From The Register, December 6:
'Check out my great new hat! Sensors are so hot right now!'.
Image Credit: Sorbonne University/Etienne Pauthenet
NASA’s science team has a new female recruit and she's probing the watery depths of the Antarctic in a quest to help climate eggheads understand our climate.....MUCH MORE
Armed with no prior research or any academic qualifications, just a metallic antenna strapped to its head, a southern elephant seal has been quietly helping scientists gather data in one of the world's most challenging environments.
NASA researchers aren’t cut out to battle the ocean around Antarctica, filled with wild freezing currents that produce eddies that stretch just over 200 kilometers (125 miles) across. They are trying to study the Antarctic Circumpolar Current, which flows in a loop around Antarctica through the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian oceans, but deep diving there is near impossible.
Southern elephant seals, however, thrive under those conditions and spend most of the year at sea. Such seals dive deeper than many whales, with one tracked going down 2,133 meters (6,998ft) down in search of squid and fish, making them the top diver among different types of seal....
