Date: November 29, 2018
Source: European Geosciences Union
When the
UK's Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) set out to tag
razorbills, their aim was to track their behaviour and movements along the coast
of North Wales. The tag data revealed that, at night, these seabirds spent a
lot of their time idle on the sea surface. "We saw this as an opportunity
to re-use the data and test if the birds might be drifting with the tidal
current," says Matt Cooper, a Master of Oceanography graduate from Bangor
University in Wales. It turns out they were, according to a new study led by
Cooper that shows the potential of using seabirds to measure ocean currents.
The results are published today in the European Geosciences Union
journal Ocean Science.
Using
seabirds to tell us about the tide could be especially useful for the marine
renewable energy industry. Generating tidal energy requires detailed knowledge
of current speeds. Scientists and engineers traditionally measure tides by
using radar or deploying anchors and buoys with scientific instruments.
However, these scouting methods are challenging and expensive. If tagged
seabirds could provide tidal data over a large area, they could help identify
sites that would be good sources of tidal energy.
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