First results of pIOT project - July 2019

The tests under real conditions made it possible to:
- validate electronic equipment, algorithms and computer codes for very low energy consumption tags ;
- confirm the proper functioning of the receiving stations for 1 month under difficult climatic conditions ;
- validate that algorithms designed for marine turtles are adaptable to the environment and species.
On the strength of the first results of the pIOT project, IFREMER is now working on the correction and improvement of this equipment in order to produce a second, more efficient version, which will be used this time as part of the IOT project, in Reunion Island (end 2019) and Mayotte (beginning 2020), then on all the IOT project study sites (TAAF, Seychelles) until 2021.

One of the other objectives of the project is to identify functional habitats for marine turtles on the island of Europa. Thus, the hyperspectral and Lidar data acquired in 2009 and 2010 on Europa were processed using different algorithms in order to obtain map layers characteristic of the different marine habitats (sand, corals,...) on which the positions of the newly acquired turtles and those of past projects will be overlaid.
Another work on bathymetric data was also carried out, highlighting the fine topography of the bottom and the relief effect that allows a better understanding of the geomorphological reef structure.