Arctic Marine Data Collection Using Oceanic Gliders: Providing Ecological Context to Cetacean Vocalizations

Humpback Whale (Megaptera novaeangliae) Song on a Subarctic Feeding Ground

“…Peak sighting rates by Ramm (2020) using photo identification were generally highest in January with low to no observations in February and onwards. While visual studies report no humpback whale sightings in Norwegian waters after February (Broms et al, 2015;Ryan et al, 2015;Ramm, 2020), acoustic detections by Aniceto et al (2020) and the present study reveal longer stays throughout spring. Although recordings in February only covered 57% of all days within this month, singing activity would still be highest if the missing 12 days were set as "song absent" (resulting in 542 min/recording day).…”

Mass strandings of seven toothed and baleen whale species in Northern Norway in March 2020 call for further investigation

“…The location of the strandings, the Lofoten-Vesterålen archipelago, is known for its marine biodiversity richness, and sustains an important male sperm whale foraging ground at the continental shelf edge (Madsen et al 2002). Humpback whales are often sighted during the winter months, although sporadic sightings have also been reported throughout the year (Jourdain and Vongraven 2017;Ramm 2020;Aniceto et al 2020). Bottlenose whales and fin whales are assumed uncommon in the region, although fin whale vocalizations and visual observations have been reported during winter and summer, respectively (Øygard 2018;Leonard and Øien 2020).…”

Autonomous Surface and Underwater Vehicles as Effective Ecosystem Monitoring and Research Platforms in the Arctic—The Glider Project

“…The LoVe region also provides important spawning grounds and larval areas for the commercial fish stocks of the Barents Sea and adjacent waters, including the Northeast Arctic haddock Melanogrammus aeglefinus stock, the Norwegian spring-spawning herring Clupea harengus stock, and the Northeast Arctic cod Gadus morhua stock [43]. Cetaceans were also reported in the area [11,44], with both humpback whale Megaptera novaeangliae and killer whale Orcinus orca feeding on herring aggregations [44]. The Lofoten Basin is the most eddy-rich region in the Norwegian Sea [45].…”

“…Effective ocean management requires integrated and sustainable ocean observing systems, which enable us to better understand ocean processes and the impacts of human activities [6,10]. Autonomous subsurface and surface vehicles, here collectively referred to as |"gliders", are advanced ocean observing systems providing high spatiotemporal resolution [10][11][12][13][14][15]. Equipped with energy-efficient sensors, innovative communication means, and data management systems, these vehicles are commanded remotely, and report results to land in near-real-time, providing a new set of tools to efficiently collect ecological and commercially relevant data from the open ocean and coastal areas.…”

“…Through the project "Unmanned ocean vehicles, a flexible and cost-efficient offshore monitoring and data management approach", three different gliders were deployed from March to September 2018, along the Lofoten-Vesterålen (LoVe) shelf-slope-oceanic system in Arctic Norway. This period covered the annual blooms of primary and secondary production, which in turn sustain high fish density aggregations in spawning grounds where cetaceans also feed [11,[16][17][18][19]. The highly productive LoVe area is of prime interest to develop the national blue economy, with stakeholders including fisheries, offshore energy, aquaculture, shipping, and tourism.…”