Developing bottom drifters to better understand the stranding locations of cold-stunned sea turtles in Cape Cod Bay, Massachusetts.

ABSTRACT: Every fall, juvenile sea turtles in the Northwest Atlantic Ocean are threatened by rapidly declining water temperatures. When sea turtles become hypothermic, or cold-stunned, they lose mobility-either at the surface, subsurface, or the bottom of the water column-and eventually strand at the shoreline where rescue teams associated with the Sea Turtle Stranding and Salvage Network may search for them. Understanding the effects of ocean currents on the potential stranding locations of cold-stunned sea turtles is essential to better understand stranding hotspots and increase the probability of successful discovery and recovery of turtles before they die in the cold temperatures. Traditional oceanographic drifters-instruments used to track currents-have been used to examine relationships betwee

SUBMITTER: Page FM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10474834 | biostudies-literature | 2023

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature