| Summary: | Free-living ringed seals (N = 11) equipped with satellite-relayed data loggers (SRDLs) with incorporated oceanographic-quality temperature sensors were used to collect data from a large sector of the northern Barents Sea during the autumn andearly winter. A total of 2346 temperature profiles were collected over a 4-month period from Norwegian and Russian arcticwaters in areas that were at times 90–100% ice-covered. Temperature distributions at different depths from northeastern parts ofSvalbard, Norway show warm North Atlantic water (NAW) flowing along the continental slope and gradually cooling at alldepths as it flows eastwards. The data suggest that most of the cooling takes place west of 30jE. Vertical temperature profilesfrom the area between Svalbard and Franz Josef Land, Russia show how the surface water cools during freeze-up anddemonstrate a warm water flow, which is probably NAW, coming in from the north through a deep trench west of Franz JosefLand. Global oceanographic and climate models require improved oceanographic databases from crucial areas where importanthydrological phenomena occur. Such areas in arctic waters are often inaccessible during winter and logistically difficult to reacheven in summer. The present study demonstrates how large amounts of oceanographic information can be collected andretrieved in a cost-efficient manner using ice-associated marine mammals as carrier of oceanographic sampling equipment. Inaddition to the oceanographic value of the data collected by marine mammals in this manner, a vast amount of informationregarding the habitat of these animals is concomitantly sampled.
|
|---|