[IIOE2-EA03] Service National D'Observation : Mammiferes Echantilloneurs du Milieu Oceanique
Lead Investigator :
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GUINET Christophe , CEBC-CNRS, 405 route de Prisse la Charriere 79360 Villiers en Bois, France
Christophe[dot]guinet[at]cebc[dot]cnrs[dot]fr
Other Key Participants:
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PICARD Baptiste - Data manager, CEBC-CNRS, France
Baptiste[dot]picard[at]cebc[dot]cnrs[dot]fr -
ROQUET Fabien - Lead oceanographer, Goteborgs University , Suede
fabien[dot]roquet[at]gu[dot]se
Period of Project: 11/2002 - On going
Brief description of the Project:
The SNO-MEMO (Mammals as Samplers of the Ocean Environment) is a long-term ocean observing program dedicated to improving our understanding of the Southern Ocean, a key component of the Earth's climate system and a major driver of global heat and carbon exchanges. The program relies on bio-logging technologies that equip marine mammals: southern elephant seals and Weddell seals, with miniaturized oceanographic sensors capable of recording environmental data during their diving behaviour. During their foraging trips, these animals collect high-resolution vertical profiles of temperature, salinity, and other biogeochemical or optical variables, often reaching depths of 1000-1500 m. Because these species routinely travel across vast and remote regions, including areas covered by seasonal or permanent sea ice, they provide access to parts of the Southern Ocean that remain largely inaccessible to conventional observing platforms such as research vessels, moorings, or autonomous floats.
The program therefore contributes essential observations for documenting water-mass structure, ocean circulation and ecosystem functioning in polar regions. These measurements complement existing international observing systems (e.g., Argo floats and ship-based hydrographic surveys) and help fill critical gaps in the global ocean observing network. The collected data are integrated into international databases (MEOP, AniBos, GOOS) and are widely used to support climate research, ocean modeling, and studies of polar marine ecosystems. Thanks to this unique observing strategy, profiles collected by instrumented seals now represent approximately 80% of all available oceanographic profiles of 60°S and up to 99% of those obtained within sea-ice covered regions, highlighting the major contribution of animal-borne sensors to the monitoring of the polar oceans. The ecological contribution of the elephant seal observatory benefit from a SEE-LIFE (CNRS) recognition and aim at document foraging behaviour changes as well a marine ecology changes over time.
Region(s) of study:
The animals are equipped at the Kerguelen Islands before leaving on their foraging trips. After deployment, they travel thousands of kilometres, covering a vast part of the Indian region of the Southern Ocean ranging approximately from 40°S to 70°S in latitude and from 0° to 150°E in longitude. Because these animals are deep divers, they also provide observations in the third dimension of the ocean by collecting vertical profiles during their dives. These profiles reach an average depth of about 500 m, with some dives providing measurements down to 1500 m.