The IMOS Animal Tracking Facility coordinates a satellite-tracking project using Satellite Relay Data Loggers (SRDL) on marine animals. Data includes Conductivity-Temperature-Depth (CTD) profiles from southern elephant seals, Weddell seals, and sea turtles in the Southern Indian Ocean, East Antarctic coast, and Northern Australian seas. Data is presented in near real-time via the Argos satellite system and represents several datasets accessible through a multi-WFS service.
Use Cases
- Modeling ocean heat content and mixed-layer depth for tropical cyclone forecasting based on sub-surface temperature and salinity profiles collected by turtles.
- Studying marine mammal foraging ecology and habitat use based on location and dive data from satellite tags.
- Analyzing oceanographic conditions in remote polar regions based on CTD data collected by instrumented seals.
- Validating and supplementing data from conventional ocean observing platforms like Argo floats using high-resolution biologging data.
Strengths
- Data is available in near real-time, transmitted via the Argos satellite system.
- Includes CTD data from specific species (e.g., southern elephant seals, Weddell seals) and regions (southern Indian Ocean, East Antarctic coast).
- Describes international collaborations with programs like SNO-MEMO and CNES TOSCA, indicating a coordinated data collection effort.
Limitations
- Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
- Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
- Data may reflect geographic/temporal bias inherent to data_gov_au.
Provenance
- Source
- Australian Ocean Data Network, via the IMOS Animal Tracking Facility.
- Collection Method
- Data collected via Satellite Relay Data Loggers (SRDL) attached to marine animals, transmitted via the Argos satellite system.
- Time Range
- Includes data from a pilot study between January 2022 and June 2024 and ongoing deployments from May 2025.
- Freshness
- Last updated 2026-06-28 01:26:15.200394; freshness should be verified.
- Geography
- Southern Indian Ocean, East Antarctic coast, Timor and Arafura seas in Northern Australia.