Weddell Seal Science

Remote Sea Ice Camp Now In Place at "Turtle Rock"

Weddell seal population study lead scientist Professor Jay Rotella reports that the remote sea ice camp huts where he and the rest of the field research crew will live and work for the duration of the pupping season have now been towed out to a new location in Erebus Bay. This season camp has been set up near a small island named "Turtle Rock". In the graphic below, the names and locations of the various Weddell seal pupping colonies in the Erebus Bay study area are indicated, including Turtle Rock, which is underlined in red."The heavy equipment operators from McMurdo brought camp out on to the sea ice early this week. Camp consists of four huts. Our team moved in and camp will be fully stocked and occupied by the end of this week," notes Rotella.

Regarding current ice conditions, Rotella says "Sea ice in the study area for the 2019 field season is not quite as thick as it has been in recent years. Currently, the sea ice is approximately 140 cm thick and suitable for our daily work. The somewhat thinner ice presents some challenges for the heavy equipment that pulls our camp huts to and from McMurdo Station for the season. Because of that, we’ve set our camp up closer to McMurdo and south of the Erebus Glacier tongue for the 2019 season. Although that site is a bit less ideal for our daily commutes to the various pupping colonies, the season is going well."

As of today Rotella reports, "Our field team is in camp at Turtle Rock. I will join them this evening in time for the peak of pup births the next two weeks. The team has tagged approximately 115 pups so far and is doing really well. So far, it appears that this will be another big year [for pup birth numbers]. It will certainly be another interesting and productive year!"

In all but one of the past ten years plus of the 50 year Weddell seal population study Antarctic field research, the remote sea ice camp was set up near Big Razorback Island. In 2011, however, the sea ice conditions necessitated that the sea ice camp be placed just south of the Erebus Glacier tongue. In this season's Turtle Rock location, the camp may not have access to wireless internet connection as it did when near Big Razorback Island. This is because the Big Razorback location relies upon transmit equipment for wireless internet connection that reaches that location. We anticipate that field team members will be able to send out photos and updates during their brief visits to McMurdo Station throughout the pupping season. Doing science work in Antarctica definitely requires flexibility and creativity when it comes to weather and sea ice conditions!

- Mary Lynn Price

Weddell Seal Short Documentaries

In addition to this season's fun new short-short videos about Weddell seals and the work of the population ecology research team that studies these seals in Erebus Bay, Antarctica, the project has produced numerous short documentary style videos over the years. Many have been screened at film festivals and won awards around the world. Earlier this year the project completed production on its latest short documentary, "How Moms Matter To Weddell Seal Pups". This informative 14 minute short film was created by Jeremy Schmidt and Mary Lynn Price with project visual material contributed by numerous Antarctica Weddell seal population study field team members, project scientists, and McMurdo Station diving personnel.

The full version of this documentary is the current project Featured Video on the Weddell Seal Science YouTube Channel. Here is a brief sample of that new video, Part One of "How Moms Matter To Weddell Seal Pups":

- Mary Lynn Price

About Those Weddell Seals

Weddell seals are the southernmost breeding mammal on Earth, and are found only in Antartica. This fun new short-short video produced by Weddell seal population study multimedia creator and writer Jeremy Schmidt presents "Five Weddell Facts":

Weddell seals are magnificent divers. They can hold their breath for over an hour, and have been recorded diving over 2000 feet deep. This diving ability allows them to swim far beneath the sea ice to access the surface in remote pupping colonies to give birth and raise their pups without threat from natural predators such as Orca and leopard seals. Weddells access the surface through cracks in the sea ice to give birth on top of the ice. These cracks are often associated with the rise and fall of the ocean tides against the ice frozen to land masses and islands. The ice attached to these land masses is referred to as "fast ice" as it is where the tidal sea ice meets the ice frozen fast to the land masses. In this quick time lapse video the rising and falling of the ocean tides creates cracks in a Weddell seal pupping colony that allows the seals to access the ice surface and the cold sea water below:

It is estimated that there are approximately 800,000 Weddell seals surrounding the Antarctic continent. The Weddell seal population and mass dynamics study focuses on the Weddell seals that return each year to Erebus Bay near the U.S. Antarctic base, McMurdo Station on Ross Island. Erebus Bay is located in the McMurdo Sound area of the Ross Sea. These waters are the most pristine marine environment remaining on Earth.

Weddell seals are "philopatric", meaning they return to the areas of their own births to reproduce and have their pups. This characteristic allows the scientists to study a particular population of Weddell seals over the course of many years and several generations of seals. This Weddell seal population study has been ongoing for over 50 years, and has developed a longterm data set unique in the scientific community. By studying the individual differences of so many seals going back several generations, the project scientists are able to make discoveries as to which individual characteristic of those Weddell moms and pups have contributed to the survival of those pups to adulthood to have pups of their own.

