Elephant seals help researchers study climate change

The path followed by the seals as colored on the globe - Image 1A study released on Tuesday revealed that elephant seals were instrumental in gathering additional information on ice formation, ocean currents, and climate change. Learn more about this after the jump!

The sensor placed on the seals - Image 1A study released on Tuesday revealed that elephant seals were instrumental in gathering additional information on ice formation, ocean currents, and climate change.

The seals, which were fitted with special sensors, were able to swim under winter sea ice. The sensors on the seals allowed scientists to calculate how fast sea ice forms during winter. This is important as sea ice reflects sunlight back into space; therefore, the less sea ice there is, the more energy gets absorbed by the earth and the warmer it gets.

Said co-author Steve Rintoul from Australia‘s Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO), “They have made it possible for us to observe large areas of the ocean under the sea ice in winter for the first time.”

The elephant seals, numbering 85 in all, increased the data recorded in parts of the Southern Ocean 30-fold. The seals swam up to 65 kilometers a day, dived an average of 500 meters and a maximum of 2 kilometers down, and supplied scientists with 16,500 ice profiles between 2004 and 2005.

Notes Rintoul, “If we want to understand what’s going to happen to climate in the future we need to know what the sea ice is going to do. Will there be more or less and will it form more or less rapidly?” Hopefully the data these seals picked up for scientists will help immensely in the fight against climate change.


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