CR · ~50 left Why this platform exists: The Chinese Crested Tern is critically endangered — its rocky-islet nesting sites are lost to coastal development. SkyWatch uses GIS to find where artificial floating platforms can replace that habitat.
Goal: locate floating habitat sites
Watercolour illustration
Species profile
Suitability model (MCA)
Mangrove loss timeline
About floating platforms
Map layers
Citizen science
Log a sighting
Every record matters Only ~50 Chinese Crested Terns remain. Your sighting feeds directly into the habitat suitability model.

Open data · CC BY 4.0 · Stored in PostGIS

Recent records
Illustration
Thalasseus bernsteini — watercolour
Watercolour of Chinese Crested Terns

Chinese Crested Terns nesting among coastal vegetation. Watercolour on paper.

The platform's colour palette — from sky-teal to shell-pink — is drawn directly from this painting, connecting the scientific data to the living bird.

Species profile
The bird we are protecting
Thalasseus bernsteini
Chinese Crested Tern
CR · Critically Endangered · IUCN

Each dot = one individual. Approximately ~50 wild birds remain.

Wingspan
86–94 cm
Mass
~180 g
Breeding
E. China Sea
Wintering
Philippines
Nest type
Rocky islets
Known since
1863

Primary threats: egg collection, coastal infrastructure destroying nesting islets.

Multi-criteria analysis
Habitat suitability model

Adjust weights to explore how floating platform placement priorities shift. Full build reruns a PostGIS spatial query.

Food availability (Chl-a)+0.35
Mangrove cover+0.25
Shipping lane density0.20
Sea surface temperature+0.20
0.72
Composite suitability index
top candidate zone average
Habitat loss
Mangrove decline 1996–2020

Global mangrove cover relative to 1996 baseline (Global Mangrove Watch).

By 2020, approximately 8.6% of global mangrove cover — ~11,900 km² — had been lost, directly destroying nesting habitat for the Chinese Crested Tern.

Our goal
Floating habitat platforms
Floating platform diagram

What is a floating platform?

An engineered raft anchored in coastal waters, mimicking the rocky-islet conditions Chinese Crested Terns require — in locations where natural sites have been destroyed.

How does GIS help?

Layering food availability (Chl-a), habitat (mangroves), shipping noise, and SST, the MCA model identifies optimal coordinates for deployment.

Expected output

A ranked list of candidate sites — e.g. "14.2°N, 122.8°E — suitability 0.82" — giving conservation teams a data-backed starting point.

Map layers
Data layers

Studio layers — edit in Mapbox Studio

CCT distribution (maintern-6edtki)
Studio
Migration path (migrationpath-781r6h)
Studio

Code layers — togglable

Community sightings
Spring migration (Mar–May)
Fall migration (Aug–Oct)

Studio layers sync automatically when you Publish in Mapbox Studio. No code change needed.

Migration routes
Spring (Mar–May)
Northbound · E. Indonesia → Korea
Fall (Aug–Oct)
Southbound · Korea → E. Indonesia
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