SDL has supplied undersea sensor to support ocean research projects in collaboration with Valeport Ltd.

Valeport has integrated this undersea sensor, with multiple technologies to create a bespoke sensor device (CTD sensor) that is attached to marine mammals’ heads to help scientists gather data from areas of the ocean which are unreachable by humans and robots.

Valeport’s CTD sensor was originally developed to be attached to the seal tags of the Sea Mammal Research Unit (SMRU) of St Andrews University in Scotland, to explore how marine mammal behaviour relates to their oceanic environment by obtaining oceanographic quality CTD casts.

In another project led by ecologist Lars Boehme, data-gathering seals helped to predict sea level rise in West Antarctica, as part of a two-month scientific expedition. With the help of our undersea sensor, the sensor was able to capture the temperature, volume, and how the water changed seasonally from the areas the seals visited in the ocean, which provided a better understanding to when the West Antarctica’s glaciers might collapse and at what speed.