In an upcoming post we'll go into more detail about the lives of Weddell seal moms and pups and the individual characteristics of these amazing polar marine predators that project scientists have learned are significant to likelihood of pup survival and reproduction.

- Mary Lynn Price

Antarctica Field Team's Hard Work On the Ice

This season's sea ice conditions are a bit unusual, even considering the year to year variation in Austral Spring sea ice conditions in the Erebus Bay Weddell seal study area. The Weddell seal population study field team spends a lot of time at the beginning of the field season assessing and flagging safe routes to the various seal pupping colonies. In this photo, "Kit and Victor are profiling a crack near Turtle Rock to see if it is a safe location to put in a road crossing," reports field crew leader Shane Petch.

When the field team encounters a crack in the sea ice they carefully dig around it to expose its extent. They use small drills to determine the sea ice thickness surrounding the crack. The U.S. Antarctica Program has very strict safety guidelines when it comes to assessing and crossing cracks in the sea ice. In appropriate places special bridges can even be set to allow safe crossing. 

Once the field team has carefully determined safe routes to the various seal pupping colonies, they will then flag the routes to ensure safe travel. These safe flagged routes will allow the team to access the pupping colonies to record, tag, and follow new pups born in the study area. The photo below is of the first Weddell seal pup born in the study area this season to be recorded along with its mom and given a unique identification tag.

Weddell moms will stay close to their pups throughout the approximately 45 day nursing period. Close contact, nursing, and nuzzling help the mom/pup pair bond during the early days of the new pup's life. More about the life and activities of Weddell moms and pups in a future post!

- Mary Lynn Price

2019 Antarctica Field Team With Much Work Ahead!

The 2019 Weddell seal population study Antarctica field team is now at McMurdo Station and working hard to complete safety training and prepare equipment for the upcoming field work on the sea ice, reports this season's field crew leader Shane Petch.

Below is the 2019 field team, from left to right: Holly Lance, Heather Brown, Victor Villalobos, Kit Cunningham, Shane Petch, and Brandon Davis. This photo was taken outside the U.S. Antarctica (New Zealand) headquarters in Christchurch, New Zealand shortly before their flight to McMurdo Station, Antarctica.

Once at McMurdo Station the field team lost no time in preparing their gear and supplies for the Weddell seal pupping season ahead. In the photos below members of the crew assemble the new small tags that will be used to identify the new pups born this season in the Erebus Bay study area. 

Numerous safety and education courses will be completed by the research team members before they head out onto the sea ice, including sea ice safety and environmental training, as well as snowmobile and Pisten Bully operation and maintenance training. 

Once training is complete, the team will begin investigating and flagging safe routes to the numerous Weddell seal pupping colonies spread throughout the Erebus Bay study area. They will also work to prepare and provision the wooden sea ice huts that will soon be pulled out onto the sea ice and set in place for the season to serve as the remote sea ice base camp for the entire team. More on this in future posts.

This looks to be a great season ahead!

- Mary Lynn Price

Welcome To Our 2019 Weddell Seal Science Seasonal Field Blog!

This Antarctica Weddell seal pupping season is shaping up to be a very interesting one! The Antarctica field team is preparing to arrive at the U.S. Antarctic base McMurdo Station very soon to begin this season's population and mass dynamics study work throughout the Austral Spring Weddell seal pupping season in Eerebus Bay, Antarctica. In this seasonal blog we will try to keep viewers up to date with the science work of the field team throughout the pupping season, and post about some of what the scientists have learned about these amazing Antarctic marine mammals throughout the over 50 year duration of this unique project.

The Antarctic spring weather in Erebus Bay during the beginning of the Weddell seal pupping season is often very cold and windy. Doing science work in these conditions can be quite a challenge for the field research team. Yet the seals are quite at home in this icy environment. Here's a new video by project multimedia producer and author Jeremy Schmidt that includes footage and imaging by the project team:

To learn more about the history of this unique population ecology study please check out the History section on our public web portal, WeddellSealScience.com. Viewers can also access the study's numerous social media outreach efforts via Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube, as well as access videos, images, and further information on the project and the science through the Home page of our web portal. Numerous project scientific publications are are available on our Publications page for further reference. This Erebus Bay Antarctica Weddell seal population and mass dynamics study is made possible through the support of the National Science Foundation and the United States Antarctic Program. The Weddell seal project is based at Montana State University-Bozeman; and more research information on the project is available on the MSU website.

- Mary Lynn Price