Skip Navigation
Jack Baskin School of EngineeringUC Santa Cruz

Go Deep: Marine Mammal Marker for At-Sea Monitoring

Tuesday, August 1, 2006
Written by Gabriel Hugh Elkaim, Eric B. Decker, Guy Oliver, Brent Wright

Prototype pinniped sensor tag (shown without cover) attaches to skin of marine mammals and records velocity, orientation, and depth, along with the environmental salinity and temperature.
The observation technology used by wildlife researchers can limit their understanding of the behavior of marine mammals. Surface tracking using geolocation and Service Argos tags have shown that these mammals range much farther than previously thought. Relatively simple time/depth recorders (TDRs) show that they dive more than 1,000 meters deep and for longer than one hour. To further the understanding of these aquatic creatures, we developed a smaller and more capable tag with more sensing capabilities that can be deployed for longer durations. The MAMMARK tag, measuring 2.5 ? 4 centimeters, carries a low-power microprocessor and a set of sensors that can be multiplexed through a high-resolution analog-to-digital converter (ADC).

Article available from: