MEOP – Observing the ocean with the help of marine animals
Short description
Some marine mammals travel thousands of kilometres to find their food, continuously diving to great depths. By instrumenting them, it is possible to directly observe their foraging behaviour. Simultaneously, we collect unique oceanographic data in the remote Polar regions.
This enables a large range of studies at the interface between physical oceanography and behavioural ecology, helping us to better understand how marine predators use their environment while simultaneously mapping physical properties such as temperature and salinity in previously unexplored places.
Instrumenting marine mammals
Some marine mammals travel thousands of kilometres to find their food, continuously diving to great depths. By instrumenting them, it is possible to directly observe their foraging behaviour. Simultaneously, we collect unique oceanographic data in the remote Polar regions.
Over 600,000 vertical profiles of Temperature and Salinity have been collected since 2004 in the World Ocean by attaching tags on marine mammals, such as Southern elephant seals.
This has enabled a large range of studies at the interface between physical oceanography and behavioural ecology, helping us to better understand how marine predators use their environment while simultaneously mapping physical properties such as temperature and salinity in previously unexplored places.
MEOP consortium
The MEOP consortium (MEOP stands for "Marine Mammals Exploring the Oceans Pole to Pole") brings together several national programmes to produce a comprehensive quality-controlled database of oceanographic data obtained in Polar Regions from instrumented marine mammals.
MEOP is particularly active in Polar Regions, where seals are instrumental to observe the changing ocean conditions.