Marine Mammals Exploring the Oceans Pole to Pole

When diving animals help us to observe the oceans

Over 800,000 vertical profiles of Temperature and Salinity have been collected since 2004 in the World Ocean by attaching tags on marine mammals, such as Southern elephant seals.

In this website, you will find information about the marine mammal tagging programs, and an access point to the publicly available databases.

Please let us know if you are using our data. You can contact us by mail to info@meop.net if you have any question.

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Content of the website

Publications 2023

[bio] Adamczak, S.K., McHuron, E.A., Christiansen, F., Dunkin, R., McMahon, C.R., Noren, S., Pirotta, E., Rosen, D., Sumich, J., Costa, D.P. & Cooke, S.; 2023; Growth in marine mammals: a review of growth patterns, composition and energy investment; Conservation Physiology; 1110.1093/conphys/coad035.

[bio] Allegue, H., Reale, D., Picard, B. & Guinet, C.; 2023; Track and dive-based movement metrics do not predict the number of prey encountered by a marine predator; Movement Ecology; 11; 3; 10.1186/s40462-022-00361-2.

[ocean] Azarian, C., Bopp, L., Pietri, A., Sallée, J.-B. & d'Ovidio, F.; 2023a; Current and projected patterns of warming and marine heatwaves in the Southern Indian Ocean; Progress in Oceanography; 21510.1016/j.pocean.2023.103036.

[ocean] Azarian, C., Bopp, L., Sallée, J.-B., Swart, S., Guinet, C. & d'Ovidio, F.; 2023b; Marine heatwaves and global warming impacts on winter waters in the Southern Indian Ocean; Journal of Marine Systems; 10.1016/j.jmarsys.2023.103962.

[ocean] Bourreau, L., Pauthenet, E., Le Ster, L., Picard, B., Portela, E., Sallée, J.-B., McMahon, C.R., Harcourt, R., Hindell, M., Guinet, C., Bestley, S., Charrassin, J.-B., DuVivier, A., Sylvester, Z., Krumhardt, K., Jenouvrier, S. & Labrousse, S.; 2023; First description of in situ chlorophyll fluorescence signal within East Antarctic coastal polynyas during fall and winter; Frontiers in Marine Science; 1010.3389/fmars.2023.1186403.

[AniBOS] Boyer, T., Zhang, H.-M., O'Brien, K., Reagan, J., Diggs, S., Freeman, E., Garcia, H., Heslop, E., Hogan, P., Huang, B., Jiang, L.-Q., Kozyr, A., Liu, C., Locarnini, R., Mishonov, A.V., Paver, C., Wang, Z., Zweng, M., Alin, S., Barbero, L., Barth, J.A., Belbeoch, M., Cebrian, J., Connell, K.J., Cowley, R., Dukhovskoy, D., Galbraith, N.R., Goni, G., Katz, F., Kramp, M., Kumar, A., Legler, D.M., Lumpkin, R., McMahon, C.R., Pierrot, D., Plueddemann, A.J., Smith, E.A., Sutton, A., Turpin, V., Jiang, L., Suneel, V., Wanninkhof, R., Weller, R.A. & Wong, A.P.S.; 2023; Effects of the Pandemic on Observing the Global Ocean; Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society; 104; E389-E410; 10.1175/bams-d-21-0210.1.

[ocean] Chen, Y., Zhang, Z., Wang, X., Liu, X. & Zhou, M.; 2023; Interannual variations of heat budget in the lower layer of the eastern Ross Sea shelf and the forcing mechanisms in the Southern Ocean State Estimate; International Journal of Climatology; 43; 5055-5076; 10.1002/joc.8132.

[AniBOS] Ellis-Soto, D., Wikelski, M. & Jetz, W.; 2023; Animal-borne sensors as a biologically informed lens on a changing climate; Nature Climate Change; 10.1038/s41558-023-01781-7.

[bio] Goetz, K. T., Dinniman, M. S., Hückstädt, L. A., Robinson, P. W., Shero, M. R., Burns, J. M., Hofmann, E. E., Stammerjohn, S. E., Hazen, E. L., Ainley, D. G., and Costa, D. P.: Seasonal habitat preference and foraging behaviour of post-moult Weddell seals in the western Ross Sea, R Soc Open Sci, 10, https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.220500, 2023.

[ocean] Gülk, B., Roquet, F., Naveira Garabato, A.C., Narayanan, A., Rousset, C. & Madec, G.; 2023; Variability and Remote Controls of the Warm‐Water Halo and Taylor Cap at Maud Rise; Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans; 12810.1029/2022jc019517.

