Slide 1

Using GLOBCOLOUR and MEDSPIRATION products to

investigate marine animal migrations as part of the DIVERSITY project

Philippe GasparCLS

Satellite Oceanography DivisionMEMMS Team

(Marine Ecosystem Modeling and Monitoring by Satellites)

Slide 2

ESA DUE DIVERSITY

OBJECTIVEOBJECTIVE

Defining & demonstrating EO-based products & services for Defining & demonstrating EO-based products & services for the user community involved in the implementation of the the user community involved in the implementation of the United NationsUnited Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD)

FOCUS AREA Central America + Caribbean Sea and Tropical East Pacific

CHAMPION USERS UNESCO (Division of Ecological and Earth Sciences) Comisión Centro-Americana de Ambiente y Desarrollo (CCAD) CBD Secretariat MarViva : NGO promoting the safeguarding and creation of

Marine Protected Areas in Latin America and the Caribbean Malpelo Fundacion : the organisation representing MarViva in

Colombia – Focusses on Malpelo Island biodiversity protection

Slide 3

PRODUCTS AND SERVICES

1) LAND COVER Dry-land biodiversity indicators Maps of mesoamerican biological corridors

2) CORAL REEFS Maps of intact/bleaching coral Maps of relevant environmental information : sea water

quality & land sources of marine pollution

3) MANGROVE Maps of mangrove areas Maps of changes in mangrove areas

4) MARINE WILDLIFE MIGRATION AREAS

Slide 4

INVESTIGATING MARINE WILDLIFE MIGRATIONS

Breeding/spawning habitat

Foraging habitat

MigrationOCEAN

MIGRATION = Change of habitat Identify Habitat 1 – Route – Habitat 2 Investigate how these are linked to oceanic conditions ?

MigrationBreeding spawning

Foraging

OCEAN

PURPOSE

Precisely locate habitats to be able to protect them

Evaluate how ocean/climate changes are likely to affect habitats and hence population (stock) evolution

Slide 5

PRODUCTS & SERVICES

1) During demonstration phase (Nov 2007 – June 2008) : provide to champion users NRT satellite oceanography data to support THEIR investigations on Wildlife migrations in the Tropical East Pacific Corridor (TEPC)

2) Perform a “prototype” investigation in collaboration with the users & based on user-provided animal tracking data

Extended Data Coverage (EDC)

20°N - 20°S

120°W –Coastline

Malpelo

Slide 6

SATELLITE OCEANOGRAPHY DATA

Historical data : Jan 2006 Oct. 2007

Near Real-Time data : Nov. 2007 June 2008

SST

NRT : Dedicated daily MEDSPIRATION product over the EDC area Historical : UKMO GHRSTT data (OSTIA)

OCEAN COLOR

NRT : Chl-a (type I) from (prototype) GLOBCOLOUR processing chain developed & operated by ACRI

Historical : forthcoming GLOBCOLOUR Chl-a reanalysis

OCEAN CURRENTS

NRT & Historical : altimeter-derived surface current product (SURCOUF) from CLS

Slide 7

ANIMAL TRACKING DATA

EULERIAN OBSERVATIONS

= observations of marine animals at a fixed geographic location Observations by divers (species, behaviors, abundance) Acoustic (sonar) data : abundance & vertical distribution of

biomass

LAGRANGIAN OBSERVATIONS

= observations “following” marine animals

Biologgers = electronic devices (tags) attached to marine animals with positioning & data acquisition capabilities. ( + satellite data transmission)

2 main types of “lagrangian” tags Satellite positioning Light positioning

Slide 8

TAGS WITH SATELLITE POSITIONING

SATELLITE POSITIONING Available only for surfacing (air-breathing) animals Accurate (ARGOS, GPS) Satellite data transmission is generally used (ARGOS)

USUAL TAG MEASUREMENTS Time, position, temperature, depth

Slide 9

TAGS WITH LIGHT POSITIONING (1/2)

LIGHT-BASED POSITIONING Presently the main positioning technique for non-surfacing

animals

Estimate sunrise & sunset time to get a position

• Longitude error ~1°

• Latitude error ~ 3 to 5°, worse near the equator and equinoxes

Slide 10

TAGS WITH LIGHT POSITIONING (2/2)

