How sea turtles help face cyclones

How sea turtles help face cyclones

TOPIC: Science & Tech.

Context- Sea turtles on Reunion Island, a French territory in the Indian Ocean, are being fitted with special tags to help researchers collect data about cyclones.

Concept-

STORM:

• STORM (Sea Turtles for Ocean Research and Monitoring) is a partnership between the Kelonia care centre and the Atmosphere and Cyclone Laboratory of the University of La Réunion.
• It is a cooperation between biologists and meteorologists for:
  • Better knowledge of the oceanic behaviour of juvenile sea turtles, and
  • New data on the surface and sub-surface temperatures of the oceans and the genesis of cyclones.
• Argos tags are equipped with temperature and depth sensors and record temperature variations with the depth during turtle dives.
• It is the oceanic movements of the turtles, during which they cross the zones of creation and development of cyclones.

Reunion Island:

• Réunion is a French overseas department and overseas region in the western Indian Ocean. It is located about 420 miles (680 km) east of Madagascar and 110 miles (180 km) southwest of Mauritius.