5 Ways of Shark Conservation: NASA's Earth-Observing Satellites Help in Nature Maintenance

As scientists at various institutions are directly focusing on shark conservation, the Earth-observing satellites of NASA collect important information about the habitat of sharks, the ocean, in particular.

These satellites of NASA gauge the height of the ocean, track currents, observe marine habitats and oversee quality events of water like detrimental algal blooms.

According to Lake County News, its long-term data sets also helps in understanding how climate change is impacting the ocean and marine life.

NASA is sharing ocean data with conservation groups, scientists, and partners such as the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration or NOAA. This particular news report specifies five ways NASA is helping with shark conservation, and these include:

ALSO READ: Friendly Sharks? A New Study Shows They Also Make Friends With Other Sharks

1. Helping Track Movement of Marine Animals

NASA satellite which involves field measurements-- is helping study investigators build a clearer image of sharks' travel routes.

In 2019, a joint venture between NASA and the Centre National D'Etudes Spatiales, known as Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite, monitored a massive animal migration that occurs on Earth.

In this case, marine animals, including fish, squid, and krill, rise from the ocean depths to the surface to enjoyably eat microscopic plants, also known as phytoplankton and smaller zooplankton, for their everyday consumption.

2. Measuring Changes in the Rise of Sea Levels and Climate Patterns

NASA has been gauging ocean height for nearly three decades, beginning with the TOPEX/Poseidon satellite mission from 1992 to 2006, and continuing with the "Jason-1, OSTM/Jason-3 and Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich missions," a similar NASA report specified.

Such satellites can identify changes in ocean height within an inch, providing extremely accurate seal level measurements.

This information is critical for understanding the severity of storms, rise in sea level, and climate patterns such as El Niño, La Niña, and the Pacific Decadal Oscillation that impact marine animals.

3. Studying Oceans' Productivity

From space and ships, as well as autonomous underwater vehicles, the space agency's Export Processes in the Ocean from Remote Sensing, or EXPORTS, the campaign is investigating the biological pump of the ocean, the process by which carbon from the atmosphere and surface ocean is confiscated in the deep ocean.

This process begins at the surface, where phytoplankton, as described by the NOAA, are drawing carbon out of the atmosphere through photosynthesis.

This is kicking off the marine food web since phytoplankton turns atmospheric carbon into food when consumed by tiny animals known as zooplankton.

4. Tracking Whale Sharks Through a Hubble Star-Mapping Algorithm

In 1986, a Princeton University researcher developed an algorithm to map the galaxies and stars which the Hubble Telescope of NASA captured.

Now, such a system has been adapted to identify the patterns similar to stars on speckle-skinned whale sharks. This enables the algorithm to determine individual whale sharks, helping scientists keep tabs on these unusual, 40-foot-long sharks as part of the Whale Shark Photo-Identification Library of the Australian nonprofit ECOCEAN.

5. Development of New Missions to Examine the Oceans

NASA has three new missions planned to investigate the ocean. Scheduled for launch next year, the Surface Water and Ocean Topography mission will gauge small-scale ocean currents and spinning currents to understand further the mixing and transport of water and nutrients, not to mention the dispersal of pollution into the ocean.

Monitoring ocean eddies is essential in predicting migratory patterns of megafauna, which includes sharks. SWOT is jointly developed by NASA and CNES along with contributions from the United Kingdom Space Agency and Canadian Space Agency.

Related information about shark conservation is shown on Ben G Thomas' YouTube video below: