Seals map bathymetry of the Antarctic continental shelf

We demonstrate the first use of marine mammal dive-depth data to improve maps of bathymetry in poorly sampled regions of the continental shelf. A group of 57 instrumented elephant seals made on the order of 2 x 10(5) dives over and near the continental shelf on the western side of the Antarctic Peni...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Geophysical Research Letters
Main Authors: Padman, Laurie, Costa, Daniel P., Bolmer, S.Thompson, Goebel, Michael E., Huckstadt, Luis A., Jenkins, Adrian, McDonald, Birgitte I., Shoosmith, Deborah R.
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: American Geophysical Union 2010
Subjects:
Zoology
Earth Sciences
Antarctic
Antarctic Peninsula
Bellingshausen Sea
The Antarctic
Antarc*
Elephant Seals
Online Access:http://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/12697/
https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/12697/1/grl27463.pdf
http://www.agu.org/journals/gl/gl1021/2010GL044921/
Description
Summary:We demonstrate the first use of marine mammal dive-depth data to improve maps of bathymetry in poorly sampled regions of the continental shelf. A group of 57 instrumented elephant seals made on the order of 2 x 10(5) dives over and near the continental shelf on the western side of the Antarctic Peninsula during five seasons, 2005-2009. Maximum dive depth exceeded 2000 m. For dives made near existing ship tracks with measured water depths H<700 m, similar to 30% of dive depths were to the seabed, consistent with expected benthic foraging behavior. By identifying the deepest of multiple dives within small areas as a dive to the seabed, we have developed a map of seal-derived bathymetry. Our map fills in several regions for which trackline data are sparse, significantly improving delineation of troughs crossing the continental shelf of the southern Bellingshausen Sea.

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