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Elephant seals are helping scientists study temperature and salinity changes in the Southern Ocean.

Equipped with computerised tags, the seals can reach regions of the sea impenetrable to researchers during the harsh winter months.

The data, collected during the animals' long dives under Antarctic ice, provide the best ever estimates for the rate of sea-ice formation.

The findings appear in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The tags measure position, salinity, and temperature, among other things, to form a "hydrographic profile" for each of the 58 seals fitted with a device.

"By using seals, we have increased the number of hydrographic profiles 30-fold," said Jean-Benoit Charrassin, who is based in France's Natural History Museum.

"What we know about the Southern Ocean is very limited, which makes predicting the formation of sea-ice difficult...