First results

This project evolved out of the SEaOS project and is so successful that it is still growing. The main part of the project was work carried out on South Georgia for three years, with impressive results. Now, elephant seals on the Falkland Island are employed to observe the oceans, too.
You can look at some preliminary results here:

• South Georgia
• Falkland Islands

If you are keen on some more scientific results, please have a look at the list of publications below.

Publications

Here is a list of publications using MEOP, SAVEX or SEaOS hydrographic data or are related to our project:

2011

• Roquet, F., J.-B. Charrassin, S. Marchand, L. Boehme, M. Fedak, G. Reverdin and C.
  Guinet., 2011: Validation of hydrographic data obtained from animal-borne satelliterelay
  data loggers, Journal of Atmospheric and Oceanic Technology, Vol. 28, No 6, pp
  787-801, doi: 10.1175/2010JTECHO801.1
• Meredith, M.P., I. A. Renfrew, L. Boehme, M. Biuw and M. A. Fedak, 2011: Seasonal
  evolution of the upper-ocean adjacent to the South Orkney Islands, Southern Ocean:
  results from a ”lazy biological mooring”, Deep Sea Research Part II: Topical Studies in
  Oceanography, Vol. 58 (13-16), pp 1569-1579, doi:10.1016/j.dsr2.2009.07.008
• Grist, J., S.A. Josey, L. Boehme, M.P. Meredith, F.J. M. Davidson, G.B. Stenson and M.O.
  Hammill, 2011: Temperature imprint of high latitude Atlantic boundary currents revealed
  by marine mammal-borne sensor and Argo data, Geophysical Research Letters, 38, L15601,
  doi:10.1029/2011GL048204.
• Field, I.C., R.G. Harcourt, L. Boehme, P. J. N. de Bruyn, J.-B. Charrassin, C.R. McMahon,
  M.N. Bester, M.A. Fedak and M.A. Hindell, 2011: Refining instrument attachment: epoxying
  instruments to phocid seals has negligible impact if applied correctly., Marine Mammal
  Science, doi: 10.1111/j.1748-7692.2011.00519.x 

2010

• Straneo, F., Hamilton, G. S., Sutherland, D. A., Stearns, L. A., Davidson, F., Hammill, M. O., Stenson, G. B. and A. Rosing-Asvid, 2010: Rapid circulation of warm subtropical waters in a major glacial fjord in east greenland. Nature Geoscience 3, 182 - 186
• Biuw, M., O. A. Nøst, A. Stien, Q. Zhou, C. Lydersen and K. M. Kovacs, 2010: Effects of Hydrographic Variability on the Spatial, Seasonal and Diel Diving Patterns of Southern Elephant Seals in the Eastern Weddell Sea, PLoS ONE 5(11): e13816. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0013816
• Boehme, L., & 22 co-authors, 2010: Biologging in the global ocean observing system, in
  Proceedings of OceanObs’09: Sustained Ocean Observations and Information for Society
  (Vol. 2), Venice, Italy, 21-25 September 2009, Hall, J., Harrison, D.E. & Stammer, D.,
  Eds., ESA Publication WPP-306, doi:10.5270/OceanObs09.cwp.06
• Claustre, H., & 22 co-authors, 2010: Guidelines Towards an Integrated Ocean Observation
  System for Ecosystems and Biogeochemical Cycles, in Proceedings of OceanObs’09: Sustained
  Ocean Observations and Information for Society (Vol. 1), Venice, Italy, 21-25
  September 2009, Hall, J., Harrison, D.E. & Stammer, D., Eds., ESA Publication WPP-
  306, doi:10.5270/OceanObs09.pp.14
• Roemmich, D., & 12 co-authors, 2010: Integrating the Ocean Observing System: Mobile
  Platforms, in Proceedings of OceanObs’09: Sustained Ocean Observations and Information
  for Society (Vol. 1), Venice, Italy, 21-25 September 2009, Hall, J., Harrison, D.E. &
  Stammer, D., Eds., ESA Publication WPP-306, doi:10.5270/OceanObs09.pp.33
• Charrassin, J.-B., & 30 co-authors, 2010: New Insights into Southern Ocean Physical
  and Biological Processes Revealed by Instrumented Elephant Seals in Proceedings of
  OceanObs’09: Sustained Ocean Observations and Information for Society (Vol. 2), Venice,
  Italy, 21-25 September 2009, Hall, J., Harrison, D.E. & Stammer, D., Eds., ESA Publication
  WPP-306, doi:10.5270/OceanObs09.cwp.15

