Marine Mammal Watch, Northern Bering Sea and Chukchi Sea, August-September, 2017

• Main Author: Moore, Sue
• Format: Dataset
• Language: English
• Published: Arctic Data Center 2019
• Subjects: CETACEANS; PMEL; Arctic Ocean; Chukchi Sea; Beaufort Sea; Bering Sea; NOAA; DBO; Distributed Biological Observatory; Pacific Arctic Group; PAG; sea ice; marine mammals; Alaska; seals; walruses; porpoise; Arctic; Barrow Canyon; Pacific; Barrow; Chukchi; International Arctic Science Committee; Pacific Arctic; Sea ice; walrus*
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.18739/a25q4rm2m; https://arcticdata.io/catalog/#view/doi:10.18739/A25Q4RM2M

Marine mammal observations were recorded along-track from north of Dutch Harbor, Alaska in the Bering Sea (166.50 W, 53.90 N) northward to Barrow Canyon at the boundary of the Chukchi and Beaufort Seas (157.42 W, 73.46 N) aboard United States Coast Gaurd Cutter (USCGC) Healy (Hly17-02), during an August-September, 2017 research cruise. Observations include individual mammal species identification and counts, ice-cover percent, sea state, visibility and weather. Marine Mammal Watch observations were made as part of the Distributed Biological Observatory (DBO) to more systematically track the broad biological response to sea ice retreat and associated environmental change. The spatially-explicit DBO network focuses multi-disciplinary sampling in regional biological "hotspot" locations and is organized through the Pacific Arctic Group (PAG), an international collaboration sanctioned by the International Arctic Science Committee.