USUAL TAG MEASUREMENTS Time, light-level, temperature, depth

POP-UP TAG

Slide 11

LEATHERBACK TURTLE TRACKING (1/2)

ORIGINAL PLAN 27 female ltb Argos-tracked in 2005 – 2006 the TEPC from

their nesting beaches in Costa Rica Data use restricted by data owner

ABAN

DONN

ED

A PITY……. A “large” pluri-annal data set with precise

positioning Ltb spend most of their time in the upper oceanic

layer (> 50% above 50 m) their behavior is linked with surface oceanic conditions

Forages at low trophic levels (salps, jelly fishes) “short” link to plankton and chl-a

Slide 12

LEATHERBACK TURTLE TRACKING (2/2)

Slide 13

SUPPORTING MALPELO FUNDACION INVESTIGATIONS ON SHARK MIGRATIONS

Malpelo Fundacion research program on sharks :

Determine the habitat use, local and regional movements of sharks in the Mapelo FFS using satellite (and acoustic) telemetry.

Objective : define effective management strategies to protect sharks during key moments of their life cycle such as reproduction and breeding.

Malpelo Fauna & Flora Sanctuary : a UNESCO World Heritage Site

Slide 14

INVESTIGATING SHARK

SHARK TRACKING

6 Hammerhead sharks : March 2 to August 8, 2006 1 Ferox Shark : March 12 to May 3, 2007 New shark tagging campaign at Malpelo foreseen in March 2008

Slide 15

SHARK DATA

DIVERS OBSERVATIONS OF ABUNDANCE (various species)

2004-2005 : ~ quarterly cruises to Malpelo

2006-2007: ~ monthly cruises to Malpelo, >10 dives per cruise

Nu

mb

er o

f h

amm

erh

ead

sh

arks

ob

serv

ed

2004 2007

Slide 16

SHARK MIGRATIONS

HAMMERHEAD SKARK : A CHALLENGING ANIMAL

Non breathing poor geolocation

Powerful swimmer currents are less constraining

Often deep association with SST likely small

Carnivorous association with chl-a far from direct

Viviparous reproduction sites not strongly constrained by temperature –but probably by micronekton

…still SST data prove to be extremely useful

….. for improving geolocation !!!

Slide 17

GEOLOCATING SHARKS USING SST AS A CONSTRAINT

Slide 18

GEOLOCATING SHARKS USING SST AS A CONSTRAINT

Slide 19

OCEAN COLOR AND SHARKS

INTENDED DIRECT USE Time series of Chl-a to analyse biomass variations (dive data)

Slide 20

OCEAN COLOR AND SHARKS

OTHER INTENDED USE : input to estimate primary production and then prey abundance

Primary production

Distribution of epipelagic preys

JAN 2004

JAN 2004

Lehodey et al., 2007

Slide 21

SUMMARY

1) Satellite oceanography data are useful in different ways to help analyze marine biology data (tracking and others)

2) Direct use can be envisioned for analyzing some behaviours of some species

3) More generally satellite oceanography data are likely to be used “indirectly” as inputs for the creation of higher-level, more directly pertinent products :

- Light + SST based geolocation

- Primary & secondary production

- ………

Slide 22

SUMMARY

4) While DIVERSITY is still in the prototyping phase, a VERY preliminary evaluation of the GLOBCOLOUR & MEDSPIRATION products has been made

5) Both project teams have been reactive to our requests implemented and delivered dedicated products on our

EDC area provided reliable daily access to these products

6) The MEDSPIRATION SST product appears to be immediately usable

7) The (prototype) GLOBCOLOUR product still needs work before being easily usable for studies of marine animals’ migrations.

Slide 23

Forage is made of 6 functional groups moving between 3 vertical layers

day

night

sunset, sunrise

Epipelagic layer

T, U, V

1 2 3 4 5 6

Mesopelagic layer

T, U, V

Bathypelagic

Layer

T, U, V

1; epipelagic, 2; migrant- mesopelagic migrant, 3; mesopelagic, 4: migrant- bathypelagic, 5; highly-migrant bathypelagic , 6; bathypelagic

Day length = f(Lat, date)PP

E

En’Euphotic depth

2 x Euphotic depth

1000m

Ref.: Lehodey et al. 1998 (Fish Oceanog.); Lehodey 2001 (Prog. Oceanog.); Lehodey et al. submitted (Prog. Oceanog.)

Surface