Narwhal tracker

These satellite tags were fitted painlessly in order to follow the movements of the narwhal as they go about their annual feeding and reproductive routines, in order to better understand these unique creatures.

• Learn more about narwhals

Updates

May 2012
As of May 13th, sea-ice in the Baffin Bay system is changing rapidly now, with already large areas of open water at the northern end (an area commonly referred to as the Northwater Polynya, where due to factors such as water circulation, wind and upwellings extensive areas of open water can usually be found year round despite bone-chilling low air temperatures).  The two remaining narwhals are moving steadily northwards now, along the Canadian continental shelf, just beyond the edge of the landfast ice.  The satellite images show increasing numbers of large leads amidst the mobile pack ice, allowing these mammals plenty of breathing options.

April 2012
As usually happens with these radios, after a few months, the number of functioning units decreases – often battery failure or some electronic problem, or the pack eventually detaches from the narwhal.  So, we are down to 2 transmitting radios now.  And the early spring changes in the annual ice cover are probably what’s causing one of these animals to move – as ice leads start to open up more.  This is also the breeding/mating time for most narwhal.

March 2012
We’re almost at the spring equinox, and at even at 67 degrees N, just north of the Arctic Circle, where our 3 remaining transmitting narwhal have been wintering, things are shifting fast now! With rapidly lengthening days now, warmer daytime temperatures and some melt of sea ice already underway, these narwhal have begun to move northwards in the last few days. At this time of year narwhal breed too.

February 2012
These 4 narwhals are not moving much now. We are approaching March, which in most parts of the Arctic is the month of maximum sea-ice cover. These narwhal are in the area thought to be most regularly used in winter by this species, between SE Baffin Island and Greenland. This distribution is influenced by availability of Greenland Halibut in particular, but probably some other prey species such as squid, which tend to concentrate in areas where nutrients allow benthic organisms to flourish, especially around the edges of the deep centre and adjacent troughs of Baffin Bay.

January 2012
Since December it looks like two of the 7 radios are no longer transmitting, or may simply have become detached from the narwhal’s dorsal ridge.  However, the five remaining whales (all females and all about 13 ft in length, so adults) are all wintering between Qikiqtarjuaq in SE Baffin Island and Disko Bay (W Greenland), in the central basin and deep trench of S Baffin Bay and N Davis Strait – waters up to 2-3,000 m deep!

Past research has found that some wintering narwhal in this area are diving to the seabed in these amazing depths and probably feeding mainly on Greenland Halibut.  Although the satellite sea-ice coverage map shows’ 9+ tenths’ or essentially complete ice cover, clearly there are enough leads/cracks between ice sheets and the narwhals are able to detect and rely on these for breathing. 

Surface air temperatures and ice cover appear to be about normal now in this region, so we assume that these narwhals are pretty content doing what they have evolved so highly to do at this season – pack on energy and stay away from predatory killer whales!

November 22, 2011
It’s great to see that all of the 7 custom designed narwhal satellite radio tags are performing well. This brings us weekly updated information about key areas used in Baffin Bay and northern Davis Strait. With Canadian Arctic temperatures having plummeted to 20-30C below zero this past week, sea-ice formation is in full swing, which is good news for narwhals basically! If thyere were any pods of killer whales in these areas, we suspect that they have by now moved well south and away from the arctic sea-ice conditions.

October 2011
With the returning annual sea-ice now forming around North Baffin Island, the 7 narwhals have all moved out from the summering inlets ahead of the ice.

Although Tremblay Sound still appears from the detailed ice charts to be mainly open water, the channels around there have heavy ice cover, and so would have possibly blocked the narwhals return to more open water in Baffin Bay. At this point, sea-ice cover in this part of the Arctic is close to the norm from the past 30 years at this date.

As of early October, these high-tech satellite radio tags have been programmed to transmit only every four days, for the duration of winter and spring, to save on battery power and prolong their overall tracking life. (The satellites can of course only pick up the emitted signal when the narwhal is at the surface.)