4 animal “scientists” helping us map the ocean

JoAnna Wendel 12.12.2020 5:30 PM Ocean Tarpan / 500px/500Px Plus/Getty Images

The ocean is, put lightly, a big place. Shutterstock

The ocean takes up more than 70 percent of Earth’s surface and contains some of the most remote and hard-to-get-to places on the planet. Shutterstock

In fact, scientists know more about the surface of the Moon than the bottom of the ocean. Shutterstock

Shutterstock For years, scientists have tried to improve the tools with which they study the ocean, from its wide-ranging temperatures, to the patterns of deep and shallow currents, to salinity levels.

Shutterstock But sometimes traditional tools like buoys or remotely powered underwater vehicles just don’t cut it, especially in extreme environments like the poles.

Shutterstock Instead, scientists figured out a way to let nature do the work — specifically, sea creatures which carry scientific instruments through the ocean’s depths.

Shutterstock Narwhals sporting monitors to measure ocean temperature, salinity, and depth help scientists map hard-to-reach areas, like the cold and harsh regions around Greenland.

Auscape / Contributor Elephant seals equipped with temperature and salinity monitors have helped scientists map the Southern Ocean , as well as study how it transports heat.

Shutterstock Electric rays may one day help scientists map the bottom of the ocean.

Shutterstock Another ocean-bottom dweller is the stingray , which could also be outfitted with depth sensors to help scientists map the sea floor.

Shutterstock With the data gathered from these honorary scientists, we can start filling in the massive gaps in knowledge about our vast oceans.

Read more animal stories here . Shutterstock

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