The Virginia Institute of Marine Science found a sub-adult
juvenile loggerhead (Caretta caretta) sea turtle stranded off of
Deltaville, Virginia along the western Chesapeake Bay in July 2004.
The sea turtle, appropriately named Delta for the location where
s/he was found stranded, had a broken left flipper and a severe head
injury most likely from a collision with a boat propeller. Delta
was transferred to the Virginia Aquarium Stranding Program for
rehabilitation. After many months of recovery and head surgery,
Delta was ready for release in November of 2004. Before release,
Delta was outfitted with a satellite tag by Kate Mansfield, then a
Ph.D. student at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science (College
of William and Mary). This was done in order to track Delta's
movements and determine the success of the recovery.
On November 16, 2004, Delta was released off of Ocracoke Island in
the Outer Banks of North Carolina. The release was successful, with
Delta swimming away from the release site normally. This dataset tracks
the movement of Delta for the nine months after the release from
November 16, 2004 through August 6, 2005. Immediately after release,
Delta connected with the Gulf Stream and was transported north off of
Nova Scotia and Newfoundland. Delta then appeared to wander around the
Atlantic Ocean before turning back towards the United States. Delta was
near Bermuda when the tag stopped transmitting. It is thought that the
tag stopped transmitting signals because the battery in the tag ran
out.
Science On a Sphere
