In 2018, the AFSC Polar Ecosystems Program and Wildlife Computers began collaboration on a project to develop a new family of SPLASH bio-loggers that would provide a small footprint device capable of FastLoc GPS, ocean temperature profiles, and on-board dive behavior summaries that provide unbiased data and efficient transmission via Argos. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the intended deployments on ribbon and spotted seals in 2020 were not possible, and in the spring of 2022, only 2 of the 25 devices available were deployed. Instead of letting these devices sit on the shelf for 2+ years, we have developed a plan to deploy a portion of them on northern fur seals at San Miguel Island and northern fur seals at St. Paul Island. At least 10 devices will be reserved for future deployments on ice seals via collaborative research with Alaska Native communities. These tags were originally funded by the US Navy in 2017.
These tags employ two key enhancements that have not been previously available:
- Improved ocean temperature profile capabilities with a dedicated external thermistor probe
- On-board processing of time-at-depth data to create a more efficient dive behavior summary message that relies on empirical cumulative distributions instead of the typical histogram bin approach used for decades.
Because relatively few devices with these new capabilities have been deployed (by MML or other researchers), there is a great need to observe how these new devices perform, to evaluate how efficient the data transmissions are, and to learn from real-world experience so future deployments can be optimized for a range of study questions.
Visit the complete briefing paper and proposal for additional details
In September 2022, SPLASH bio-loggers were deployed on 12 adult female northern fur seals at San Miguel Island, California (n=6) and St. Paul Island, Alaska (n=6).
This Google Sheet lists deployment and animal details.
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