Seals engaged on research assignments:
International Polar Year’s unique research assistants
As part of the International Polar Year (IPY) 150 seals have been working as research assistants in the Arctic and the Antarctic. Their efforts have resulted in the acquisition of large amounts of new data that until now researchers could only dream of obtaining.
Electronic tagging devices are attached to the heads of the seals, which dive to depths of more than 2,000 metres below the ocean surface. In the course of just a few weeks, the seals can cover distances of over 3,000 kilometres. As they do so they collect new data about ocean temperature and salinity that is reported automatically via satellite as soon as they stick their heads out of the water.
(Photo: Christian Lydersen, the Norwegian Polar Insititute)
Forty of the seals have been in the service of the Norwegian researchers participating in the international collaborative project entitled “Marine Mammals Exploring the Oceans Pole to Pole” (MEOP). While the other nine participating countries have used seals exclusively in the Southern Ocean, the Norwegian researchers have divided their seals into two groups, using 20 in the Southern Ocean and 20 in the Arctic Ocean.
Unique data
Marine biologist Dr Kit Kovacs of the Norwegian Polar Institute in Tromsø has headed the international research project. She is extremely enthusiastic about the seals and the data they have gathered: “Because the seals dive to such great depths and are in constant motion, we are able to acquire unique data that would otherwise be exceedingly difficult to collect.”
Given that the climate in the Arctic is undergoing rapid change, it is particularly interesting for researchers to obtain data from places that would normally be out of reach. Using seals that dive under the ice is a completely new research technique. Dr Kovacs and her colleagues are now in possession of huge data sets about the behaviour of the animals and about oceanographic conditions.
Hooded seals in the north and elephant seals in the south
The tagging devices used weigh about one per cent of the seal’s weight and are fixed to its fur. When the seal sheds its coat after a year, the tag also drops off.
In the north, tags have been placed on hooded seals. (Photo: Kit Kovacs and Christian Lydersen, the Norwegian Polar Institute)
In the north, the hooded seal has “conducted research” across a vast area extending nearly from the North Pole to the southernmost part of the coast of Norway. In the south, the elephant seal has covered large parts of the sea areas around the Antarctic. The transfer of data from small transmitters to satellites is more effective in the polar regions than elsewhere on Earth, which has been a great advantage for the researchers.
Opening up a new world of research
“Today we are able to carry out research in the polar regions that we could only dream about 10 years ago. It is hard to imagine another area of research where technological progress has had a greater impact than in polar research!” states an enthusiastic Dr Kovacs.
Throughout the spring Dr Kovacs and the other project participants have been working hard to complete their analyses in time for the IPY Oslo Science Conference in June. Researchers involved in the MEOP project have submitted abstracts for 16 different presentations.
From Forskning magazine no.2/2010.
- Published:
- 11.06.2010
- Last updated:
- 10.06.2010
