Extreme weather events, including hurricanes, have considerable biological, ecological, and anthropogenic impacts. Hurricane Irene caused substantial economic damage when it hit the Mid-Atlantic Bight (MAB) off of the eastern United States in August of 2011. The MAB is highly stratified during the summer when a strong thermocline separates warm, surface water from deep, cold water, and this oceanographic phenomenon makes modeling hurricane strength difficult. Loggerhead sea turtles (Caretta caretta) forage in the MAB primarily during the stratified season and their dive behavior to the bottom allows them to experience the oceanographic conditions of the entire water column. In this study, we analyzed the movements and dive behavior of juvenile and adult-sized loggerhead sea turtles (n = 18) that were foraging in the MAB as Hurricane Irene moved through the region. The satellite tags deployed on these turtles transmitted location data and dive behavior as well as sea surface temperature (SST) and temperature-depth profiles during this time. Behavioral and environmental shifts were observed during and after the hurricane compared to conditions before the storm. During the hurricane, most of the turtles (n = 15) moved north of their pre-storm foraging grounds. Following the storm, some turtles left their established foraging sites (n = 8) moving south by 7.3–135.0 km, and for the others that remained (n = 10), 12% of the observed dives were longer (0.54–1.11 h) than dives observed before the storm. The in situ data collected by the turtle-borne tags captured the cooling of the SST (Mean difference = 4.47°C) and the deepening of the thermocline relative to the pre-storm conditions. Some of the loggerhead behavior observed relative to a passing hurricane differed from the regular pattern of seasonal movement expected for turtles that forage in the MAB. These data documented the shifts in sea turtle behavior and distribution during an ecosystem-level perturbation and the recorded in situ data demonstrated that loggerheads observe environmental changes to the entire water column, including during extreme weather events.

中文翻译：

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暴风雨中的骑手：红海龟发现并应对西北大西洋的一场大型飓风。

包括飓风在内的极端天气事件具有相当大的生物、生态和人为影响。2011 年 8 月，飓风“艾琳”袭击美国东部的大西洋中湾 (MAB)，造成了巨大的经济损失。夏季，强烈的温跃层将温暖的地表水与深层冷水分开，MAB 高度分层。 ，这种海洋现象使得飓风强度建模变得困难。赤蠵龟 (Caretta caretta) 主要在分层季节在 MAB 觅食，它们潜入海底的行为使它们能够体验整个水体的海洋状况。在这项研究中，我们分析了当飓风艾琳穿过该地区时，在 MAB 觅食的幼年和成年红海龟 (n = 18) 的运动和潜水行为。部署在这些海龟身上的卫星标签传输了这段时间内的位置数据和潜水行为以及海面温度（SST）和温度深度剖面。与风暴前的情况相比，在飓风期间和之后观察到了行为和环境的变化。飓风期间，大多数海龟（n = 15）向风暴前的觅食地以北移动。风暴过后，一些海龟离开了它们既定的觅食地点 (n = 8)，向南移动了 7.3–135.0 公里，而对于剩下的其他海龟 (n = 10)，观察到的潜水时间中有 12% 更长（0.54–1.11 小时）比风暴前观察到的潜水次数要多。海龟携带的标签收集的现场数据捕捉到了海温的变冷（平均差 = 4.47°C）以及温跃层相对于暴风雨前条件的加深。观察到的一些与经过的飓风相关的红海龟行为与在人与生物圈计划中觅食的海龟预期的季节性运动的常规模式不同。这些数据记录了生态系统水平扰动期间海龟行为和分布的变化，现场记录的数据表明红海龟观察整个水体的环境变化，包括在极端天气事件期间。