KEY POINTS:
Modern technology is proving no match for elephant seals when it comes to monitoring the Southern Ocean in winter.
The massive mammals - the male of the species can weigh more than three tonnes - are being fitted with special oceanographic sensors to record data in parts of the ocean traditional monitoring cannot access.
And, according to new research, the elephant seals are bringing back up to 30 times more data than the usual techniques.
Australian scientist Steve Rintoul, from CSIRO's Wealth from Oceans National Research Flagship and the Antarctic Co-operative Research Centre, said the mammals had made it possible to observe large areas of the ocean under the sea ice in winter for the first time.
