Projected shifts in the foraging habitat of crabeater seals along the Antarctic Peninsula

Examination of a sample of 94 female crabeater seals collected in November, 1977, indicated that, for the past 7 years, the average age at sexual maturity was 3.8 years. Reproductive performance as evidenced by uterine scars and ovarian corpora is discussed. No females inseminated at age 4 or less successfully carried a fetus full term. Timing of ovulation was affected by both age and social category. Younger seals ovulate later in the season than older seals. No females ovulated prior to weaning their pups. Ovulation in experienced females occurred sometimes while still in a mated pair, but mostly at or after dissolution of the pair bond. Comparison of recent age of sexual maturity with earlier reports shows an increase in this age since 1967. This trend may reflect geographical differences or changes in the Antarctic marine ecosystem following a slowdown in Antarctic whaling.

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Age, geographical distribution and taphonomy of an unusual occurrence of mummified crabeater seals on James Ross Island, Antarctic Peninsula

Antarctic Science ◽

10.1017/s095410200800134x ◽

2008 ◽

Vol 20 (5) ◽

pp. 485-493 ◽

Cited By ~ 13

Author(s):

A.E. Nelson ◽

J.L. Smellie ◽

M. Williams ◽

S. Moreton

Keyword(s):

Sea Ice ◽

Antarctic Peninsula ◽

Open Water ◽

Phocine Distemper Virus ◽

James Ross Island ◽

Unusual Occurrence ◽

Crabeater Seals ◽

Western Side ◽

The Antarctic ◽

North Western

AbstractAn unusually dense collection of some 150 dead crabeater seals (Family Phocidae), in various stages of decay, occurs in the Brandy Bay hinterland, north-western James Ross Island, northern Antarctic Peninsula. Throughout the past 100 years, the presence of shelf ice (no longer present today) and sea ice in Prince Gustav Channel, between James Ross Island and the Antarctic Peninsula, has prevented seals from readily accessing the western side of James Ross Island. However, open water pools, some over one kilometre in diameter, remain accessible throughout the winter months, allowing seals to haul out onto the ice. It is likely that some of these seals may become disorientated as they wander away from the pools and instead head toward Brandy Bay and onto low-lying and snow-covered Abernethy Flats, easily mistaken for sea ice in early winter, where they perish. The large number of variably-decayed animals present suggests that this has probably happened on numerous occasions. However, some of the dead seals also probably perished during a documented mass dying event of crabeater seals in Prince Gustav Channel caused by an unidentified epidemic, possibly phocine distemper virus (PDV), during the spring of 1955.

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Crustacea Tanaidacea of the Antarctic and the Subantarctic: 1. On Material Collected at Tierra del Fuego, Isla de los Estados, and the West Coast of the Antarctic Peninsula

10.1029/ar045 ◽

1986 ◽

Cited By ~ 9

Author(s):

Jürgen Sieg

Keyword(s):

Antarctic Peninsula ◽

West Coast ◽

Tierra Del Fuego ◽

The West ◽

The Antarctic

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Open ocean and coastal new particle formation from sulfuric acid and amines around the Antarctic Peninsula

Nature Geoscience ◽

10.1038/s41561-021-00751-y ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

James Brean ◽

Manuel Dall’Osto ◽

Rafel Simó ◽

Zongbo Shi ◽

David C. S. Beddows ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Sulfuric Acid ◽

Antarctic Peninsula ◽

Particle Formation ◽

Open Ocean ◽

New Particle Formation ◽

The Antarctic

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Mass balance of the Antarctic ice sheet 1992–2016: reconciling results from GRACE gravimetry with ICESat, ERS1/2 and Envisat altimetry

Journal of Glaciology ◽

10.1017/jog.2021.8 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 1-27

Author(s):

H. Jay Zwally ◽

John W. Robbins ◽

Scott B. Luthcke ◽

Bryant D. Loomis ◽

Frédérique Rémy

Keyword(s):

Mass Balance ◽

Antarctic Peninsula ◽

East Antarctica ◽

Mantle Material ◽

West Antarctica ◽

Mantle Viscosity ◽

Grounding Line ◽

The Antarctic ◽

Total Gain

Abstract GRACE and ICESat Antarctic mass-balance differences are resolved utilizing their dependencies on corrections for changes in mass and volume of the same underlying mantle material forced by ice-loading changes. Modeled gravimetry corrections are 5.22 times altimetry corrections over East Antarctica (EA) and 4.51 times over West Antarctica (WA), with inferred mantle densities 4.75 and 4.11 g cm−3. Derived sensitivities (Sg, Sa) to bedrock motion enable calculation of motion (δB0) needed to equalize GRACE and ICESat mass changes during 2003–08. For EA, δB0 is −2.2 mm a−1 subsidence with mass matching at 150 Gt a−1, inland WA is −3.5 mm a−1 at 66 Gt a−1, and coastal WA is only −0.35 mm a−1 at −95 Gt a−1. WA subsidence is attributed to low mantle viscosity with faster responses to post-LGM deglaciation and to ice growth during Holocene grounding-line readvance. EA subsidence is attributed to Holocene dynamic thickening. With Antarctic Peninsula loss of −26 Gt a−1, the Antarctic total gain is 95 ± 25 Gt a−1 during 2003–08, compared to 144 ± 61 Gt a−1 from ERS1/2 during 1992–2001. Beginning in 2009, large increases in coastal WA dynamic losses overcame long-term EA and inland WA gains bringing Antarctica close to balance at −12 ± 64 Gt a−1 by 2012–16.

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