SEALS and yachts are helping oceanographers satisfy their insatiable
appetite for data, scientists revealed last week. They hope data from electronic
probes attached to the animals and boats will help us understand ocean
dynamics.
Researchers studying northern elephant seals have for years been fitting the
animals with electronic tags that record the water temperature.
George Boehlert of the Pacific Fisheries Environmental Laboratory in Pacific
Grove, California, realised the seals could reveal conditions in remote ocean
areas where existing data is sparse. They dive 600 metres down, giving excellent
depth coverage. “We are collaborating to take advantage of all this data,”…