2009

• Boehme, L., P. L. Lovell, M. Biuw, F. Roquet, J. Nicholson, S. E. Thorpe, M. Meredith and M. A. Fedak, 2009: Animal-borne CTD-Satellite Relay Data Loggers for real-time oceanographic data collection. Ocean Science, 5, 685-695
• Wunsch, C., P. Heimbach, R. M. Ponte,I. Fukumori and the ECCO-GODAE Consortium Members, 2009: The Global General Circulation of the Ocean Estimated by the ECCO-Consortium. Oceanography, 22(2), 88-103
• Bost, C.A., C. Cotte, F. Bailleul, Y. Cherel, J.B. Charrassin, C. Guinet, D.G. Ainley, H. Weimerskirch, 2009: The importance of oceanographic fronts to marine birds and mammals of the southern oceans. Special Issue on Processes at Oceanic Fronts of the Journal of Marine Systems (JMS-SIOF), Journal of Marine Systems, 78, 363-376
• Roquet F., Y. H. Park, C. Guinet and J.B. Charrassin, 2009: Observations of the Fawn Trough Current over the Kerguelen Plateau from instrumented elephant seals. Special Issue on Processes at Oceanic Fronts of the Journal of Marine Systems (JMS-SIOF), Journal of Marine Systems, 78, 377-393

2008

• Nicholls K. W., L. Boehme, M. Biuw and M. A. Fedak, 2008: Wintertime ocean conditions over the southern Weddell Sea continental shelf, Antarctica. Geophys. Res. Lett., 35, L21605
• Boehme, L., S.E. Thorpe, M. Biuw, M. Fedak and M.P. Meredith, 2008: Monitoring Drake Passage with elephant seals: Frontal structures and snapshots of transport. Limnology & Oceanography, 53, 2350-2360
• Boehme, L., M. P. Meredith, S. E. Thorpe, M. Biuw and M. Fedak, 2008: The ACC frontal system in the South Atlantic: monitoring using merged Argo and animal-borne sensor data., Journal of Geophysical Research, 113, C09012, doi:10.1029/2007JC004647
• Bailleul F., D. Pinaud, M. Hindell, J.B. Charrassin, C. Guinet, 2008: Assessment of scale-dependent foraging behaviour in southern elephant seals incorporating the vertical dimension: a development of the First Passage Time method. Journal of Animal Ecology, 77, 948-957
• Charrassin, J. B.; Hindell, M.; Rintoul, S. R; Roquet, F.; Sokolov, S.; Biuw, M.; Costa, D.; Boehme, L.; Lovell, P.; Coleman, R.; Timmermann, R.; Meijers, A.; Meredith, M.; Park, Y. H.; Bailleul, F.; Goebel, M.; Tremblay, Y.; Bost, C. A.; Mcmahon, C. R; Field, I. C; Fedak, M. A and C. Guinet, 2008: Southern Ocean Frontal Structure and Sea-Ice Formation Rates Revealed by Elephant Seals. PNAS. 105:11634-9
• Costa, D., J. M. Klinck, E. E. Hofmann, M. S. Dinniman, J. M. Burns, 2008: Upper ocean variability in west Antarctic Peninsula continental shelf waters as measured using instrumented seals, Deep Sea Research Part II: Topical Studies in Oceanography, Volume 55, Issues 3-4, 323-337, doi: 10.1016/j.dsr2.2007.11.003

2007

Biuw, M., Boehme, L., Guinet, C., Hindell, M., Costa, D., Charrassin, J.-B., Roquet, F., Bailleul, F., Meredith, M., Thorpe, S., Tremblay, Y., McDonald, B., Park, Y.-H., Rintoul, S. R., Bindoff, N., Goebel, M., Crocker, D., Lovell, P., Nicholson, J., Monks, F., and Fedak, M. A, 2007: Variation in behavior and condition of a Southern Ocean top predator in relation to in situ oceanographic conditions. PNAS. 104, 13705-13710

Data

One aim of this project is to make the data freely available. At the moment we are in the process to set up a process with the British Oceanography Data Centre (BODC) to forward the data onto the GTS.

If you want to play with the similar data, you can download the dataset of the SEaOS project. In this dataset you have about 109261 CTD points from the Antarctic Peninsula to the Mid-Atlantic Ridge in 2004 and 2005.