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SATELLITE
TRANSMITTERS – WHAT ARE THEY?
Recent
advances in satellite transmitter technology have enabled scientists at
USGS to
utilize miniature transmitters to
successfully
monitor the migration of loons and other waterbirds, providing much
previously unknown information about seasonal movements of these species.
The miniature
transmitter is surgically implanted under the skin on a
 loon’s
back while the bird is under a general anesthetic. Implanted birds adapt
quickly to the transmitter, which is designed
so that it does not hinder their movements
or behavior, unlike external methods of attaching transmitters to loons.
The transmitters send data about the bird’s location to the
Argos Data Collection and Location System aboard
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)
weather satellites
on a regular basis over a period of approximately one year. The NOAA
satellites then transmit the data to Argos’s processing centers in France
and Maryland, where the data is transferred
via computers to the scientists.
(Diagram adapted from Fancy, S. G., L. F. Pank, D. C.
Douglas, C. H. Curby, G. W. Garner, S. C. Amstrup, and W. L. Regelin.
1988. Satellite telemetry: a new tool for wildlife research
and management. U.S. Fish and Wildl. Serv. Resour. Publ. No. 172.
55 pp.)
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