Comparing a High-Resolution Coupled Wave-Current Ocean Model and Biologging Derived Oceanographic Data

Dorukhan Ardag, United States, James A Lerczak, Oregon State University, College of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences, Corvallis, OR, United States, Greg Wilson, Oregon State University, CEOAS, Corvallis, United States, TUba H Ozkan-Haller, Oregon State University, Corvallis, United States, Adam Gabriel Peck-Richardson, Oregon State University, Department of Fisheries, Wildlife, and Conservation Sciences, Corvallis, United States, Donald Lyons, Oregon State University, Department of Fisheries and Wildlife, Corvallis, OR, United States and Rachael Orben, Oregon State University, Hatfield Marine Science Center, Department of Fisheries, Wildlife, and Conservation Sciences, Newport, United States
Abstract:
Biologging is typically used within an ecological context for tracking animal behavior and movement. However, biologging of marine birds also offers a distributed, autonomous, and scalable platform for collecting oceanographic measurements in remote coastal regions around the globe. We undertook an extensive bird tagging experiment from May to August 2014 at the mouth of Columbia River, Oregon. Tags carrying GPS, pressure, and temperature sensors were deployed on 24 double-crested cormorants (Phalacrocorax auritus) and 18 Brandt’s cormorants (Phalacrocorax penicillatus). Cormorants are diving seabirds, foraging benthically or in the water column, thus ~26,500 dive profiles were obtained during the study period. Depth soundings were identified as ‘flat-bottom’ dives. This unique data set provided high spatiotemporal coverage of the study region. We present a comparison of this biologging derived oceanographic data with results from a high-resolution coupled wave-current ocean model, of vertical salinity profiles (inferred from a known T/S relationship), surface currents, and depth soundings along the river mouth, and to characterize data quality and model/data errors. We also show a preliminary assessment of whether these sensors, and more-advanced sensors currently under development, may be used for data assimilation in cases with uncertain model parameters, and to aid in the interpretation of satellite measurements of the shallow coastal ocean.
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