Tagged turtles in the eye of the storm?September 22, 2003A NERC-funded researcher is tracking a number of migrating marine turtles which could be sent off-course or washed ashore by Hurricane Isabel. Updates on the turtles' progress can be followed on the web. Dr Brendan Godley and colleagues from the University of Exeter are using satellite technology to track the endangered green and loggerhead turtles as they leave their nesting beaches in North Carolina and the Cayman Islands and start the long journey to their winter foraging grounds. They attach satellite transmitters to the turtles' shells and each time a turtle surfaces to breathe, the transmitter sends signals to satellites which calculate its position. The transmitter can also provide information on the depth and duration of dives, giving an insight into where and how turtles forage for food. Says Dr Godley, "We started tracking the turtles to find out where they live when they are not breeding. Locating the foraging sites of marine turtle populations is vital if we are to protect them. But now some of them off the coast of the USA are actually experiencing Hurricane Isabel and it's possible they could be forced out to sea or even washed ashore." By tracking the turtles, Dr Godley expects to discover whether the female turtles, once they have laid their eggs, choose migration routes to minimise either the distance travelled or the time spent away from food. The information coming back from the sensors should also indicate the influence of ocean currents on the turtles' behaviour and if the turtles move to warmer waters to find food in winter or simply enter a state of semi-hibernation. Dr Godley has collaborated with colleagues at Seaturtle.org, a web-based organisation in the USA, to set up a website enabling people to follow the progress of the turtles. Each of the tagged turtles has been named so anyone logging on to the website at www.seaturtle.org/tracking can see where their favourite turtle has been and what it has been doing. The site has so far proved very popular with schoolchildren in the Cayman Islands who are following turtles they have called Myles, Shelby and Samia. Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) |
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| Related Hurricane Current Events and Hurricane News Articles Ida now a coastal low assaulting the Mid-Atlantic Ida is one stubborn girl. Her remnants have moved out to sea and reformed as a powerful coastal low pressure system that's been raining on the mid-Atlantic since Tuesday night, November 10. NASA Satellites See Ida Spreading Out Before Landfall NASA's Aqua and Terra satellites are keeping a close eye on Tropical Storm Ida, and both have instruments aboard that show her clouds and rains are already widespread inland over the U.S. Gulf coast states. Typhoon Mirinae is already scaring Philippine residents before Halloween Another typhoon in the northern Philippines really is something to be scared about, and Mirinae is expected to make landfall there in the mid-morning hours on Halloween, October 31. Mirinae intensifying while moving away from the northern Marianas Typhoon Mirinae is moving west and away from the Northern Marianas Islands on a track to a landfall in the Philippines by the weekend. As Mirinae has moved west, NASA's infrared and microwave satellite imagery have seen high, strong thunderstorm development, and a developing eye. Papahanaumokuakea National Monument Facing Hurricane Neki A hurricane warning is in force for the Papahanaumokuakea National Monument from Nihoa Island to French Frigate Shoals to Maro Reef. Hurricane conditions likely there by 5 a.m. HST on Friday, October 23. Researchers can predict hurricane-related power outages Using data from Hurricane Katrina and four other destructive storms, researchers from Johns Hopkins and Texas A&M universities say they have found a way to accurately predict power outages in advance of a hurricane. Seismic Noise Unearths Lost Hurricanes Seismologists have found a new way to piece together the history of hurricanes in the North Atlantic - by looking back through records of the planet's seismic noise. It's an entirely new way to tap into the rich trove of seismic records, and the strategy might help establish a link between global warming and the frequency or intensity of hurricanes. Baja California Residents Should Prepare for Hurricane Rick Based on computer forecast models, the residents of southern and central Baja California should prepare over the weekend for now Tropical Storm Rick. Rick formed late yesterday, October 15, and is expected to become a major hurricane over the weekend. Baja watching Tropical Storm Patricia in the latest GOES-11 satellite movie The nineteenth tropical cyclone of the Eastern Pacific formed over this past weekend, and strengthened into Tropical Storm Patricia. NASA satellite reveals a depressed and disorganized Henri Depression happens to everyone, even tropical storms, and Henri is now tropically depressed. NASA satellite imagery has confirmed he's weakened to a tropical depression and he is further expected to degenerate into a remnant low pressure area. More Hurricane Current Events and Hurricane News Articles |
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