1 / 23

Marine mammals in the Rusalca region 2009-2012:

Marine mammals in the Rusalca region 2009-2012:. Acoustic recordings and visual sightings Kate Stafford University of Washington. Funding NSF_AON (2012- onwards) WHOI Arctic Program (2 instruments purchased, travel support cruise 2010)

prunella
Download Presentation

Marine mammals in the Rusalca region 2009-2012:

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Marine mammals in the Rusalca region 2009-2012: Acoustic recordings and visual sightings Kate Stafford University of Washington Funding NSF_AON (2012- onwards) WHOI Arctic Program (2 instruments purchased, travel support cruise 2010) NOAA (I instrument purchased, travel support to cruise 2011) Tom Weingartner and Rebecca Woodgate provided space on moorings

  2. Bering Strait • Migratory pathway for Arctic marine mammals that move between the Bering and Beaufort and Chukchi Seas • Bowhead and beluga whales • Walrus, ice seals • Used seasonally (summer/fall) by sub-Arctic spp • Fin, Humpback, minke, killer whales, gray whales

  3. Decreased sea ice • Decrease in habitat for walrus, polar bears, ice seals, bowheads (?) • Increased habitat for sub-Arctic spp • Increase in shipping and O&G exploration = increases in ambient noise • Increase in ship strikes of large whales?

  4. Sighting data Cruises with marine mammal observations • 2009 (1)* • 2010 (1)* • 2011 (1) • 2012 (2)* * Surveys in Russian EEZ

  5. All Rusalca sightings 2009-2012

  6. All Rusalca sightings by species

  7. Humpback whale sightings

  8. Fin and minke whale sightings

  9. Killer whale sightings

  10. Papers in preparation • Occurrence of Subarctic Cetaceans in the Southern Chukchi Sea, 2009-2012 • To be submitted to Oceanography ~July 2013 • Synthesizes boat-based visual data from Rusalca, CHAOZ, CSESP; aerial survey-based visual data from ASAMM/COMIDA • Occurrence of gray whales in the southern Chukchi Sea 2009-2012

  11. Arctic whales • Do not (usually) occur in study area during summer months – not seen by visual surveys • Best way to monitor bowhead and beluga whales, bearded and ribbon seals and walrus is Passive Acoustic Monitoring (PAM)

  12. PAM • Good year-round, all weather, 24 h/day • Can “hear” further than “see” • Different species are readily told apart • In addition to Arctic spp, “late” summer whales can be detected • Good way to monitor ship passages • To date, only US side of Strait has been monitored, ideally the western Strait should be instrumented

  13. Citta et al. 2012 Arctic

  14. Citta et al. 2012 Arctic

  15. Instruments first deployed August 2009 Redeployed every year since Subsample the data (10 min/hour) We have had issues with battery power so none of the instruments have lasted a full year to date

  16. Species detected • Bowhead (Nov-Feb, Apr) • Walrus (October – Dec, April-Jun) • Bearded seal (year-round) • Beluga (Oct-Dec, Apr-May) • Ribbon seal (Oct) • Fin whales (Aug-Oct) • Humpback whales (Aug-Nov) • Killer whales (Sep-Oct)

  17. Humpback whale detections A2W

  18. Humpback and bowhead detections A3

  19. Papers in preparation • Humpback whales sing north of the Arctic Circle • Acoustic data from Bering and Davis Straits show that humpback whales are singing well into winter near to or north of the Arctic circle • Submittal July 2013 • What sound environments do bowhead whales annually encounter in the Bering, Chukchi and Beaufort Seas? • SOAR synthesis paper that examines bowhead whale migration via PAM • Due to editors June 2013 • Acoustic detection of bearded seals (Erignathus barbatus) in the Bering, Chukchi, and Beaufort Seas • Master’s thesis chapter • Planned submittal to Arctic September 2013

  20. Future work • Go through all data systematically for all species • Determine ambient noise levels • Continue to occupy A2W and A3 • Instruments will be deployed this year • Ideally add a hydrophone to A1 • Monitor autumn/winter bowhead whale migration

More Related