
Acoustic telemetry is an active field of research integral to the study of marine life. The latest generation of acoustic tags is making available new types of data. As part of the Ocean Tracking Network (OTN) (www.oceantrackingnework.org) acoustic tags known as VEMCO Mobile Transceivers (VMTs) (www.vemco.com) are being deployed on Sable Island grey seals (Halichoerus grypus) in order to record instances of proximity to each other (as well as any other acoustically tagged animals). The seals essentially become bioprobes yielding data exhibiting both spatial and temporal variation. Fortunately, recent developments in the field of spatial statistics have greatly facilitated the fitting of complex spatial and spatio-temporal models. Here we specifically propose a hierarchical spatio-temporal model framework and fit it to these data using both Stochastic Partial Differential Equations (SPDE) and Integrated Nested Laplace Approximations (INLA) through R-INLA (www.r-inla.org). In so doing we demonstrate the effectiveness and advantages of these techniques. These methods readily extend to spatially explicit data collected by any sort of mobile receiving platform (e.g. wave gliders, remotely operated underwater vehicles).
| selected citations These citations are derived from selected sources. This is an alternative to the "Influence" indicator, which also reflects the overall/total impact of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network (diachronically). | 14 | |
| popularity This indicator reflects the "current" impact/attention (the "hype") of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network. | Top 10% | |
| influence This indicator reflects the overall/total impact of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network (diachronically). | Average | |
| impulse This indicator reflects the initial momentum of an article directly after its publication, based on the underlying citation network. | Top 10% |
