Title
Bowhead whales overwinter in the Amundsen Gulf and Eastern Beaufort Sea
Author(s)
Insley, S.J. , Halliday, W.D. , Mouy, X. and Diogou, N. 2021.
Published
2021
Publisher
R. Soc. Open. Sci 8(202268)
Abstract
The bowhead whale is the only baleen whale endemic to the Arctic and is well adapted to this environment. Bowheads live near the polar ice edge for much of the year and although sea ice dynamics are not the only driver of their annual migratory
movements, it likely plays a key role. Given the intrinsic variability of open water and ice, one might expect bowhead migratory plasticity to be high and linked to this proximate environmental factor. Here, through a network of underwater passive acoustic recorders, we document the first known
occurrence of bowheads overwintering in what is normally their summer foraging grounds in the Amundsen Gulf and eastern Beaufort Sea. The underlying question is whether this
is the leading edge of a phenological shift in a species’ migratory behaviour in an environment undergoing dramatic shifts due to climate change.
Keywords
bowhead whale; migration; acoustic monitoring; sea ice
Full Citation
Insley, S.J. , Halliday, W.D. , Mouy, X. and Diogou N.. 2021. Bowhead whales overwinter in the Amundsen Gulf and Eastern Beaufort Sea. R. Soc. Open. Sci 8(202268)
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