Use of artificial subice air pockets by wild ringed seals ( Phoca hispida )

• Published in: Canadian Journal of Zoology
• Main Author: Milne, Allen R.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Canadian Science Publishing 1974
• Subjects: Animal Science and Zoology; Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics; Lancaster Sound; Phoca hispida; Sea ice
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1139/z74-146; http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/pdf/10.1139/z74-146

Ringed seals were observed to inhale exhaust air expelled by SCUBA divers who were diving under 1.9-m thick, 1-year-old fast ice in Lancaster Sound during mid-April, 1973, The underside of the sea ice was imperfectly flat so that some of the bubbles of exhaust air coalesced into large lenticular bubbles 1 to 3 cm in depth, and these, on occasions, were partially inhaled by seals. Between dives, separated in time by as little as 3 h, all the under-ice air bubbles, large and small, vanished. It is assumed that the buoyant air migrated upward into the sea ice by the progressive displacement of brine in drainage channels. Although the exhaust air was readily used by ringed seals, it is unlikely that naturally occurring air pockets can persist beneath 1 -year-old sea ice to enable seals to extend their under-ice travels.