Seals help oceanographer study Southern Ocean

Lily Dove is an oceanographer. She worked at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island. She studied the physics of Antarctica's Southern Ocean with help from furry friends: Antarctic seals. They are oceanographers too. They dive in areas we do not often sample.

Dove did not work directly with the seals. Instead, she used data from a program called Marine Mammals Exploring the Oceans Pole to Pole. This group uses sensors on the foreheads of southern elephant seals and Weddell seals. The animals do not mind. The seals dive more than 100 meters (330 feet) to find food. These dives let researchers check temperature, salinity and pressure deep in the ocean.

Dove used the data to study climate change in the Southern Ocean. The Southern Ocean is the big ocean that surrounds Antarctica. In some areas, heat from the air moves from the surface to the deep ocean. The heat can stay there for hundreds of years and raise the water temperature.

Now she works at the Georgia Institute of Technology. She uses autonomous robots to study polar oceans. Some robots are floats that ride ocean currents. Others are gliders. Gliders are underwater robots that can be steered to a place. The work is done remotely. Dove can sit in Georgia and tell a glider far away where to go.

This technology is easier to predict than seals. Seals are independent. They tell Dove where they want to go.

This article includes an interview with Lily Dove. The interview has been edited for readability.

Growing up in Florida, Dove liked the ocean. It is a powerful system. She did not think about it as a career at first. She loved science, especially physics and chemistry. In college she changed majors five times.

She learned that these topics help explain the Earth and the environment. You need many sciences to understand the Earth system: biology, physics, chemistry and geology. She studied atmospheric chemistry.

In graduate school she moved from atmospheric chemistry to oceanography. The atmosphere and the ocean have the same physics. This made a good transition for her. She joined a group that studies polar oceans. She first visited the Southern Ocean in 2020. The polar oceans are far away from most people, but they have a big effect on climate, especially the Southern Ocean. When she was there, she knew this work was right for her.

She has faced discrimination as a woman. People have ideas about who can do polar science. In the past, women were not often on research ships. Some women hid on ships to collect data. A famous case happened at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in the 1950s.

The stigma is still there, but it is changing a lot. It is not only about women. People of color, queer people and disabled individuals also face discrimination.

There were times when people thought she could not do something. This was hard, but it makes her speak up for herself.

Say yes to many opportunities. Go to events, talk with scientists, take courses. If you learn something new that you do not like, fine. If something grabs you, you will not forget it.

She is glad she did not focus on one area too early. She had a strong base in many scientific fields before choosing a focus. This helps her be flexible and open to new ideas.

If you know what you want to do, listen to your gut. If you are not sure, learn a lot.