scholarly journals Seasonal Movements and Relative Abundance of Bearded Seals (Erignathus barbatus) in the Coastal Waters of the Chukotka Peninsula

ARCTIC ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 70 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Vladimir V. Melnikov
Keyword(s):  
Free Water ◽  
Seasonal Distribution ◽  
Bering Strait ◽  
Coastal Zones ◽  
Bearded Seal ◽  
Edge Zone ◽  
The North ◽  
The Pacific ◽  
Erignathus Barbatus ◽  
Bearded Seals

Information about bearded seal seasonal distribution in the Pacific Arctic is limited. Bearded seals (Erignathus barbatus Exleben, 1777) from coastal sites along the southern, eastern, and northern Chukotka Peninsula, Russian Federation, were observed most seasons during 1993 – 96, 1998 – 2000, 2002 – 05, and 2010 – 11. These observations provide spatial and temporal information about bearded seal seasonal distribution, movements, and relative numbers in the coastal zones. In winter, bearded seals aggregate on the young ice in the northern part of the Gulf of Anadyr. Numbers gradually increase during March. In springtime (April–May), bearded seals in the northern Gulf of Anadyr are relatively numerous around Nunligran (Cape Achen), but the number is highly variable across years. During spring bearded seals move eastward along the coast from the northern part of the Gulf of Anadyr towards the Bering Strait and then to the north, as the marginal ice edge zone retreats north. These movements to the east and north continue in ice-free water, and by August, the spring migration of bearded seals along the coast of the Chukotka Peninsula ends. In the summer months of August and September, few bearded seals are present in this coastal zone. The southward autumn migration of bearded seals is not evident near the coast, which suggests that it occurs farther from shore.

Winter Distribution of Bearded Seals (Erignathus barbatus) in the Penny Strait Area, Northwest Territories, as Determined by Underwater Vocalizations

1990 ◽  
Vol 47 (6) ◽  
pp. 1071-1076 ◽  
Author(s):  
Holly J. Cleator ◽  
Ian Stirling
Keyword(s):  
Northwest Territories ◽  
Absolute Number ◽  
Bearded Seal ◽  
Vocal Behaviour ◽  
Winter Distribution ◽  
Odobenus Rosmarus ◽  
Erignathus Barbatus ◽  
Break Up ◽  
A Site ◽  
Bearded Seals

Vocalization surveys conducted in Penny Strait, Northwest Territories, indicated that before ice break-up, bearded seals (Erignathus barbatus) preferred regions of less stable ice where break-up occurred early and avoided stable, landfast ice or areas heavily used by walruses (Odobenus rosmarus). Water depth did not appear to influence distribution. Numbers of calls increased between mid-April and early June, probably because of an increase in rate of calling by individual seals. Vocalization surveys can be used to separate preferred habitats from unsuitable ones. Using a single hydrophone and our current understanding of bearded seal vocal behaviour, it is not possible to determine the absolute number of bearded seals at or near a site using vocalizations. However, it is possible to measure the relative abundance of seals for spatial and temporal comparisons.

scholarly journals Circulation, Heat, and Freshwater Transport at 36°N in the Atlantic

2010 ◽  
Vol 40 (12) ◽  
pp. 2661-2678 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elaine L. McDonagh ◽  
Paula McLeod ◽  
Brian A. King ◽  
Harry L. Bryden ◽  
Sinhué Torres Valdés
Keyword(s):  
North Atlantic ◽  
Western Boundary ◽  
Freshwater Flux ◽  
Bering Strait ◽  
Boundary Current ◽  
Sea Transport ◽  
The North ◽  
Freshwater Transport ◽  
The Pacific ◽  
Mid Atlantic Ridge

Abstract In May and June 2005, a transatlantic hydrographic section along 36°N was occupied. A velocity field is calculated using inverse methods. The derived 36°N circulation has an overturning transport (maximum in the overturning streamfunction) of 16.6 Sv (1 Sv ≡ 106 m3 s−1) at 1070 m. The heat transport across the section, 1.14 ± 0.12 PW, is partitioned into overturning and horizontal heat transports of 0.75 and 0.39 PW, respectively. The horizontal heat flux is set by variability at the gyre rather than by mesoscale. The freshwater flux across the section is 1.55 ± 0.18 Sv southward based on a 0.8-Sv flow from the Pacific through the Bering Strait at a salinity of 32.5 psu. The oceanic divergence of freshwater implies a net input of freshwater to the ocean of 0.75 Sv over the North Atlantic and Arctic between 36°N and the Bering Strait. Most (85%) of the recently ventilated upper North Atlantic Deep Water (water originating in the Labrador Sea) transport across the section occurs in the deep western boundary current rather than being associated with an interior pathway to the west of the mid-Atlantic ridge.

