Monitoring of the Winter Presence of Bowhead Whales in the Navarin Basin through Association with Sea Ice

摘要

The purpose of the study was to statistically analyze the relationship between bowhead whales and sea ice in the Bering Sea, and to examine the application of remote sensing systems for detecting ice conditions associated with bowhead whales. These whales are an endangered species whose population winters in the Bering Sea ice pack. The distribution and association of bowhead whales with the pack ice was determined from three data bases. The data bases had 83 groups of 141 whales in 1979, 32 groups of 60 whales in 1983, and 18 groups of 38 whales in 1986. The conclusion was that a combination of Geosat, NOAA series satellite imagery, and Landsat imagery could be used until microwave satellite imagery becomes available.