News
from Observation Post #19 This map shows where the sea ice is still frozen. Yellow shows sea ice, blue is water (and white is snow). See May 12 comment below map:
May 12, 2008: Dr. Dave Rugh of the National Marine Mammal Lab reports: Some whales have ambitiously been northbound since late-February and could be well up into the Bering Sea. The sea ice was farther south this year than in some recent years, closer instead to the multi-year average, such that even in April there was ice across much of the Bering Sea north of Bristol Bay. However, the ice is thinner than in the past, which means it can break up easily and melt quickly. This might not hold the whales back very much if there are a lot of open areas between ice floes. We generally think of gray whales as being shy of sea ice, but there are times they go well into icy areas.
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