Air—sea C0 2 transfer and the carbon budget of the North Atlantic

1995 ◽  
Vol 348 (1324) ◽  
pp. 211-219 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Spatial Distribution ◽  
Carbon Budget ◽  
Dissolved Inorganic Carbon ◽  
Model Simulation ◽  
Bering Strait ◽  
Carbon Export ◽  
The North ◽  
The Pacific ◽  
Ocean Carbon ◽  
The Impact

A model simulation of the global carbon cycle demonstrates that the biological and solubility pumps are of comparable importance in determining the spatial distribution of annual mean air-sea fluxes in the Atlantic. The model also confirms that the impact of the (steady state) biological pump on the magnitude and spatial distribution of anthropogenic CO 2 uptake is minimal. An Atlantic Ocean carbon budget developed from analysis of the model combined with observations suggests that the air-sea flux of carbon is inadequate to supply the postulated large dissolved inorganic carbon export from the Atlantic. Other sources of carbon are required, such as an input from the Pacific via the Bering Strait and Arctic, river inflow, or an import of dissolved organic carbon.

Numerical modeling of the consequences of "marine heatwaves" in the North Pacific for the Arctic Ocean

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elena Golubeva ◽  
Gennady Platov ◽  
Marina Kraineva
Keyword(s):  
Pacific Ocean ◽  
Chukchi Sea ◽  
Heat Content ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Bering Strait ◽  
The North ◽  
Pacific Waters ◽  
The Pacific ◽  
The Pacific Ocean ◽  
The North Pacific

<p>As a result of the analysis of the NOAA surface temperature observational data (Huang et al., 2020), the periods corresponding to "marine heatwaves" in the northeastern Pacific Ocean (2013-2019) were identified. Marine heatwaves were defined as exceeding the 90th percentile threshold. The same analysis of the temperature in the Bering Strait's immediate vicinity showed anomalously warm waters in the same years. Analysis of the pressure field, which forms the atmosphere's dynamic state and affects the water circulation system of the Bering Sea, allowed us to assume the inflow of anomalously warm Pacific waters into the Chukchi Sea. To analyze the North Pacific heatwaves' consequences for the Arctic Ocean, we carried out two numerical experiments using the regional ocean and sea ice model SibCIOM (Golubeva et al., 2018) and NCEP/NCAR atmospheric reanalysis data (Kalnay et al., 1996). The first numerical experiment was carried out to calculate hydrodynamic and ice fields from January 2000 to November 2020 (Experiment 1). On the Arctic and the Pacific Ocean boundary in the Bering Strait, we used the monthly average climatic values ​​of the transport, temperature, and salinity of waters coming from the Pacific Ocean. Experiment 2 was carried out from 2014 to November 2020. The calculated values ​​of hydrological and ice characteristics obtained in Experiment 1 were used as the initial state for this experiment. In contrast to Experiment 1,  a heat flux exceeding the average climatic values ​​was set at the Bering Strait in Experiment 2. Its assignment was provided by using temperature values ​​from observational data in the Bering Strait vicinity (Huang et al., 2020). Comparison of monthly average hydrological and ice fields obtained in two numerical experiments and analysis of numerical results showed that an increase in the temperature of the Pacific waters entering the Arctic shelf through the Bering Strait leads to an increase in the heat content of the Chukchi Sea waters, heat transfer by currents in the surface and subsurface layers, a gradual increase in the heat content of the Beaufort Sea, and the reduction of Arctic ice cover. The increase in heat content in Experiment 2 for the Beaufort Sea was obtained in both the upper 50-meter and 250-meter layers.</p><p>The research is supported by the Russian Science Foundation, grant №. 19-17-00154.</p>

scholarly journals Bering Sea surface water conditions during Marine Isotope Stages 12 to 10 at Navarin Canyon (IODP Site U1345)

2016 ◽  
Vol 12 (9) ◽  
pp. 1739-1763 ◽  
Author(s):  
Beth E. Caissie ◽  
Julie Brigham-Grette ◽  
Mea S. Cook ◽  
Elena Colmenero-Hidalgo
Keyword(s):  
Sea Ice ◽  
Sea Level ◽  
Bering Sea ◽  
Sea Surface ◽  
Bering Strait ◽  
The North ◽  
Shelf Slope ◽  
The Pacific ◽  
Continental Shelf Slope ◽  
The Bering Sea

