Meteorological factors affecting the number of Weddell seals hauling-out on the ice during the molting season at Syowa Station, East Antarctica

Weddell seals show a clear diurnal haul-out pattern, while there have been few studies focusing on the influence of weather conditions. The present study investigates the relationship between the number of seals which haul-out on the fast ice and meteorological factors such as: air temperature, wind...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Katsufumi Sato, Yasutaka Tsuchiya, Sakae Kudoh, Yasuhiko Naito
Format: Report
Language:English
Published: National Institute of Polar Research/Shimoda Marine Research Center, Tsukuba University/National Institute of Polar Research/National Institute of Polar Research 2003
Subjects:
haul-out
Weddell seal
Syowa Station
wind speed
air temperature
East Antarctica
Weddell
Antarc*
Antarctica
Polar bioscience
Weddell Seal
Weddell Seals
Online Access:https://nipr.repo.nii.ac.jp/?action=repository_uri&item_id=6203
http://id.nii.ac.jp/1291/00006203/
https://nipr.repo.nii.ac.jp/?action=repository_action_common_download&item_id=6203&item_no=1&attribute_id=18&file_no=1
Description
Summary:Weddell seals show a clear diurnal haul-out pattern, while there have been few studies focusing on the influence of weather conditions. The present study investigates the relationship between the number of seals which haul-out on the fast ice and meteorological factors such as: air temperature, wind speed, humidity and irradiance in Syowa Station, East Antarctica. The number of seals was inversely related to wind speed (P < 0.001), and positively related to air temperature (P < 0.05), suggesting that seals may enter the water to avoid excessive heat loss when the weather condition was severe. The number of seals varied greatly on calm days (wind speed < 5.3 m/s and air temperature > -8.3 °C), indicating that some other factors might influence the seal's decision to stay in the water.

Similar Items