The newest climate researchers are those one-horned wonders of the sea, narwhals. Researchers recruited these marine mammals to gather data about ocean temperatures in Baffin Bay, an icy stretch of the Arctic between northern Canada and Greenland. The project was a collaboration between several climate scientists and marine biologist Kristin Laidre, who declared the experiment a success.
“Narwhals proved to be highly efficient and cost-effective ‘biological oceanographers,’ providing wintertime data to fill gaps in our understanding of this important ocean area,” said Laidre. [Discovery News]
Researchers were eager for assistance, because the difficulty of gathering data in the Arctic winter had led to a hole in the climate data. Says study coauthor and oceanographer Mike Steele:
"We basically knew nothing about winters up in Baffin Bay." ... Traditionally, researchers take seawater temperatures by hanging devices below a survey ship or a helicopter, or by leaving a team on the pack ...
