Mapping the Oceans with Seals

Oceanographers glued sensors to 57 seals and used their natural movements as a means of gathering information about Antarctic ocean conditions:

As the animals swim, the tags record information every few seconds, then relay it via satellite once the seals surface. About 30 percent of the time seals dive all the way to the bottom to forage for food, says Padman, so by studying enough dives for each animal — some 200,000 dives in total — the researchers can deduce where the seafloor lies.[...]

Other researchers might now be inspired to dig through seal data to see what features could be mapped, he adds. Ships can cost tens of thousands of dollars a day to operate in Antarctic waters, whereas there is a wealth of readily available information available on seal tags.


Link via Super Punch | Photo: Daniel Costa

Comments (7)

Newest 5
Newest 5 Comments

A „Measuring Wheel“
could be used for measuring the inside diameter and the outside diameter of a wagon wheel to make a precise fit.

Would like to know if it has written „Wiley & Russell MFG.CO Greenfield“ on it...

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That there is a wagon wheel measurer, for measuring the diameter of wagon wheel biscuits. Getting the right diameter means you have just enough jam to marshmallow.

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It actually the pizza cutter used to cut the largest pizza e ever in the history of ever in the second edition of the book of world records. The next largest pizza ever in the history history of ever that broke the first pizzas record required the largest pizza-cutter ever in the history of ever to cut it, so this one was retired.

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It's called a "Wheel Traveler" it is used to measure the circumference of a wheel in order to determine the length of Iron band needed to create a tire, which will then be shrunk onto the wooden frame creating a wheel.

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A Ground Downer Wheel for locating the direction of the ground. BTW, it' s usually down, therefore the Ground Downer Wheel production was discontinued rather quickly. You can usually find one of these in the back of any given garage, hanging on a nail with the arrow still pointing towards the ground. Oh, Ground Downer...ceaselessly working even through neglect. It's almost beautiful.

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It looks like a surveying wheel. It probably measures in yards but the ones at my school measures metres. You start with the zero at the arrow and walk, the ones at our school click every metre and you count the clicks to measure the distance you've walked.

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It is a giant compass, but oh no, it is not one for the detection of magnetic north. It is simply too heavy and unwieldy. This is a compass for the detection of heavy metal. Best bought for and used by your close heavy metal enthusiast this will help them ensure that they will always know where the next concert is.

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