Acquisition of Oceanographic Measurements from Baleen Whales: Field Deployments of Tags Developed Under Grant ONR (N00014-13-1-0854)

• Main Author: Teilmann, Jonas
• Other Authors: AARHUS UNIV (DENMARK)
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 2014
• Subjects: Ecology; Biological Oceanography; Physical and Dynamic Oceanography; *DATA TRANSMISSION SYSTEMS; *OCEANOGRAPHIC DATA; *WHALES; AQUATIC ANIMALS; ARTIFICIAL SATELLITES; BEHAVIOR; COMPUTERIZED SIMULATION; DATA ACQUISITION; DIVING; EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN; GLOBAL POSITIONING SYSTEM; MARINE BIOLOGY; MONITORING; OCEAN ENVIRONMENTS; POSITION(LOCATION); SALINITY; SATELLITE COMMUNICATIONS; TRANSMITTER RECEIVERS; SATELLITE TRANSMITTERS; BALEEN WHALES; OCEANOGRAPHIC DATA; SATELLITE TAGS; baleen whales; Beluga*; narwhal*; ice covered waters
• Online Access: http://www.dtic.mil/docs/citations/ADA617781; http://oai.dtic.mil/oai/oai?&verb=getRecord&metadataPrefix=html&identifier=ADA617781

Diving ocean predators can act as real-time autonomous sampling platforms in remote or ice covered waters when fitted with satellite transmitters. Sampling of oceanographic data, including salinity (conductivity), temperature and depth, by marine mammals is not only relevant to understand the ecology of the animals, but also in oceanography. It has been used widely with seals and to a lesser extent with narwhals and belugas. These data can be incorporated into existing oceanographic monitoring of e.g. climate change or they can be used as proxies for prey availability and habitat preferences.