The Ocean Tracking Network’s North American approach and footprint

The Ocean Tracking Network’s  North American approach and footprint Fred Whoriskey The Ocean Tracking Network (OTN) is a global, electronic telemetry infrastructure to support research into the movements and survival of aquatic animals, and link both to environmental conditions. Headquartered at Dalhousie University, OTN’s infrastructure is funded by the Canada Foundation for Innovation, with Canadian investigators supported though the infrastructure by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada. Key North American acoustic telemetry infrastructure has been placed in the Arctic, and off the East and West coasts. OTN can provide short-term loans of acoustic telemetry equipment to academic investigators.

OTN deployments strategically enhance existing telemetry installations established by government, academia, and industry, while providing new capabilities for researchers. Autonomous vehicles are being used to carry mobile receivers, to harvest data from fixed receivers equipped with acoustic modems, and to provide oceanographic information in selected areas.

Additional oceanographic information is collected from fixed benthic stations by oceanographic pods. OTN has developed a sophisticated data warehouse to curate global tracking information, has a well established communications plan, and has been recognized as a system of the UN’s Global Ocean Observing System (GOOS). Currently 395 international scientists from

15 countries are using its platform.