Body sizes and dive characteristics of narwhals (Monodon monoceros) from Kakiak Point and Melville Bay (2005-2007) ...

• Main Authors: Laidre, Kristin L, Heide-Jørgensen, Mads Peter, Ermold, W, Steele, Michael
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: PANGAEA 2010
• Subjects: International Polar Year 2007-2008 IPY; Baffin Bay; Baffin; Davis Strait; International Polar Year; IPY; Monodon monoceros; narwhal*; North Atlantic
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.1594/pangaea.814057; https://doi.pangaea.de/10.1594/PANGAEA.814057

We report on wintertime data collected from Baffin Bay and northern Davis Strait, a major gateway linking the Arctic with the subpolar North Atlantic, using narwhals (Monodon monoceros) as an oceanographic sampling platform. Fourteen narwhals were instrumented with satellite-linked time-depth-temperature recorders between 2005 and 2007. Transmitters collected and transmitted water column temperature profiles from each dive between December and April, where >90% of maximum daily dive depths reached the bottom. Temperature measurements were combined with 15 helicopter-based conductivity-temperature-depth (CTD) casts taken in April 2007 across central Baffin Bay and compared with hydrographic climatology values used for the region in Arctic climate models. Winter temperature maxima for whale and CTD data were in good agreement, ranging between 4.0°C and 4.6°C in inshore and offshore Baffin Bay and in Davis Strait. The warm Irminger Water was identified between 57°W and 59°W (at 68°N) between 200 and 400 m ... : Data extracted in the frame of a joint ICSTI/PANGAEA IPY effort, see http://doi.pangaea.de/10.1594/PANGAEA.150150 ...