Abstract. Records of past warm periods are essential for understanding interglacial climate system dynamics. Marine Isotope Stage 11 occurred from 425 to 394 ka, when global ice volume was the lowest, sea level was the highest, and terrestrial temperatures were the warmest of the last 500 kyr. Because of its extreme character, this interval has been considered an analog for the next century of climate change. The Bering Sea is ideally situated to record how opening or closing of the Pacific–Arctic Ocean gateway (Bering Strait) impacted primary productivity, sea ice, and sediment transport in the past; however, little is known about this region prior to 125 ka. IODP Expedition 323 to the Bering Sea offered the unparalleled opportunity to look in detail at time periods older than had been previously retrieved using gravity and piston cores. Here we present a multi-proxy record for Marine Isotope Stages 12 to 10 from Site U1345, located near the continental shelf-slope break. MIS 11 is bracketed by highly productive laminated intervals that may have been triggered by flooding of the Beringian shelf. Although sea ice is reduced during the early MIS 11 laminations, it remains present at the site throughout both glacials and MIS 11. High summer insolation is associated with higher productivity but colder sea surface temperatures, which implies that productivity was likely driven by increased upwelling. Multiple examples of Pacific–Atlantic teleconnections are presented including laminations deposited at the end of MIS 11 in synchrony with millennial-scale expansions in sea ice in the Bering Sea and stadial events seen in the North Atlantic. When global eustatic sea level was at its peak, a series of anomalous conditions are seen at U1345. We examine whether this is evidence for a reversal of Bering Strait throughflow, an advance of Beringian tidewater glaciers, or a turbidite.

scholarly journals Seasonal distribution of short-tailed shearwaters and their prey in the Bering and Chukchi seas

2017 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 203-214 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bungo Nishizawa ◽  
Kohei Matsuno ◽  
Elizabeth A. Labunski ◽  
Kathy J. Kuletz ◽  
Atsushi Yamaguchi ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Bering Sea ◽  
Chukchi Sea ◽  
Marine Ecosystem ◽  
Seasonal Distribution ◽  
Aleutian Islands ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Breeding Period ◽  
Bering Strait ◽  
Top Predators ◽  
The Pacific

Abstract. The short-tailed shearwater (Ardenna tenuirostris) is one of the abundant marine top predators in the Pacific; this seabird spends its non-breeding period in the northern North Pacific during May–October and many visit the southern Chukchi Sea in August–September. We examined potential factors affecting this seasonal pattern of distribution by counting short-tailed shearwaters from boats. Their main prey, krill, was sampled by net tows in the southeastern Bering Sea/Aleutian Islands and in the Bering Strait/southern Chukchi Sea. Short-tailed shearwaters were mainly distributed in the southeastern Bering Sea/Aleutian Islands (60 ± 473 birds km−2) in July 2013, and in the Bering Strait/southern Chukchi Sea (19 ± 91 birds km−2) in September 2012. In the Bering Strait/southern Chukchi Sea, krill size was greater in September 2012 (9.6 ± 5.0 mm in total length) than in July 2013 (1.9 ± 1.2 mm). Within the Bering Strait/southern Chukchi Sea in September 2012, short-tailed shearwaters occurred more frequently in cells (50  ×  50 km) where large-sized krill were more abundant. These findings, and information previously collected in other studies, suggest that the seasonal northward movement of short-tailed shearwaters might be associated with the seasonal increase in krill size in the Bering Strait/southern Chukchi Sea. We could not, however, rule out the possibility that large interannual variation in krill abundance might influence the seasonal distribution of shearwaters. This study highlights the importance of krill, which is advected from the Pacific, as an important prey of top predators in the Arctic marine ecosystem.

scholarly journals Bering Sea surface water conditions during Marine Isotope Stages 12 to 10 at Navarin Canyon (IODP Site U1345)

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Beth E. Caissie ◽  
Julie Brigham-Grette ◽  
Mea S. Cook ◽  
Elena Colmenero-Hidalgo
Keyword(s):  
Sea Ice ◽  
Sea Level ◽  
Bering Sea ◽  
Bering Strait ◽  
Tidewater Glaciers ◽  
The North ◽  
Global Ice Volume ◽  
Shelf Slope ◽  
The Pacific ◽  
The Bering Sea

