Ice Seal Tracking Maps Archive

From 2 to 16 December, we received locations for 1 bearded, 5 ringed, and 8 spotted seals. The adult bearded seal (BS19-01-M, red square) continued to make localized movements near Utqiaġvik and Barrow Canyon. All five ringed seals were in the Chukchi Sea, one (RS19-02-M, yellow arrow) in the northeast between Point Lay and Utqiaġvik, two (RS19-01-M, red arrow and RS19-05-M, purple arrow) in the central Chukchi Sea, and the remaining two in the southern Chukchi Sea, generally near Hope Basin. The seven spotted seals tagged in Dease Inlet during September 2019 are also still in the Chukchi Sea. SS19-03-M (yellow circle) was near Bering Strait. The remain six spotted seals were between Hope Basin and the central Chukchi Sea. Spotted seal SS18-02-M (brown circle), tagged near Scammon Bay in 2018, is still in the Bering Sea and is hauling out on sea ice between the mouth of the Yukon River and St. Lawrence Island. Sea ice data are courtesy of the U.S. National Ice Center, dated 16 December 2019 (http://www.natice.noaa.gov/products/daily_products.html).