Research assistant: A tag attached to the head of an elephant seal in South Georgia, Antarctica.
Credit: CSIRO/Martin Biuw
International Polar Year
Though the seals are little concerned by humans and scientists can approach the easily, they are sedated with a syringe on the end of a pole to ensure the sensors can be attached safely. The sensors stay on through the winter season and fall off when the seals return to the islands and shed their fur for the summer.
Rintoul said the researchers have a new experiment under way in connection with the International Polar Year and involving scientists from a number of countries.
"We will be instrumenting a total of about 160 seals both in the Arctic and Antarctic, using several different species of seal because different seals go to different places to feed so we can get information from different parts of the ocean."
The data from the Antarctic seals does not yet allow scientists to draw firm conclusions about changes in the world under the sea ice since it is so new there is nothing to compare it with. But the information from the seals will provide a baseline for future climate change studies, Rintoul said.
