MEOP-CTD in-situ data collection: a Southern ocean Marine-mammals calibrated sea water temperatures and salinities observations
The Southern Ocean plays a fundamental role in regulating the global climate. This ocean also contains a rich and highly productive ecosystem, potentially vulnerable to climate change. Very large national and international efforts are directed towards the modeling of physical oceanographic processes to predict the response of the Southern Ocean to global climate change and the role played by the large-scale ocean climate processes. However, these modeling efforts are greatly limited by the lack of in situ measurements, especially at high latitudes and during winter months. The standard data that are needed to study ocean circulation are vertical profiles of temperature and salinity, from which we can deduce the density of seawater. These are collected with CTD (Conductivity-Temperature-Depth) sensors that are usually deployed on research vessels or, more recently, on autonomous Argo profilers. The use of conventional research vessels to collect these data is very expensive, and does not guarantee access to areas where sea ice is found at the surface of the ocean during the winter months. A recent alternative is the use of autonomous Argo floats. However, this technology is not easy to use in glaciated areas.
In this context, the collection of hydrographic profiles from CTDs mounted on marine mammals is very advantageous. The choice of species, gender or age can be done to selectively obtain data in particularly under-sampled areas such as under the sea ice or on continental shelves. Among marine mammals, elephant seals are particularly interesting. Indeed, they have the particularity to continuously dive to great depths (590 ± 200 m, with maxima around 2000 m) for long durations (average length of a dive 25 ± 15 min, maximum 80 min). A Conductivity-Temperature-Depth Satellite Relay Data Logger (CTD-SRDLs) has been developed in the early 2000s to sample temperature and salinity vertical profiles during marine mammal dives (Boehme et al. 2009, Fedak 2013). The CTD-SRDL is attached to the seal on land, then it records hydrographic profiles during its foraging trips, sending the data by satellite ARGOS whenever the seal goes back to the surface.
While the principle intent of seal instrumentation was to improve understanding of seal foraging strategies (Biuw et al., 2007), it has also provided as a by-product a viable and cost-effective method of sampling hydrographic properties in many regions of the Southern Ocean (Charrassin et al., 2008; Roquet et al., 2013).
Simple
- Title
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MEOP-CTD in-situ data collection: a Southern ocean Marine-mammals calibrated sea water temperatures and salinities observations
- Date (Publication)
- 2014-12-12T00:00:00
- Citation identifier
- 0a82d60c-683d-47b8-8bd1-24933ec24983
- Abstract
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The Southern Ocean plays a fundamental role in regulating the global climate. This ocean also contains a rich and highly productive ecosystem, potentially vulnerable to climate change. Very large national and international efforts are directed towards the modeling of physical oceanographic processes to predict the response of the Southern Ocean to global climate change and the role played by the large-scale ocean climate processes. However, these modeling efforts are greatly limited by the lack of in situ measurements, especially at high latitudes and during winter months. The standard data that are needed to study ocean circulation are vertical profiles of temperature and salinity, from which we can deduce the density of seawater. These are collected with CTD (Conductivity-Temperature-Depth) sensors that are usually deployed on research vessels or, more recently, on autonomous Argo profilers. The use of conventional research vessels to collect these data is very expensive, and does not guarantee access to areas where sea ice is found at the surface of the ocean during the winter months. A recent alternative is the use of autonomous Argo floats. However, this technology is not easy to use in glaciated areas.
In this context, the collection of hydrographic profiles from CTDs mounted on marine mammals is very advantageous. The choice of species, gender or age can be done to selectively obtain data in particularly under-sampled areas such as under the sea ice or on continental shelves. Among marine mammals, elephant seals are particularly interesting. Indeed, they have the particularity to continuously dive to great depths (590 ± 200 m, with maxima around 2000 m) for long durations (average length of a dive 25 ± 15 min, maximum 80 min). A Conductivity-Temperature-Depth Satellite Relay Data Logger (CTD-SRDLs) has been developed in the early 2000s to sample temperature and salinity vertical profiles during marine mammal dives (Boehme et al. 2009, Fedak 2013). The CTD-SRDL is attached to the seal on land, then it records hydrographic profiles during its foraging trips, sending the data by satellite ARGOS whenever the seal goes back to the surface.
While the principle intent of seal instrumentation was to improve understanding of seal foraging strategies (Biuw et al., 2007), it has also provided as a by-product a viable and cost-effective method of sampling hydrographic properties in many regions of the Southern Ocean (Charrassin et al., 2008; Roquet et al., 2013).
- Credit
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Ifremer
- Status
- On going
- Point of contact
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Organisation name Individual name Electronic mail address Role Department of Meteorology, Stockholm University
Roquet F
Author Centre d’Etudes Biologiques de Chizé, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique
Guinet C.
Author Laboratoire d’Océanographie et du Climat: Expérimentation et Approches Numériques
Charrassin J.-B .
Author Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California
Costa D. P.
Author Norwegian Polar Institute
Kovacs K. M.
Author Norwegian Polar Institute
Lydersen C.
Author Alfred-Wegener-Institut, Helmholtz Zentrum für Polar- und Meeresforschung
Bornemann H.
Author Mammal Research Institute, Department of Zoology and Entomology, University of Pretoria
Bester M. N.
Author Instituto de Oceanografia, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande
Muelbert M. C.
Author Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies, University of Tasmania
Hindell M. A.
Author Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies, University of Tasmania
McMahon C. R.
Author Marine Predator Research Group, Department of Biological Sciences, Macquarie University
Harcourt R.
Author Marine Predator Research Group, Department of Biological Sciences, Macquarie University
Boehme L
Author Sea Mammal Research Unit, Scottish Oceans Institute, University of St Andrews
Fedak M. A.
Author Coriolis data centre
Publisher
- Maintenance and update frequency
- As needed
- Keywords
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Marine biology
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physical oceanography
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in-situ marine data
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sea-mammals
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CTD sensors
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operational oceanography
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GEMET - INSPIRE themes, version 1.0
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Oceanographic geographical features
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AtlantOS Element
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Products
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Centre de données ODATIS
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CDS-IS-CORIOLIS
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Type de jeux de donnée ODATIS
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/in-situ observations/Sea cruises
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Thèmatiques ODATIS
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Observation system for research
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Operational oceanography
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Research Infrastructure
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IR-ARGO
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National Services Observation
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SNO-ARGO France
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ODATIS aggregation parameters and Essential Variable names
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Pressure
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Salinity
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Sea temperature
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- Access constraints
- Other restrictions
- Use constraints
- License
- Other legal constraints
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A user should acknowledge use of data in all publications and products where such data are used.
- Spatial representation type
- Grid
- Denominator
- 1000000
- Language
- Français
- Character set
- UTF8
- Topic category
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- Oceans
- Reference system identifier
- EPSG / WGS 84 (EPSG:4326) / 7.9
- Topology level
- Geometry only
- Geometric object type
- Point
- Geometric object count
- 1000000000
- Distribution format
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Name Version
- OnLine resource
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Protocol Linkage Name WWW:DOWNLOAD-1.0-link--download
https://www.seanoe.org/data/00343/45461/data/89863.zip 2021-11 release
WWW:LINK
http://www.meop.net/ MEOP data portal
- OnLine resource
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Protocol Linkage Name WWW:LINK-1.0-http--metadata-URL
http://doi.org/10.17882/45461
- Hierarchy level
- Dataset
Conformance result
- Title
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Inspire specifications
- Date (Creation)
- 2012-01-16
- Explanation
-
Non évalué
- Pass
Metadata
- File identifier
- 0a82d60c-683d-47b8-8bd1-24933ec24983
- Metadata language
- English
- Other language
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Language Character encoding French UTF8
- Character set
- UTF8
- Hierarchy level
- Dataset
- Date stamp
- 2023-12-22T10:44:23.621Z
- Metadata standard name
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ISO 19115:2003/19139 - SEXTANT
- Metadata standard version
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1.0
- Metadata author
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Organisation name Individual name Electronic mail address Role Ifremer
Local service desk