MEOP-CTD: Southern Ocean Seal and Turtle CTD Profiles via Satellite Relay

CTD-SRDL data from the Marine Mammals Exploring the Oceans Pole to Pole (MEOP) program, representing the Australian subset of quality-controlled conductivity, temperature, and depth profiles. The Australian dataset originated in 2004 from the University of Tasmania and includes data from elephant, fur, and Weddell seals, with 2024 additions from flatback and olive ridley turtles. This subset represents about one quarter of the entire MEOP-CTD database, which contains roughly 52,000 profiles from 275 tag deployments.

Use Cases

• Modeling Southern Ocean water column properties based on conductivity, temperature, and depth (CTD) profiles.
• Studying marine mammal and turtle diving behavior in relation to oceanographic conditions.
• Validating satellite-derived oceanographic data with in-situ measurements from animal-borne sensors.
• Investigating long-term environmental changes in the Southern Ocean using data collected since 2004.

Strengths

• Data is quality-controlled as part of the MEOP-CTD database.
• The Australian subset represents about one quarter of the entire MEOP-CTD database, which contains roughly 52,000 profiles from 275 tag deployments.
• Data collection spans from 2004 to at least 2024, providing a multi-decadal time series.
• Data is transmitted in near real-time via the Argo satellite system.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count for this specific subset is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Data may reflect geographic bias inherent to data_gov_au, focusing on the Southern Ocean and Australian contributions.

Provenance

Source

Australian Ocean Data Network, University of St Andrews Sea Mammal Research Unit, University of Tasmania, Integrated Marine Observing System (IMOS) Animal Tracking Facility.

Collection Method

Collected using Conductivity-Temperature-Depth Satellite Relay Data Loggers (CTD-SRDLs) deployed on marine animals.

Time Range

2004 to at least 2024

Freshness

Last updated 2026-07-13 10:21:39.646022; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Southern Ocean