Sixteen female narwhals (Monodon monoceros) were tracked by satellite in 2000 and 2001 from their summering ground near Somerset Island in the Canadian High Arctic to their wintering ground in central Baffin Bay. The wintering ground location was spatially discrete from another narwhal wintering ground in southern Baffin Bay. Area extent of the summering ground was approximately 9464 km2 and area extent of the wintering ground was 25 846 km2. Two of the narwhals were tracked for more than 12 consecutive months. These whales used three focal areas between their spring and autumn migration: a coastal area in the open-water season in August in the Canadian High Arctic, a wintering area from November through April in the consolidated pack ice of Baffin Bay, and an early summer area in front of the receding fast ice edge in Lancaster Sound. The whales showed remarkable site fidelity to summering grounds and had specific migratory routes that followed sea ice formation and recession.
Belugas, Delphinapterus leucas, move into the coastal waters of Somerset Island as soon as the annual land-fast ice breaks up in late June – early July. Six bays or inlets which receive the outflow of rivers are the major areas of summer aggregation. Belugas captured and equipped with satellite-linked UHF transmitters in Cunningham Inlet (Barrow Strait), Elwin Bay (Prince Regent Inlet), and Creswell Bay moved west into Peel Sound where they frequented two other estuaries. Rapid and directed movement out of Peel Sound occurred in late August. All of the animals which transmitted locations into September or October moved to eastern Devon Island and Jones Sound. The longest period of transmission was 75 d, lasting until mid-October. Belugas tagged in three different locations around Somerset Island in the summers of 1988–93 showed a well-defined and consistent pattern of behaviour. Aerial surveys done during this period confirm that the vast majority of belugas in this region are involved in these seasonal movements.
Opportunistic reconnaissance aerial surveys of Lancaster Sound, Barrow Strait, Peel Sound, and Prince Regent Inlet were conducted between 1974 and 1982 to determine the distribution and abundance of belugas, Delphinapterus leucas, and narwhals, Monodon monoceros. In 1981, two stratified strip-transect surveys were flown. From these we estimate that a total of 6300 – 18 600 belugas and approximately 13 200 –18 000 narwhals summer in Lancaster Sound and adjoining waterways. Improvement in the precision of these estimates would require a substantial increase in survey coverage and may not be justified considering the significant increase in costs. Our review of the results of surveys conducted since 1975 in the same study area, of which most of the information is not yet available in the scientific literature, shows much duplication of effort, little increase in information, and a lack of confidence limits for the estimated numbers.
Virgibacillus arcticus sp. nov., a moderately halophilic, endospore-forming bacterium from permafrost in the Canadian high Arctic