Marine Mammals As Autonomous Oceanographic Data Collectors
Current Status of Accomplishment or Milestone: Completed. The manuscript, "Autonomous Pinniped Environmental Samplers; Using Instrumented Animals as Oceanographic Data Collectors" has been accepted for publication in the Journal of Atmospheric and Oceanic Technology.
Background: Electronic tags are gaining increasing use for understanding the behavior of pelagic animals. In certain cases, larger animals are able to carry instrumentation, including satellite-based location systems which allow well-defined spatial positioning of the records of environmental information collected by the animals. It was a logical step to examine whether the data were appropriate for inclusion in the NOAA's oceanographic data bases.
Purpose of Activity/Goal of Project: The purpose was to determine whether the data collected from electronic tags on marine mammals are of sufficient quality, in terms of measurement accuracy and spatial resolution, to be of general use to the ocean science community.
Description of Accomplishment and Significant Results: This study used data from 9 northern elephant seals instrumented with time-temperature-depth recorders (TTDR) and ARGOS platform terminal transmitters. This species ranges widely over the northeastern Pacific on long foraging trips and dives continuously on these trips to depths of 400 to 600 m. A comparison of temperature profiles from seal TTDR showed very good agreement with traditional sources of surface and subsurface temperatures. Data were quality controlled and entered into the World Ocean Database (WOD). A total of 75,665 "autonomous pinniped bathythermograph" (APBT) profiles over the 41,702 km of seal trackline were added to the WOD.
Significance of Accomplishment (e.g., to the Center, to Management, and to NMFS Strategic plan Goals): This was a partnering effort among the academic biologists studying elephant seals and NOAA scientists (NMFS, National Oceanographic Data Center) to achieve objectives of the NOAA Strategic Plan. The work demonstrates that biological autonomous sampling systems have immense potential to contribute oceanographic data in a cost-effective manner. With improving technology, such tags will be applied to even more marine animals and the approach described here can be applied to other species to improve ocean data availability.
Problems: None.
Key Contact: George Boehlert (831-648-8515; george.boehlert@noaa.gov)