Diversity, Distribution and Relative Abundance of Marine Mammals, Penguins and Seabirds from South America to McMurdo Sound during the 2006 Transit of the Icebreaker Oden.

Hubbs-Sea World Research Institute, San Diego CA

Investigators

Abstract

This project will document the diversity, distribution and relative abundance of pinnipeds, cetaceans, seabirds, and penguins using systematic distance sampling methods during the transit of the Swedish icebreaker ODEN from South American along the seasonal sea ice edge of the Southern Ocean to McMurdo station in mid- to late December 2006. The project will correlate the ecological data for the air-breathing marine vertebrate fauna with biological and physical oceanographic data collected by other ship-based research projects, and with remotely-sensed data on geostrophic currents, sea ice characteristics, sea level height, sea-surface temperature and chlorophyll concentration. The data collected during this expedition will also be compared with regional biological and oceanographic data available from previous studies conducted along the Antarctic Peninsula and recent research expeditions to various areas in the Bellingshausen, Amundsen, and Ross Seas.