Can Data from Space Save Dolphins?

Cetaceans are thought to use Earth’s magnetic field to navigate. Since intense solar storms can disturb the magnetic field, the scientists wanted to determine whether they could, by extension, actually interfere with animals’ internal compasses and lead them astray. Expanding the Search Diving deeper into the complex puzzle of mass strandings, the team decided to expand their analysis and include additional oceanographic and atmospheric data sets from NASA’s Earth science missions, including Terra, the Sea-viewing Wide Field-of-view Sensor — or SeaWIFS, for short — and Global Precipitation Measurement, as well as the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite, or GOES, mission. According to Reeb, each stranding hot spot requires individualized study, but the factors affecting strandings may be the same globally — albeit to varying degrees of importance.