Tagging seals with sensors helps scientists track ocean currents and climate change

Using a surprising technique, scientists have been in a position to observe how the Earth's oceans are changing. Neither special robots nor artificial intelligence are used. Instead, seals are tagged.

Several species of seals live in and around Antarctica and recurrently dive greater than 100 meters deep in quest of their next meal. These seals are experts at swimming through the strong ocean currents of the Southern Ocean. Their tolerance of deep waters and skill to navigate strong currents make these adventurous creatures perfect research assistants to assist Oceanographers like my colleagues and I Study the Southern Ocean.

Sealing sensors

For twenty years, researchers have attached tags to the foreheads of seals to gather data in distant and inaccessible regions. A researcher tags the seal during mating season, when the marine mammal comes ashore to rest, and the tag stays attached to the seal for a yr.

A researcher sticks the mark on the seal’s head – Marking of seals has no influence on their behaviorThe tag is removed yearly when the seal loses its fur and grows a brand new one.

The transmitter collects data while the seal dives and transmits its location and scientific data back to researchers via satellite when the seal surfaces for air.

First suggested in 2003Seal marking has develop into a International cooperation with strict standards for sensor accuracy and comprehensive data sharing. Advances in satellite technology now allow scientists to access data collected from a seal almost immediately.

New scientific findings due to seals

The tags attached to the seals are often equipped with sensors for pressure, temperature and salinity. These sensors are used to evaluate the rising ocean temperatures and changing currentsThe sensors often also contain chlorophyll fluorometers, which may provide data on the phytoplankton concentration within the water.

Phytoplankton are tiny organisms which form the idea of the ocean food web. Their presence often signifies that animals comparable to fish and seals are nearby.

The seal sensors may give researchers insight into the consequences of climate change within the Antarctic. Around 150 billion tons of ice melts from Antarctica yearlywhich contributes to global sea level rise. This melting is attributable to warm water being transported to the ice shelves by ocean currents.

With the info collected by seals, oceanographers can have described a few of the physical pathways This warm water reaches the ice shelves and currents transport the melted ice away from the glaciers.

Seals recurrently dive beneath sea ice and near glacier ice shelves. Sampling in these regions using conventional oceanographic methods is difficult and might even be dangerous.

Beyond the open Southern Ocean, away from the Antarctic coast, seal data have also make clear one other pathway resulting in ocean warming. Excess heat from the atmosphere moves from the ocean surface, which is in touch with the atmosphere, downward into the ocean interior in highly localized regionsIn these areas, the warmth reaches the deep sea, where it can’t be dissipated by the atmosphere.

The ocean stores many of the heat energy released into the atmosphere by human activities. Understanding how this heat moves helps researchers monitor oceans across the globe.

The behavior of seals is influenced by the physics of the oceans

The seal data also provides marine biologists with information concerning the seals themselves. Scientists can determine where seals are foraging. Some regions, Fronts are hotspots for Elephant seals attempting to find food.

In fronts, the ocean circulation creates turbulence and mixes the water in a way that Nutrients to the ocean surfacewhere phytoplankton can use them. As a result, phytoplankton blooms can occur on fronts, attracting fish and seals.

Scientists are using the info from the tags to see how seals are adapting to the changing climate and warming oceans. In the short term, seals may gain advantage from increased ice melting across the Antarctic continent, as they’ll live in coastal areas with Holes within the ice. Rising temperatures under the ocean surfacecan, nonetheless, change the placement of their prey and ultimately endanger the survival of the seals.

Seals have helped scientists understand and monitor a few of the most distant regions on Earth. On a changing planet, seal transmitter data will proceed to supply observations of their marine environments, with critical implications for the remainder of the Earth's climate system.