Acquisition of Oceanographic Measurements from Baleen

• 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; SATELLITE COMMUNICATIONS; TRANSMITTER RECEIVERS; BALEEN WHALES; baleen whales; Beluga*; narwhal*; ice covered waters
• Online Access: http://www.dtic.mil/docs/citations/ADA617782; http://oai.dtic.mil/oai/oai?&verb=getRecord&metadataPrefix=html&identifier=ADA617782

Diving ocean predators equipped with satellite transmitters can act as real - time autonomous sampling platforms in remote or ice covered waters. 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 but to a much lesser extent with cetaceans, i.e. narwhals and belugas. The 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.