In keeping with the challenging sea ice conditions this season around McMurdo Station and the Weddell seal population study area of Erebus Bay, the project’s remote sea ice camp is now being pulled a few weeks earlier than in previous recent seasons. Reports lead scientist Jay Rotella, "We have had a very good year for pup production and other data collection." Sea ice camp this season had been placed at Turtle Rock nearer McMurdo due to this year's challenging sea ice conditions. Turtle Rock is located a good distance from some of the more remote pupping colonies the field team must access in the Erebus Bay study area to do their science work. For over a decade, camp has been placed at Big Razorback Island, further out in the study area and more central to many of the pupping colonies.
The sea ice this season is thinner in places and can be more troublesome for heavy equipment now. Yet the field research team’s work gathering data on the seals throughout the study area continues! This work keeps intact a multi-generational Weddell seal database unique in the scientific community, and is made possible by the many hard hours put in by the field team and the dedicated assistance of many different groups and support personnel on the Ice.
There are a few later-season pup births still taking place, and numerous pups and moms that the research team must continue to follow until the nursing period is over. The field team will work from McMurdo Station now to continue to get into the field as safely and successfully as they are able to gather necessary data.
In Part 3 of our project’s longer video, “How Moms Matter To Weddell Pups”, the presentation focuses on what the scientists are learning about how differences among Weddell moms and pups may effect the pup's survival to adulthood. And particularly when it comes to when during the pupping season the pups are born, how much they weigh at birth, and then how much at weaning. It will be interesting to learn if and how the challenging sea ice conditions this season affect the survival to adulthood of this year’s cohort of pups!
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