Table of Contents

• Coverage
• Dataset Description
• Data Files
• Parameters
• Deployments
• Project Information
• Program Information
• Funding

Seal Studies, Southern Ocean GLOBEC, Seal Morphometrics Data

* Blubber depths determined by ultrasound

For additional details on sampling and analytical methods see:
Burns, Jennifer M., Daniel P. Costa, Michael A. Fedak, Mark A. Hindell, Corey J.A. Bradshaw, Nicholas C. Gales, Birgitte McDonald, Stephan J. Trumble, Daniel E. Crocker, 2004. Winter habitat use and foraging behavior of crabeater seals along the Western Antarctic Peninsula. Deep-Sea Research II vol 51, pp 2279-2303.

Links to companion seal files:
General Seal Background Information
Seal Physiology - bloodwork
Seal Predicted Mass
Seal Tracking Locations From Satellite Tags

Contact Information:
Jennifer Burns, Ph.D.
Department of Biological Sciences
University of Alaska
Anchorage, AK 99508
907-786-1527
afjmb4@uaa.alaska.edu

Daniel P. Costa Ph.D.
Long Marine Laboratory
University of California
100 Shaffer Rd
Santa Cruz, CA 95060
Office: 831 459-2786
FAX: 831 459-3383
costa@biology.ucsc.edu

last updated April 25, 2006

The fundamental objectives of United States Global Ocean Ecosystems Dynamics (U.S. GLOBEC) Program are dependent upon the cooperation of scientists from several disciplines. Physicists, biologists, and chemists must make use of data collected during U.S. GLOBEC field programs to further our understanding of the interplay of physics, biology, and chemistry. Our objectives require quantitative analysis of interdisciplinary data sets and, therefore, data must be exchanged between researchers. To extract the full scientific value, data must be made available to the scientific community on a timely basis.

The U.S. Global Ocean Ecosystems Dynamics (U.S. GLOBEC) program has the goal of understanding and ultimately predicting how populations of marine animal species respond to natural and anthropogenic changes in climate. Research in the Southern Ocean (SO) indicates strong coupling between climatic processes and ecosystem dynamics via the annual formation and destruction of sea ice. The Southern Ocean GLOBEC Program (SO GLOBEC) will investigate the dynamic relationship between physical processes and ecosystem responses through identification of critical parameters that affect the distribution, abundance and population dynamics of target species. The overall goals of the SO GLOBEC program are to elucidate shelf circulation processes and their effect on sea ice formation and krill distribution, and to examine the factors which govern krill survivorship and availability to higher trophic levels, including penguins, seals and whales. The focus of the U.S. contribution to the international SO GLOBEC program will be on winter processes. This component will focus on the distribution and foraging behavior of adult female crabeater seals, using a combination of satellite-linked tracking, specialized diver recorders, and stable isotopic tracers. This research will be coordinated with components focused on prey (krill) distribution and the physical environment. The results will be analyzed using an optimality model. The result of the integrated SO GLOBEC program will be to improve the predictability of living marine resources, especially with respect to local and global climatic shifts.

U.S. GLOBEC (GLOBal ocean ECosystems dynamics) is a research program organized by oceanographers and fisheries scientists to address the question of how global climate change may affect the abundance and production of animals in the sea.

The U.S. GLOBEC Program currently had major research efforts underway in the Georges Bank / Northwest Atlantic Region, and the Northeast Pacific (with components in the California Current and in the Coastal Gulf of Alaska). U.S. GLOBEC was a major contributor to International GLOBEC efforts in the Southern Ocean and Western Antarctic Peninsula (WAP).

U.S. GLOBEC (GLOBal ocean ECosystems dynamics) is a research program organized by oceanographers and fisheries scientists to address the question of how global climate change may affect the abundance and production of animals in the sea.

The U.S. GLOBEC Program currently had major research efforts underway in the Georges Bank / Northwest Atlantic Region, and the Northeast Pacific (with components in the California Current and in the Coastal Gulf of Alaska). U.S. GLOBEC was a major contributor to International GLOBEC efforts in the Southern Ocean and Western Antarctic Peninsula (WAP).