    options; so far a low-fidelity prototype.
  tags:
    - coral reef
    - ocean
    - marine ecosystem
    - virtual reality
    - conservation
    - reef management
twin:
  tier: 4
  scale: reef
  operational: research
  homepage: 'https://digitalreefs.org/'
open:
  source: unknown
  data: unknown
  api: unknown
  participation: unknown
  note: >-
    The pages describe a prototype and a planned network; they do not say how
    the software or data are released.
domains:
  - water
  - ecology
provenance:
  origin: agent
  sources:
    - title: Digital Reefs
      url: 'https://digitalreefs.org/'
    - title: Digital Reefs one-pager
      url: >-
        https://digitalreefs.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/55/2023/08/DigitalReefsOne-Pager_vert-logo.pdf
  created: '2026-10-19'
  reviewed: '2026-10-19'
  reviewed_by: >-
    Claude, from the sources listed; the home page is a single landing page with
    three videos not watched; refetched and checked 2026-10-19
  status: draft
---
The site presents it as public infrastructure: a reef replica to view and explore in three dimensions and through time, on a phone, tablet or desktop, and in virtual reality.[^1] The Nature Conservancy, Scripps Institution of Oceanography and Siemens appear as partners alongside WHOI.[^1] The intended users are the people who manage, conserve and restore reefs.[^1]

The project's one-pager sets out a pipeline in five stages:[^2]

- Gather: sensors, robots, photogrammetry (3D models built from overlapping photographs) and ecology, with bathymetry (seabed depth) and hydrodynamics.
- Curate: databases and storage.
- Analyse: machine learning, simulation and forecasting.
- Show: virtual reality, 3D prints and game engines.
- Use: management, intervention, emergency response and experimental design.

It runs on cloud computing and game-engine platforms.[^1,2] Contact is by email.[^2]

A low-fidelity prototype is shown in a video walk-through.[^1] The NSF Convergence Accelerator programme funds the project.[^1] The makers say they expect to scale it within five years into a "globally interconnected Digital Reefs Network".[^1,2]

For a reef twin that is already running, see [eReefs](/twins/ereefs/).