seaturtle.org
Multimedia Image Library Maptool Tracking Webmail Members News Links Search Help Donate

Sign In
Tracking Home
Data Explorer
What's New
For Researchers
For Teachers
Tracking FAQ
Outputs
Partners
Animal Finder
Projects
(Archived Projects)
Tortugas carey en el Pacifico Mexicano.
Vero
Tracking Green Turtles from the Lacepede Islands
Mabel +
Hawksbill Hope & Marymount University
Earth's Hope for GPWS
Black-bellied Plover Tracking (Canada)
Pingasut +
Sivataarvik
Atausiq
Iglulimmiutaujuq
Salish sea harbor seal foraging study 2014
ID#6 YL1689 137169
 

Satellite Tracking

Why did animal X stop transmitting?

Background

"Fluffy" was named by the Crumpler family of Bald Head Island. She was intercepted while laying a clutch of eggs on the 4th of July, 2003. A Sea Mammal Research Unit SLTDR was attached, making her the third adult female loggerhead to be deployed with a satellite transmitter in this project. After Fluffy returned to the water she appeared to remain close to the island, although we received very few locations. We started to hear from her again on the July 16th and she came back to nest on the night of the 17th/18th July. When she was on the beach, the BHIC interns were able to confirm that all was well with the unit and the attachment. Following nesting, "Fluffy" then moved slightly northeast of BHI before falling quiet again on the 21st July. We were slightly concerned when we had not heard from the transmitter in several days but we started receiving locations again on the 1st August in an area offshore from the North Carolina/Virginia border between Cape Hatteras and the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay. Fluffy remained feeding in that area for 18 weeks and only left to head south on the 6th December. She spent Christmas and New Year in transit and stopped on the 31st December some 100km north east of Cape Fear to forage some more! Her transmitter sent its last message on the 18th January, placing her some 100km East of Cape Fear.

Fluffy was the last turtle to leave her Northerly foraging site and traveled 178 miles at an average speed of 0.8 mph for 27 days to reach the Cape from her previous forage site at Duck, North Carolina. We have since discovered that Fluffys transmitter had only used 25% of its potential battery life at the time of transmitter failure. Therefore we think it is likely that Fluffy either dislodged or damaged her transmitter in some way, causing it to become incapable of sending messages. However, we have had great results from Fluffy in this study and have even more data in the form of dive profiles to analyze yet!

  • The presentation of data here does not constitute publication. All data remain copyright of the project partners. Maps or data on this website may not be used or referenced without the explicit written consent of the data owners.
  • For more information please visit the project website.
  • This map connects positions generated by the ARGOS system designated as location class (lc) '3', '2', '1', 'A'. Locations that have been "filtered" are displayed as small red dots.
  • This maps also shows locations of class '0', 'B' as small black dots which are not connected by a route line.
  • Bathymetry layers are derived from the GEBCO One Minute Grid.
  • Sea surface temperature and chlorophyll are derived from NASA's Ocean Color data.
  • Ocean currents and sea surface heights are derived from AVISO's Ssalto/Duacs Gridded Absolute Dynamic Topography & absolute geostrophic velocities data.

SEATURTLE.ORG collaborates with Argos to help scientists and conservationists manage and analyse their valuable animal tracking data.

About seaturtle.org FAQ Privacy Policy Terms of Service

Copyright © seaturtle.org All rights reserved.

If you have questions or comments about seaturtle.org please contact support@seaturtle.org.

If you have questions or comments about the website please contact the webmaster.