Polar oceans are poorly monitored despite the important role they play in regulating Earth’s climate system. Marine mammals equipped with biologging devices are now being used to fill the data gaps in these logistically difficult to sample regions. Since 2002, instrumented animals have been generating exceptionally large data sets of oceanographic CTD casts (> 500,000 profiles), which are now freely available to the scientific community through the MEOP data portal (http://meop.net). MEOP (Marine Mammals Exploring the Oceans Pole to Pole) is a consortium of international researchers dedicated to sharing animal-derived data and knowledge about the polar oceans. Collectively, MEOP demonstrates the power and cost-effectiveness of using marine mammals as data-collection platforms that can dramatically improve the ocean observing system for biological and physical oceanographers. Here, we review the MEOP program and database to bring it to the attention of the international community.
History
Publication title
Oceanography
Volume
30
Pagination
132-138
ISSN
1042-8275
Department/School
Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies
Publisher
Oceanography Society
Place of publication
United States
Rights statement
Copyright 2017 The Oceanographic Society
Repository Status
Restricted
Socio-economic Objectives
Assessment and management of coastal and estuarine ecosystems