Project title – Pan-Arctic Tracking of Beluga Whales (PATOB)

Project web site – http://www.afsc.noaa.gov/nmml/cetacean/ipyp.php

Activity leader(s) (name, affiliation, email address) – Mads-Peter Heide-Jørgensen, Greenland Institute of Natural Resources, mhj@ghsdk.dk, and Rod Hobbs, National Marine Mammal Laboratory, NOAA, rod.hobbs@noaa.gov

Project goals (1-2 sentences) – Free-ranging belugas outfitted with satellite transmitters undergoing their annual migration relay data that will allow for longitudinal comparisons between beluga populations occupying different regions and sea ice or production conditions and elucidate temporal and spatial differences in habitat use and the susceptibility of each population to changing Arctic habitats. The project will provide a circumpolar baseline for understanding regional resilience of a high Arctic predator to the impacts of climate change.

Geographic focus – Pan-Arctic: Svalbard, Hudson Bay, the Canadian high Arctic archipelago, the Beaufort Sea, the White Sea, and in Chukotka

Taxonomic focus – Beluga whales

Countries involved in activity – All Arctic Ocean-bordering nations including Russian participation at all levels

Expedition dates and vessels – no large vessels are required, 07/07-11/07, 07/08-11/08, 07/09-11/09

IPY Activity #780