Ice Seal Tracking Maps Archive

From 9 November to 3 December, we received locations for 1 bearded, 5 ringed, and 8 spotted seals. The adult bearded seal (BS19-01-M, red square) continued to make localized movements near Utqiaġvik and Barrow Canyon. All five ringed seals were in the Chukchi Sea, two (RS19-01-M, red arrow and RS19-02-M, yellow arrow) in the northeast between Point Lay and Utqiaġvik, and the remaining three in the southern Chukchi, including RS19-03-M (orange arrow) that moved into Kotzebue Sound. The seven spotted seals tagged in Dease Inlet during September 2019 are also still in the Chukchi Sea. SS19-03-M (yellow circle) was near the entrance of Kotzebue Sound. The remain six spotted seals were in the eastern Chukchi Sea, generally between Point Lay and Point Hope, along the forming ice edge. Spotted seal SS18-02-M (brown circle), tagged near Scammon Bay in 2018, is still in the Bering Sea. This seal moved north from the barrier islands in Scammon Bay and is hauling out on sea ice between the mouth of the Yukon River and St. Lawrence Island. Sea ice data are courtesy of the U.S. National Ice Center, dated 3 December 2019 (http://www.natice.noaa.gov/products/daily_products.html).