IMOS Animal Tracking: Satellite Relay Tagging for Oceanographic Data

Satellite Relay Data Loggers on marine mammals and turtles collect Conductivity-Temperature-Depth profiles from remote polar and tropical oceans. The program's primary focus is on southern elephant seals and Weddell seals in the southern Indian Ocean and along the East Antarctic coast. A recent expansion includes turtle deployments in the Timor and Arafura seas to support tropical cyclone forecasting.

Use Cases

• [Analyzing seal foraging behavior] based on [CTD data collected during dives in the Southern Ocean]
• [Mapping upper ocean thermal structure] based on [temperature and salinity profiles from turtle-mounted sensors in the Arafura Sea]
• [Studying oceanographic fronts and water masses] based on [near-real-time conductivity and temperature data transmitted via Argos satellites]
• [Validating oceanographic models] based on [in-situ observations from marine animals in data-sparse regions like the East Antarctic coast]

Strengths

• Data collection leverages international collaborations with established research programs (e.g., SNO-MEMO, CNES TOSCA).
• Instruments transmit data in near real-time via the Argos satellite system, enabling timely analysis.
• The dataset includes quality-controlled locations for animal tracks.

Limitations

• Key metadata such as row count, specific column names, and license information is not provided in the sources.
• The dataset's temporal coverage is implied but not explicitly stated as a single range.
• Descriptions are repeated across platform entries, suggesting sparse variable-level documentation.

Provenance

Source

IMOS Animal Tracking Facility (formerly AATAMS), Sea Mammal Research Unit (SMRU, University of St Andrews), with collaborators including French SNO-MEMO, NIWA, and CNES.

Collection Method

Data gathered via Satellite Relay Data Loggers (SRDLs) with CTD/fluorometer sensors mounted on marine animals, transmitting via the Argos satellite system.

Time Range

A pilot study ran from January 2022 to June 2024, with ongoing deployments noted from May 2025. The overall program likely has a longer history.

Freshness

Last updated on 2026-07-13 according to the most recent platform entry.

Geography

Southern Indian Ocean, East Antarctic coast, Timor Sea, Arafura Sea, and other regions including the Atlantic, Pacific, and Southern Oceans, and Australian marine features.