Shallow water current profiles in a groundbreaking package

摘要

Understanding why marine animals are using some places and not others is crucial to minimising our impact on them. Recently, the new Eco ADCP from Norway-based Nortek has been helping one marine biologist, with no previous experience in using oceanographic instruments, characterise current flows in one of the manta ray's more unusual shallow-water coastal habitats with simplicity and ease. Powerful yet graceful, manta rays top almost everyone's list of must-see marine animals. While people flock to places like Indonesia or the Maldives to watch these gentle giants, one location has gone relatively unnoticed - South Florida. "I lived in Florida working as a sea turtle biologist, and a lot of data collection involved being on the beach all day," recounts Jessica Pate, a marine biologist with the Marine Megafauna Foundation. "Sometimes I would notice these big, black shapes swimming right next to shore in less than a metre of water."