Ocean Monitoring

Despite its sophisticated technology, the tracking is quite simple. Scientists tag sea creatures with tiny transmitters so that their movements can be tracked for as long as 20 years by acoustic receivers placed at 800-metre intervals along the ocean floor in invisible “listening lines.”  As the animal swims over a line, it is recorded and the data is then uploaded to a central database, resulting in current and reliable global records that can be analyzed and applied to many different environmental research efforts.

To track changes of the ocean properties, OTN listening lines will also include sophisticated physical environment sensors that measure the ocean’s temperature, depth, salinity, currents, chemistry and other properties.
 
OTN will collect the data from the receivers and ocean-sensing instruments by a variety of methods. Ships, or small robotic submarines called Gliders, will patrol over the lines, using acoustic modems to upload data from the receivers. Next-generation receivers will be able to “daisy-chain” data to the next receiver in the line until all the data are transmitted to a shore station. In some areas, receivers will be connected to underwater fibre-optic-cabled “ocean observatories” that send data to researchers instantly. Receivers can also be attached to buoys that relay data ashore via satellite.