Abstract. Records of past warm periods are essential for understanding interglacial climate system dynamics. Marine Isotope Stage 11, occurred ~410 ka when global ice volume was the lowest, sea level was the highest and terrestrial temperatures were the warmest of the last 500 kyrs. This interval with its extreme character has been considered an analog for the near future. The Bering Sea is ideally situated to record how opening or closing the Pacific-Arctic Ocean gateway (Bering Strait) impacted primary productivity, sea ice, and sediment transport in the past; however, little is known about this region prior to 125 ka. IODP Expedition 323 to the Bering Sea offered the unparalleled opportunity to look in detail at time periods older than had been previously retrieved using gravity and piston cores. Here we present a multi-proxy record for Marine Isotope Stages 12-10 from Site U1345 located near the shelf-slope break. MIS 11 is bracketed by highly productive laminated intervals that may have been triggered by flooding of the Beringian shelf. Low insolation is associated with higher productivity, which was likely driven by increased upwelling. During the majority of MIS 11 however, high stratification appears to have led to lowered productivity in both the northern Atlantic and the northern Pacific. U1345, located near the marginal ice zone, experienced seasonal sea ice throughout both the glacial and interglacial stages. When global eustatic sea level was at its peak, Beringian tidewater glaciers advanced, driven by decreasing insolation, reduced seasonality, and high humidity due to high sea level and ice-free summers. Multiple examples of Pacific-Atlantic teleconnections are presented including laminations deposited at the end of MIS 11 in sync with millennial scale stadial events seen in the North Atlantic.

Diving behaviour of lactating bearded seals (Erignathus barbatus) in the Svalbard area

2000 ◽  
Vol 78 (8) ◽  
pp. 1408-1418 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bjørn A Krafft ◽  
Christian Lydersen ◽  
Kit M Kovacs ◽  
Ian Gjertz ◽  
Tore Haug
Keyword(s):  
Activity Patterns ◽  
Diving Behaviour ◽  
Significant Fraction ◽  
Lactation Period ◽  
Bearded Seal ◽  
Diving Depth ◽  
Erignathus Barbatus ◽  
Bearded Seals

This study documents activity patterns and diving behaviour of four bearded seal (Erignathus barbatus) mothers during the lactation period. The females spent 8 ± 3% (mean ± SD) of their time hauled out on the ice and 92 ± 3% in the water. Approximately half of their time was spent diving. During the study 15 077 dives were recorded. The duration of dives was 2.0 ± 2.3 min and diving depth was 17.2 ± 22.5 m (maximum 18.7 min and 288 m, respectively). Haulout periods occurred 3 ± 2 times per day (duration = 44.0 ± 98.1 min). The overall distance swum per day was 48.1 ± 23.2 km. Three dive types were differentiated using a combination of hierarchical and k-means clustering, one V-shaped grouping and two U-shaped groupings. The most common dive type was U1; these dives were the deepest and longest type (depth = 28 ± 32 m, duration = 185 ± 146 s), and bottom time occupied a significant fraction of the total dive time (120 ± 120 s). These dives are likely foraging dives. Lactation is energetically demanding for bearded seals, and females do forage while they have dependent pups.

Underwater vocalizations of the bearded seal (Erignathus barbatus)

1989 ◽  
Vol 67 (8) ◽  
pp. 1900-1910 ◽  
Author(s):  
Holly J. Cleator ◽  
Ian Stirling ◽  
T. G. Smith
Keyword(s):  
Spectral Characteristics ◽  
Early Morning ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Spectral Features ◽  
Bearded Seal ◽  
Daily Cycle ◽  
Sequential Organization ◽  
Erignathus Barbatus ◽  
Bearded Seals

The underwater vocalizations of bearded seals (Erignathus barbatus) were recorded between March and June in 1979, 1982, and 1983 at six sites in the Arctic. In total, 970 trills were measured for temporal and spectral characteristics and then classified as one of six types. Trills were narrow in bandwidth and frequency modulated. The repertoires of vocalizing bearded seals varied amongst the six recording sites. Between-site differences in temporal and spectral features, call use, and sequential organization were measured. The results suggest that bearded seals may be relatively sedentary and that geographically different vocal repertoires may be characteristic of discrete breeding stocks. A prominent daily cycle in rate of calling during April and May was found at two sites; rate of calling was higher during the early morning hours (i.e., 03:00–04:00 sun time) than at other times of the day. No distinct temporal cycle occurred during late May and early June. Rate of calling appeared to be negatively correlated with pattern of haul out. In simultaneous recordings, a few (13 of 156) bearded seal trills were recorded up to a distance of 25 km underwater.

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