PUBLIC INFORMATION OFFICE
JET PROPULSION LABORATORY
CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION
PASADENA, CALIFORNIA 91109.  TELEPHONE (818) 354-5011
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov

Contact:  Mary A. Hardin

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                           October 15, 1996

TOPEX/POSEIDON HELPS MARINE BIOLOGISTS STUDY WHALES

     Marine biologists aboard a ship in the Gulf of Mexico are 
using maps of ocean currents produced with data from the ocean-
observing satellite TOPEX/Poseidon to help them locate and count 
sperm whales and dolphins.

     The TOPEX/Poseidon altimeter data, combined with information 
from the European Space Agency's ERS-2 satellite, are being used 
in near-real-time to generate circulation feature maps that will 
be faxed to scientists aboard the research ship R/V Gyre. These 
maps provide scientists with timely information about rapidly 
changing ocean features so that scientists can direct the ship 
toward those areas to determine if whales and dolphins are 
present.

     "There is evidence that whales prefer to feed in the edges 
of cyclonic eddies, and the satellite data give us a good picture 
of where those oceanographic features are located," said Dr. 
George Born, a principal investigator on the TOPEX/Poseidon 
project from the University of  Colorado at Boulder.

     The university is generating the ocean maps and sending them 
directly to the
scientists in the Gulf.  "The data from TOPEX/Poseidon and ERS-2 
greatly enhances our ability to identify and map circulation 
features as they occur in the Gulf," said Dr. Robert Leben, a co-
principal investigator on the project at the University of 
Colorado at Boulder.

     The R/V Gyre left Pascagoula, Mississippi, on October 10 and 
will survey the northeastern Gulf of Mexico until October 28.   A 
previous survey indicated that whales and dolphins were contacted 
most frequently in the area where warm water eddies break off 
from the Gulf Loop Current, a strong ocean current that 
circulates around the Gulf of Mexico.

     "The goal of our cruise is to make a visual and acoustic 
census of marine mammals and to define their physical and 
biological habitat in the northeastern Gulf in areas potentially 
affected by oil and gas activities now or in the future," said 
Dr. Randall Davis, head of the Marine Biology department at Texas 
A & M University at Galveston. "Altimeter data like that from 
TOPEX/Poseidon are the only information that enable on-site 
adjustments to the cruise plan to optimize the survey track, 
ultimately saving us time and money."

     The TOPEX/Poseidon satellite was developed to study global 
ocean circulation but it is providing unexpected benefits for 
marine biologists. "We are very excited that these data are being 
used in new and different ways.  Scientists are continuing to 
find new applications for this project and are proving they can 
study not only ocean currents, but also the creatures that 
inhabit the oceans," said Dr. Lee-Lueng Fu, TOPEX/Poseidon 
project scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, 
CA.

     The TOPEX/Poseidon satellite uses an altimeter to bounce 
radar signals off the ocean's surface to get precise measurements 
of the distance between the satellite and the sea surface.  These 
data are combined with measurements from other instruments that 
pinpoint the satellite's exact location in space.  Every 10 days, 
scientists are able to produce a complete map of global ocean 
topography, the barely perceptible hills and valleys found on the 
sea surface.  With detailed knowledge of ocean topography, 
scientist can then calculate the speed and direction of worldwide 
ocean currents.

     The R/V Gyre expedition is sponsored by Texas A & M 
University,  the Texas Institute of Oceanography and the National 
Biological Service.

     TOPEX/Poseidon is a joint mission of NASA and the French 
space agency, the Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales (CNES).  The 
Jet Propulsion Laboratory manages the U.S. portion of the mission 
for NASA's Office of Mission to Planet Earth, Washington, DC.  
The Mission to Planet Earth is a long-term, coordinated research 
effort to study the Earth as a global environmental system.

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10/14/96 MAH
#9676