Can pelagic seabirds be used to measure

Data for this project

supplied by the RSPB
oceanic currents?
Matt Cooper1*, David Bowers1, Matt Lewis1,
Charles Bishop1, Mark Bolton2 Stephen Dodd2 Ellie Owen2
(1Bangor University 2Royal Society for the Protection of Birds)*mczakk@gmail.com

Introduction. The Razorbill, Nature’s

The Argo float, cutting edge
sampling technology
Fig. 1 The Argo float, shown above in the foreground shortly after
deployment, is the international community's best attempt at autonomous
lagrangian data collection. Over the last 16 years more than 3000 of these
devices have been deployed across the worlds oceans, primarily to measure
temperature and salinity profiles, but have also been used to great effect in
measuring macro scale current movement and strengths.
http://www.argo.ucsd.edu/
Fig. 3
Measurement of tidal current amplitude is of great importance to the Marine
Renewable Energy (MRE) industry, as it is a deciding factor in the placement of Lagrangian drifter?
Tidal Energy Converters. Empirical methods are costly and of low resolution (see
Fig.1). It has been suggested that GPS tracking data from pelagic seabirds may be
of use to quantify these currents. This data revealed that during the hours of
darkness (see Fig. 2), Razorbill (Alca tordo) simply drifted with the tidal current;
possibly due to roosting (Dean et al. 2012, Linnebjerg et al. 2015).
Hypothesis: The movement pattern of a bird sitting on the water is directly related
to the tidal current at that position, and can therefore be used to predict the tidal
current amplitude and phase
Aim: To determine whether birds can be considered as natural Lagrangian drifters,
providing a novel, finer resolution, empirically derived quantification of tidal
currents to complement macro scale model outputs.
Methodology.
Data supplied by the RSPB, recorded the movements of birds during the breeding
seasons of 2011-2014. The information was gathered by lightweight GPS tracking
devices attached to 48 individual Razorbills. The data collected during hours of
darkness (2100 – 0430 hours) were separated and analysed to give individual drift
profiles for specific nights. Fig. 2 The Razorbill (Alca torda) is a member of the Auk Family. A medium
sized seabird which only comes ashore during the breeding season to
The bird drift and tidal condition data were compared to demonstrate that the breed. Puffin Island off the coast of Anglesey is a well established breeding
colony and was chosen by the RSPB as one of the sites for the STAR study.
tidal current is the overriding factor determining the speed and direction of the Razorbills feed by diving after small fish, so are unable to feed during
bird movement during these times (Figures 3 & 4). Interpolation of the data over a darkness, and the nest site is small, therefore the none brooding bird needs
a safe place to spend the night. It is suggested that this behaviour may also
5km2 grid showed a similarity between the peak current values estimated from the be an energy saving action, to remain near to feeding grounds which may
be some way away from the colony.(Harris et al. 2012)
empirical data when compared with model output (Figures 5 & 6).
Bird movement qualitatively Fig. 4
matches the tidal condition

• Figures 3 & 4 show an individual bird’s

drift speed data on a single night.
• Figure 3 shows the relationship
between the speed of the bird and the
height of the tide at Holyhead
• Flood /ebb magnitude asymmetry
observed in majority of drifts.
• Tidal current misalignment observed
between direction on flood and ebb
(figure 4)
• Asymmetry and misalignment
interesting to MRE (Lewis et al. 2015)
Questions raised by these results
• Is this evidence of phase difference
between tidal elevation and current
(i.e. slack water does not occur at
HW/LW)?
• Is there a spatial variation in current
speed across study area?
• How useful are bird tracks for current
speed estimates?

Current amplitude results.

Spatial distribution of amplitude of depth-
averaged peak spring tide (M2+S2) tidal
current (figure 6) compared well to
estimated peak bird speed when
interpolated to a 5km2 grid (figure 5) .
More work is required to correlate bird
speed to simulated current speed and
weather effects (e.g. stokes’ drift and
wind drift); however, bird drift data
Fig. 5 Current amplitude map generated from bird drift speed data. Each square represents an area appears to be useful Lagrangian tidal Fig. 6 Plot of the ROMS model results for the study area. This model is at a much higher resolution than
5km square, and the amplitude of the tidal current in that square, derived by fitting a sin curve to the the current amplitude map, but the similarities between the distribution patterns can be clearly seen
measured drift speeds in that area.
current measurements (figure courtesy Dr. Matt Lewis, after Lewis et al 2015).

References: Dean, B., Freeman, R., Kirk, H., Leonard, K., Phillips, R.A.,
Perrins, C.M. & Guilford, T. 2012, "Behavioural mapping of a pelagic
Discussion and conclusion.
seabird: combining multiple sensors and a hidden Markov model reveals • The results generated in this study support the hypothesis that the rate and direction of drifting is influenced by the tidal
the distribution of at-sea behaviour", Journal of the Royal Society,
Interface / the Royal Society, . currents in the study area.
Harris, M.P., Bogdanova, M.I., Daunt, F., Wanless, S., 2012. Using GPS
technology to assess feeding areas of Atlantic Puffins Fratercula arctica. • More work needs to be done, in particular finding a method which allows the resolution to be made finer.
Ringing & Migration 27, 43-49.
Lewis, M., Neill, S., Robins, P., Hashemi, M., 2015a. Resource assessment
• We conclude that this method of analysis has the potential to be developed further, with a view to providing a much
for future generations of tidal-stream energy arrays. Energy 83, 403-415 finer resolution result and a better accuracy in predicting phase differences.
Linnebjerg, J.F., Reuleaux, A., Mouritsen, K.N. & Frederiksen, M. 2015,
"Foraging ecology of three sympatric breeding alcids in a declining colony • The main issue that needs to be addressed is one of sample size.
in Southwest Greenland", Waterbirds, vol. 38, no. 2, pp. 143-152.