A seal wearing a helmet with an antenna might look unusual, but eight Weddell seals, each with a 580-gram 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.
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