COSTA, D.P.*; KLINCK, J; HOFMAN, E; BURNS, J.M.; FEDAK, M.A.; CROCKER, D.E.; Univ of California, Santa Cruz; Old Dominion University; Old Dominion University; Univ. of Alaska Anchorage; Sea Mammal Research Unit; Sonoma State University; ; : Marine Mammals as Ocean Sensors

An exciting, development from observations of diving predators such as marine mammals, fish and birds has been the realization that electronic tag-bearing animals can be employed as autonomous ocean profilers to provide environmental observation data in diverse ocean regions. The growing partnership between physical oceanographers and organismal biologists provides a unique avenue for animal acquired data to be incorporated into the operational oceanography community. As part of the 2002 Southern Ocean GLOBEC field season we deployed 17 temperature-profiling Satellite Linked Time Depth tags. These tags produced 4895 bathythermographs. On average each seal completed 279 (30-893) casts that covered 59 (7-201) days completing 5.5 (0.4-10) casts/day. On average the casts reached 114 m with the deepest reaching 494 m. We were able to define the extent of the Antarctic Surface Water (AASW) in the Adelaide Island and Marguerite Bay Regions of the Antarctic Peninsula. The depth of the Circumpolar Deep Water (CDW) was also documented, as was the annual degradation of the AASW to winter water. The heat flux over was calculated (31.7 W/m2) and compare quite with ship based radiometer measurements carried out during the fall cruise. Development of tags that incorporate salinity sensors are currently being deployed and tested on California sea lions and northern elephant seals.