Ice Seal Tracking Maps Archive

During the last 10 days we have received locations for 4 bearded, 2 ringed, and 7 spotted seals. Ten of 13 seals are located in the Bering Sea, of which nine are either in open water or the marginal ice zone. Of note, one male spotted seal (SS17-07-M, purple circle) that entered Lavrentiya Bay, on Russia's Chukotka Peninsula, earlier this December has returned to this bay after spending nine days moving through the open water of the northern Bering Sea. The two bearded and one ringed seal making localized movements in the Chukchi Sea remain near their locations from the previous update, near Utqiaġvik and in Kotzebue Sound. Sea ice data are courtesy of the U.S. National Ice Center, dated 26 December (http://www.natice.noaa.gov/products/daily_products.html).