Underwater drawing detail from the archive
An open project in its first public phase
This is only the beginning of the archive.
PETRO/SEEPS is building an open visual record of post-industrial waters, starting in Rijeka. We are currently collecting the first underwater observations, photographs, videos, and field notes that will shape the dataset and train the research model.
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PETRO/SEEPS is an open online platform dedicated to documenting the hidden traces of petroleum in underwater environments. The platform focuses on post-industrial waters and natural and anthropogenic oil seeps - places where contamination is often invisible, historical records are scarce, and access to information remains limited. It begun in and around the harbour and former refinery sites of Rijeka, Croatia, with aim is to be deployed globally.

Part citizen science initiative and part artistic inquiry, PETRO/SEEPS invites divers, snorkellers, underwater photographers, fishers, sailors, ROV operators, marine scientists, and coastal communities to upload photographs, videos, and field observations from their local waters.

At the heart of the platform is an experimental AI model trained to recognise possible signs of oil-related toxicity through the abundance, absence, and proportion of species visible in underwater images.

This early stage is about gathering material, making methods visible, and opening the process to the people who know these waters firsthand. Every contribution helps define what this archive can become.

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How it works
Project stages
01
Collect underwater photographs & recordings
Build the dataset. Divers, snorkellers, ROV operators and coastal communities submit underwater images and observations from their local waters.
Current stage
02
Annotate observations & train the AI model
Expert annotators label species, identify petrochemical residues, and use this data to train a machine learning model to recognise patterns of toxicity.
03
Test AI predictions against scientific methods
Predictions are validated against established scientific diagnostic methods including water sampling and species population surveys.
04
Launch public interface for exploration
A public-facing tool lets anyone explore the dataset, understand bioindicator organisms, and investigate the health of underwater environments.
05
Deploy globally in other coastal regions
The platform expands beyond Rijeka to other post-industrial coastal zones around the world, building a comparative global archive.
We need your
underwater eyes.
Every image, video or observation helps teach the AI to recognise subtle signs of petrochemical pollution - while building an invaluable archive of changing marine ecosystems.

Whether you're a diver, snorkeller, underwater photographer, fisher, sailor, ROV operator, marine scientist or someone who loves the sea - we'd love your contribution.

Always remember that safety is paramount - do not dive in highly toxic waters.
↥
Drop images or video here
or click to browse
max 50MB per file - jpg, png, tiff, mp4
Dataset
Rijeka Collection
github.com/studiomolga/Petroentangelments

The full training code, annotation tools, and model weights are openly available on GitHub and they are being actively improved. Free to use, fork, and contribute to.

sample dataset in training
AI-annotated - species & toxicity indicators detected
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Where we dive
Rijeka, Croatia
Map of Rijeka and the surrounding Adriatic coast

PETRO/SEEPS began in and around the harbour and former refinery sites of Rijeka, Croatia - one of the Adriatic's most historically significant industrial port cities.

The coastline here carries the legacy of over a century of petroleum extraction, refining, and maritime activity. Diving (only if it is safe!) in these waters reveals a complex ecology: marine life coexisting with submerged industrial remnants, oil seeps, sediment layers dense with petrochemical residue, and the slow, patient work of bioremediation by organisms that have adapted to damaged environments.

Sites surveyed

Rijeka harbour - Former refinery outflow zones - Torpedo factory seafloor - Bakar Bay - Kostrena coastline

Conditions

Visibility 2-8m - Depth 4-22m - Temperature 14-24°C - Limited institutional access - most dives conducted under restricted permit

Expand to your location

Do you dive in post-industrial or petrochemical-affected waters? Submit your observations and help build the global archive.

Background
About the project

The platform

PETRO/SEEPS is an open online platform dedicated to documenting the hidden traces of remnants of oil seeps in underwater environments. It is both a citizen science initiative and an artistic inquiry - combining underwater observation, machine learning, and community participation to make visible what is usually hidden beneath the surface.

