Narwhals , a ocean animal that looks like something from Dr Seuss ' imagination , are unlikely foot soldiers in the fight against meld Arctic ocean ice .
A NASA project calledOceans Melting Greenland ( OMG)uses a combining of ship , planes , and floating gadgets to track where and how profligate warming sea waters are disappear Greenland ’s ice . However , vast portions of the Arctic sea are clog with treacherous fields of iceberg , piddle them hard to reach , which is why the labor also employs the help of narwal fitted with satellite - link up time - profoundness - temperature recorders .
The scientist on this project releaseda study back in 2010about the data they had gathered using narwhals in the southerly Baffin Bay , the portion of ocean between Greenland and Canada ’s Baffin Island . Now , NASA and the Office of Naval Research haveagreed to funda fresh written report set to look into change in Arctic ice around Melville Bay off the coast of northwestern Greenland . They are hoping this new study will also provide a rare and much - needed insight into the behavior of these shy , secretive whale .
It ’s easier to " let the narwhals be the oceanographers,”explainedmarine ecologist Kristin Laidre , though she points outthese mysterious brute are n’t the easiest fellow worker to process with .
“ They ’re one of the speculative cogitation fauna ever . They ’re just really , really unmanageable . They are shy , they are elusive , they are furtive . you could spend a calendar month in the field and barely see a narwhal , ” she said .
They can and do , however , make numerous dives each twenty-four hour period to depths of down to 1,700 meters ( 5,577 feet ) . This give the scientists a monumental insight into this part of the sea and ice variation of this largely unaccessible soil .
narwal , known as the “ unicorn of the sea ” due to their unusual single tusk ( which is actually a tooth ) hold out specifically in the parky waters around Greenland , Canada , and Russia . Well versify with the freezing H2O of the Arctic , they are capable to swim beneath the vast planes of surface ice , and so by tag them , the researcher receive information that otherwise would n’t be useable to them .
“ Not only will scientists learn about how thaw oceans are melting Greenland but this project will also provide scientist more data about how narwhal behaviour is linked to ocean temperature , salinity , and frappe conditions in the fjord , ” Ian Fenty , a NASA oceanographer who canvas sea levels and ice , toldNASA Sea Level Change .
Sounds like a profits - winnings position to us .