[ocean] Himmich, K., Vancoppenolle, M., Madec, G., Sallee, J.B., Holland, P.R. & Lebrun, M.; 2023; Drivers of Antarctic sea ice advance; Nature Communications; 14; 6219; 10.1038/s41467-023-41962-8.

[AniBOS] Holbach, H.M., Bousquet, O., Bucci, L., Chang, P., Cione, J., Ditchek, S., Doyle, J., Duvel, J.-P., Elston, J., Goni, G., Hon, K.K., Ito, K., Jelenak, Z., Lei, X., Lumpkin, R., McMahon, C.R., Reason, C., Sanabia, E., Shay, L.K., Sippel, J.A., Sushko, A., Tang, J., Tsuboki, K., Yamada, H., Zawislak, J. & Zhang, J.A.; 2023; Recent Advancements in Aircraft and In Situ Observations of Tropical Cyclones; Tropical Cyclone Research and Review; 12; 81-99; 10.1016/j.tcrr.2023.06.001.

[AniBOS] Jonsen, I.D., Grecian, W.J., Phillips, L., Carroll, G., McMahon, C., Harcourt, R.G., Hindell, M.A. & Patterson, T.A.; 2023; aniMotum, an R package for animal movement data: Rapid quality control, behavioural estimation and simulation; Methods in Ecology and Evolution; 10.1111/2041-210x.14060.

[AniBOS] Le Ster, L., Claustre, H., d'Ovidio, F., Nerini, D., Picard, B. & Guinet, C.; 2023; Improved accuracy and spatial resolution for bio-logging-derived chlorophyll a fluorescence measurements in the Southern Ocean; Frontiers in Marine Science; 1010.3389/fmars.2023.1122822.

[bio] McMahon, C.R., Hindell, M.A., Charrassin, J.B., Coleman, R., Guinet, C., Harcourt, R., Labrousse, S., Raymond, B., Sumner, M. & Ribeiro, N.; 2023; Southern Ocean pinnipeds provide bathymetric insights on the East Antarctic continental shelf; Communications Earth & Environment; 410.1038/s43247-023-00928-w.

[ocean] Narayanan, A., Gille, S.T., Mazloff, M.R., du Plessis, M.D., Murali, K. & Roquet, F.; 2023; Zonal Distribution of Circumpolar Deep Water Transformation Rates and Its Relation to Heat Content on Antarctic Shelves; Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans; 12810.1029/2022jc019310.

[ocean] Ribeiro, N., Herraiz-Borreguero, L., Rintoul, S.R., Williams, G., McMahon, C.R., Hindell, M. & Guinet, C.; 2023; Oceanic Regime Shift to a Warmer Continental Shelf Adjacent to the Shackleton Ice Shelf, East Antarctica; Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans; 128; e2023JC019882; 10.1029/2023JC019882

[ocean] Silvano, A., Purkey, S., Gordon, A.L., Castagno, P., Stewart, A.L., Rintoul, S.R., Foppert, A., Gunn, K.L., Herraiz-Borreguero, L., Aoki, S., Nakayama, Y., Naveira Garabato, A.C., Spingys, C., Akhoudas, C.H., Sallée, J.-B., de Lavergne, C., Abrahamsen, E.P., Meijers, A.J.S., Meredith, M.P., Zhou, S., Tamura, T., Yamazaki, K., Ohshima, K.I., Falco, P., Budillon, G., Hattermann, T., Janout, M.A., Llanillo, P., Bowen, M.M., Darelius, E., Østerhus, S., Nicholls, K.W., Stevens, C., Fernandez, D., Cimoli, L., Jacobs, S.S., Morrison, A.K., Hogg, A.M., Haumann, F.A., Mashayek, A., Wang, Z., Kerr, R., Williams, G.D. & Lee, W.S.; 2023; Observing Antarctic Bottom Water in the Southern Ocean; Frontiers in Marine Science; 1010.3389/fmars.2023.1221701.

[bio] Viola, B., Wienecke, B., Green, C.-P., Corney, S., Raymond, B., Southwell, C., Sumner, M.D., Virtue, P., Wotherspoon, S. & Emmerson, L.; 2023; Marine distribution and habitat use by Snow Petrels Pagodroma nivea in East Antarctica throughout the non-breeding period; Frontiers in Marine Science; 1010.3389/fmars.2023.1278229.

[ocean] Yamazaki, K., Aoki, S. & Mizobata, K.; 2023; Diffusion of Circumpolar Deep Water Towards Antarctica; Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans; 12810.1029/2022jc019422.

[ocean] Yan, L., Wang, Z., Liu, C., Wu, Y., Qin, Q., Sun, C., Qian, J. & Zhang, L.; 2023; The Salinity Budget of the Ross Sea Continental Shelf, Antarctica; Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans; 12810.1029/2022jc018979.