Ice Seal Tracking Maps Archive

07/212/2017 – 08/226/2017

Requested Tracking Map
We are pleased to announce that we tagged a young bearded (BS17-01-F) and young spotted seal (SS17-06-F) on the Colville River, near Nuiqsut, Alaska, on 9 and 10 August. These seals were tagged as part of a collaborative effort between Alaska Department of Fish and Game, Arctic Marine Mammal Program and North Slope Borough, Department of Wildlife Management staff and assisted by Richard Tukle, a subsistence hunter in Nuiqsut. We deployed a CTD and flipper (SPOT) tag on both seals. The flipper tag deployed on SS17-06-F was provided by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Marine Mammal Laboratory.

During the last 14 days we have received locations for 1 bearded, 2 ringed, and 5 spotted seals. The seals tagged last week (BS17-01-F and SS17-06-F) have left the Colville River and moved west toward Utqiaġvik. Both ringed seals are in the northern Chukchi Sea, RS17-01-M (red arrow) is in the marginal ice zone. Two of the three spotted seals tagged near Scammon Bay in July are still within 100 miles of Scammon Bay (SS17-02-M, blue circle, and SS17-03-F, red circle). The third spotted seal tagged near Scammon Bay (SS17-04-M, dark green circle) has left Port Clarence and is moving south, across the mouth of Norton Sound, toward Scammon Bay. Sea ice data are courtesy of the U.S. National Ice Center, dated 14 August (https://earthdata.nasa.gov/earth-observation-data/near-real-time/rapid-response/modis-subsets).

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