Seals Help Japanese Researchers Collect Data under Antarctic Ice

This video grab shows a Weddell seal fitted with high-tech head-mounted measuring devices to survey waters under the thick ice sheet, near Japan's Showa Station in Antarctica, April 2017. (National Institute of Polar Research/Handout via Reuters)
This video grab shows a Weddell seal fitted with high-tech head-mounted measuring devices to survey waters under the thick ice sheet, near Japan's Showa Station in Antarctica, April 2017. (National Institute of Polar Research/Handout via Reuters)
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Seals Help Japanese Researchers Collect Data under Antarctic Ice

This video grab shows a Weddell seal fitted with high-tech head-mounted measuring devices to survey waters under the thick ice sheet, near Japan's Showa Station in Antarctica, April 2017. (National Institute of Polar Research/Handout via Reuters)
This video grab shows a Weddell seal fitted with high-tech head-mounted measuring devices to survey waters under the thick ice sheet, near Japan's Showa Station in Antarctica, April 2017. (National Institute of Polar Research/Handout via Reuters)

A seal wearing a helmet with an antenna might look unusual, but eight Weddell seals, each with a 580g monitoring device on their heads, have been helping Japanese researchers survey the waters under the thick ice sheet in Antarctica.

Tapped for a research project between March and November 2017 - winter in Antarctica - these seals were equipped with the head-mounted conductivity, temperature and depth sensor, which allows scientists to collect observation data, such as water temperatures and salt levels, in areas with extremely harsh environmental conditions.

Project leader Nobuo Kokubun said such research helps scientists trace the animals' behavioral patterns and ecology.

"During the summer, we can go to Antarctica on icebreakers to conduct actual research activities, so that we can collect data there. But during the winter, such things cannot be done in so many places," Kokubun said during an interview with Reuters on Friday.

"However, even in such a situation, many animals such as seals are living in the area of Antarctica, so I thought we should have them collect the data," Kokubun added.

The data successfully gathered from seven seals showed one of them had traveled as far as 633km (393 miles) from the coast of Japan's Showa Station in Antarctica, while another had descended to a depth of 700m (2,297 ft).

Kokubun said the scientists also learned from the data that warm seawater from the upper layer in the open sea reached Antarctica from March through winter that year. The water flowed below the ice, bringing in sea creatures like Antarctic krill, a major food source for seals.

Aiming to examine further the impact of global warming on Antarctic coastal areas, Kokubun next hopes to make the device small enough to fit on other animals at the South Pole such as penguins.

"The advantage with penguins is that they come back to the same place and we can collect the data from them immediately. Also, we can use the devices on a large number of penguins so they can cover a wide area," he said.



Greece to Build Escape Port on Santorini as Quakes Continue

FILE PHOTO: People board a ferry to Piraeus, during an increased seismic activity on the island of Santorini, Greece, February 4, 2025. REUTERS/Alkis Konstantinidis/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: People board a ferry to Piraeus, during an increased seismic activity on the island of Santorini, Greece, February 4, 2025. REUTERS/Alkis Konstantinidis/File Photo
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Greece to Build Escape Port on Santorini as Quakes Continue

FILE PHOTO: People board a ferry to Piraeus, during an increased seismic activity on the island of Santorini, Greece, February 4, 2025. REUTERS/Alkis Konstantinidis/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: People board a ferry to Piraeus, during an increased seismic activity on the island of Santorini, Greece, February 4, 2025. REUTERS/Alkis Konstantinidis/File Photo

Greece will soon set up an evacuation port on the island of Santorini to facilitate the safe escape of people in case a bigger quake hits the popular tourist destination, a Greek minister said on Monday.
Santorini, a volcanic island in the Aegean Sea, has been shaken by tens of thousands of mild quakes since late January, forcing thousands of people to flee, and authorities to ban construction activity, and shut schools and nearby islands.
No major damage has been reported but scientists have said the seismic activity was unprecedented even in a quake-prone country like Greece and have not ruled out bigger tremors.
They have identified the main ferry port at the foot of a precipitous slope and other sites across Santorini as weak links, although they have not said they cannot be used in an emergency situation, Reuters reported.
Civil Protection Minister Vassilis Kikilias said Greece will build an evacuation port for the safe docking of passenger ferries until a new port infrastructure is in place.
"Along with the new port in Santorini which is being prepared, there was a decision for setting up an escape port on the part of the island where passenger ferries would be able to dock in an emergency," he said in an interview with Greek ANT1 television.
Although the tremors lessened over the weekend, local authorities extended emergency measures for a third week on Sunday and reiterated calls for people to stay away from coastal areas and steep hillsides prone to landslides.
"This story is not over," Costas Papazachos, a seismology professor, and a spokesperson for the Santorini quakes told public broadcaster ERT.
"Both authorities and habitants should get used to a rather unpleasant situation for some time, it could be another two, three months."
Santorini took its current shape following one of the largest volcanic eruptions in history, around 1600 BC.
Seismologists have said the latest seismic activity, the result of moving tectonic plates and magma, has pushed subsurface layers of the island upwards.