Impacts of Temperature Measurements From Sea Turtles on Seasonal Prediction Around the Arafura Sea

Abstract

In this work, we added the assimilation of subsurface temperature measurements obtained from sea turtles around the Arafura Sea from June to October 2017 into an operational seasonal prediction system. The impact of these measurements was explored by conducting so-called ocean observing system experiments. It was found that the prediction of regional sea surface temperatures around the Arafura Sea was significantly improved at 3-4 months of lead time. The results also showed that the addition of temperature measurements from sea turtles into the existing Global Ocean Observing System (including satellites, mooring buoys, ships, and profiling floats) may open a new door to improving regional seasonal prediction through better representation of the initial state of the upper ocean.

Animal Borne Ocean Sensors – AniBOS – An Essential Component of the Global Ocean Observing System

“…Temperature-Depth profiles collected by loggerhead turtles (Caretta caretta) were integrated in ocean nowcast/forecasts that greatly improved the representation of mesoscale eddies and front variations in the Kuroshio-Oyashio Confluence region around Japan (Miyazawa et al, 2018). Moreover, Temperature-Depth profiles collected by olive Ridley turtles (Lepidochelys olivacea) were assimilated into an operational seasonal prediction system of regional sea surface temperatures in the Arafura Sea (Doi et al, 2019). There is a growing community of animalborne ocean observers in the tropical oceans, e.g., the Sea Turtle for Ocean Research and Monitoring (STORM) project that studies the properties and variability of the tropical Indian Ocean to improve research on ocean dynamics and climate change (Bousquet et al, 2020).…”

“…Temperature sensors have been used for decades to collect oceanographic data from many marine species including sharks, fish, turtles, seabirds and marine mammals. These temperature sensors are sufficiently accurate (0.1 • C ± 0.05 • C) at their typical sampling frequency of between 1 and 10 s to provide information over the typical lifespan (longevity = 12 months) of the instruments (McMahon et al, 2005) to observe important oceanographic features like thermoclines (Simmons et al, 2009), for improving regional seasonal climate predictions (Doi et al, 2019) and for improving nowcast/forecast systems to more accurately represent mesoscale eddies and front variations (Miyazawa et al, 2018). Temperature data is collected from multiple instrument types including pop-off, towed and surface-mount tags and are typically reported as Profiles of Depth and Temperature (PDT).…”

“…Assimilation of NRT animal-borne profiles from tagged seals (Carse et al, 2015) and turtles (Miyazawa et al, 2018) into short-range ocean forecast models significantly decreased model error in some regions. This illustrates the maturity of animal telemetry as a discipline and the vital complementary role AniBOS can play in GOOS (Goto et al, 2017;Doi et al, 2019;Bousquet et al, 2020;Queste et al, 2020;Dotto et al, 2021). Marine animals in addition to the information they collect within the water column also provide essential observations from the world's ocean surface.…”

Sea Turtles for Ocean Research and Monitoring: Overview and Initial Results of the STORM Project in the Southwest Indian Ocean

“…Although a first experiment was conducted in the North Atlantic as early as 2003 by McMahon et al (2005), this approach was neglected for a while before being recently revived in three recent studies taking advantage of new advances in satellite telemetry and sensor miniaturization. Patel et al (2018) used temperature measurements collected by loggerheads (Caretta caretta) to sample the ocean structure in a highly stratified region of the North-Eastern US continental shelf (Atlantic Ocean), while Miyazawa et al (2019) and Doi et al (2019) evaluated the benefits of assimilating temperature data collected by loggerhead and Olive Ridley (Lepidochelys olivacea) STs to improve regional ocean predictions in the Pacific Ocean.…”

Riders on the storm: loggerhead sea turtles detect and respond to a major hurricane in the Northwest Atlantic Ocean

“…The oceanography of the MAB is likely to play an important role in hurricane behavior and disaster preparation in the future, and this has encouraged the use of gliders to collect in situ data as storms work their way up the Northwest Atlantic Ocean [ 9 ]. Loggerhead sea turtle morphology and foraging behavior make them good observers of oceanographic variables throughout the entire water column where they forage [ 8 , 28 ], and the data derived from turtle-borne data loggers are currently an under-utilized resource that has the potential to improve forecasting models [ 29 ].…”