Student Research Reports
Open social media sharing options menu
The Ecological Challenges of Whales and Dolphins from Strandings
Organization(s):Chu-Tung Senior High School
Country:Taiwan Partnership
Student(s):Chih Yun Chao
You Yun Chen
Yu Hsun Lin
Grade Level:Secondary School (grades 9-12, ages 14-18)
GLOBE Educator(s):Chun Chiao Yeh
Contributors:
Report Type(s):International Virtual Science Symposium Report
Protocols:Water Temperature
Presentation Video:
View Video
Presentation Poster:
View Document
Language(s):English
Date Submitted:03/04/2025
On April 15, 2017, a sperm whale died after being stranded at the mouth of Tongxiao Creek; on August 2, 2024, a large and a small cetacean were stranded in the Tongxiao sea area. This study aims to explore the issue of the increase in whale and dolphin stranding incidents on the western coast of Taiwan in recent years. We found that by investigating the data and using existing data, we finally chose the Tongxiao coast of Miaoli as our starting point for the study. During the investigation, we observed the same phenomenon off the coast of Boso Peninsula in Chiba Prefecture, Japan. We found that the biggest reasons for the increase in whale and dolphin stranding incidents were loss of navigation, navigation errors, and changes in tidal currents. After listing the reasons, we used the depth contours, and seabed topography annotation functions of the multi-dimensional marine information service platform, and the GLOBE sea temperature, ocean currents, and NODASS flow field, wind direction, and other related data to further observe and analyze the data to verify our hypothesis and draw conclusions.