NEW PAPER: The most southerly occurrence of humpback whales in the western Weddell Sea
Available free here: https://doi.org/10.1111/mms.13033 Globally, warming oceans are causing marine species to shift poleward (Melbourne-Thomas et al., 2022 <https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/mms.13033#mms13033-bib-0036>). The Antarctic Peninsula is a global hotspot for human-induced warming (Jones et al., 2019 <https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/mms.13033#mms13033-bib-0030>; Turner et al., 2020 <https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/mms.13033#mms13033-bib-0051>), evidenced by lessening sea ice conditions (Kumar et al., 2021 <https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/mms.13033#mms13033-bib-0034>), warming oceans, and the collapse of ice shelves (Etourneau et al., 2019 <https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/mms.13033#mms13033-bib-0020>). Here, we detail two new record-breaking sightings of humpback whales in the western WS. Both sightings were made from ice-breaker class tourist vessels, which were able to access southerly regions of the western WS during a summer with a new record low in sea ice extent (February 23, 2022; Raphael & Handcock, 2022 <https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/mms.13033#mms13033-bib-0043>) and the now regular breakup of the Larsen A & B ice shelves (Wang et al., 2022 <https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/mms.13033#mms13033-bib-0052>). The novel humpback whale sightings were made on December 8 at 1230 UTC (ship's position: 64.83°S, 59.15°W) and on January 26 at 0944 UTC (ship's position: 65.31°S, 58.98°W) 30 and 90 nmi (56 and 167 km) further south than any previously reported humpback whale sighting in the western WS (Figure 1 <https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/mms.13033#mms13033-fig-0001>). Humpback whales respond to dynamic environmental features (Thiele et al., 2004 <https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/mms.13033#mms13033-bib-0050>) which likely drive preferred prey aggregations (Herr et al., 2016 <https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/mms.13033#mms13033-bib-0026>; Santora et al., 2010 <https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/mms.13033#mms13033-bib-0047>) and thus will likely be able to continue to respond to new extremes in sea ice conditions like the more regular opening of the western WS (Jena et al., 2022 <https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/mms.13033#mms13033-bib-0029>).
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