"The platform invites anyone with access to underwater environments to contribute photographs, videos, field notes, and observations, feeding a growing open dataset that trains the research model."
Underwater field observation, Rijeka
Field observation - Rijeka harbour
"Certain organisms - sea urchins, feather duster worms, brittlestars, anemones - can function as bioindicators: their presence, absence, or unusual behaviour can signal elevated contamination levels."
Bioindicator species detail
Bioindicator species detail

The AI model

At the heart of the platform is an experimental model trained to recognise possible signs of oil-related toxicity through the abundance, absence, and proportion of species visible in underwater images.

The model is not yet a diagnostic tool. It is a research prototype, developed openly and documented transparently, with the aim of becoming a community-facing instrument for environmental monitoring.

PETRO/ENTANGLEMENTS

PETRO/SEEPS is the citizen science chapter of PETRO/ENTANGLEMENTS - an ongoing art, design, and science project initiated by artist, designer, and scuba diver Kasia Molga during her STARTS4WATER II residency with Drugo More in Rijeka.

It combines analogue holography, synchronised video works, underwater fieldwork, AI research, and artistic practice into a body of work that is simultaneously scientific inquiry, cultural archive, and aesthetic proposition.

"A body of work that is simultaneously scientific inquiry, cultural archive, and aesthetic proposition."
Seabed detail near former refinery outflow
Seabed detail - former refinery outflow zone
Archive material from coastal field research
Archive material from ongoing coastal field research

Why this matters

Petroleum contamination in coastal waters is often difficult to see directly, yet chronic releases from leaking infrastructure and long-duration industrial inputs can still harm marine organisms and alter seabed ecosystems over time. The National Academies' Oil in the Sea IV notes that protracted releases may cause adverse effects, while newer biomonitoring approaches such as eDNA are promising for future field assessment.

 

These impacts are not only ecological, but structural: they affect the hidden infrastructure of coastal life, including sediment communities, nearshore habitats, and the organisms that respond earliest to contamination. See Chen et al. (2024) for one example.

An open record

Formal monitoring remains difficult for most people to access. Confirming contamination usually requires restricted-site sampling, specialist interpretation, and laboratory-based analysis.

 

A public-facing observation layer can help record what is visible, compare changes over time, and create a baseline where official records are incomplete or too slow to reflect local conditions.

"PETRO/SEEPS exists to build that alternative record - one shaped by divers, fishers, coastal observers, and other people who know these waters firsthand. The platform treats underwater photography, video, and field notes as a form of shared environmental witnessing, while the AI model remains a research prototype rather than a diagnostic tool."
Support
Support the archive
Limited edition print 01

PETRO/ENTANGELMENTS
Kantrida #1

Post diving sketch
limited edition of prints of 50


£ 20 + pp

Limited edition print 02

PETRO/ENTANGELMENTS
Torpedo #1

Post diving sketch
limited edition of prints of 50


£ 20 + pp

Limited edition print 03

PETRO/ENTANGELMENTS
Kantrida #2

Post diving sketch
limited edition of prints of 50


£ 20 + pp

The people
Team
Creative / Art Lead & Scuba Diving
Kasia Molga
Filming, Sound & Editing
Ivan Marevich
Creative Tech
Andrey Chugonov
Project Management
Henry Maddicott
Support
Davor Delija

Partner organisations

  • Drugo More
    Rijeka, Croatia
  • Rijeka Natural History Museum
    Rijeka, Croatia
  • Marco Polo Diving Club
    Rijeka, Croatia

Testimonials

"A necessary public record for waters that are lived in, worked in, and too often overlooked."
"The project creates a rare bridge between marine observation, citizen science, and artistic research."
"Its strength is not only in what it detects, but in what it invites people to notice together."
Get in touch
Contact

Email

hello@studiomolga.com

For enquiries about the project, collaborations, press, or scientific partnerships.


PETRO/SEEPS is part of
PETRO/ENTANGLEMENTS
a project by Studio Molga

Code & data

View on GitHub

Full codebase, AI training data, and model documentation published openly.

Disclaimer

The AI detection model on this platform is experimental and should not be used as a basis for scientific, legal, or environmental decision-making without independent verification. Species identifications are indicative only.

Supported by

STARTS4WATER II
European Commission
Horizon Europe


Licence

CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
© 2025 Studio Molga / PETRO/ENTANGLEMENTS Platform built with open-source tools
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