Scientists Say Arctic Sea Ice Levels Linked With Gray Whale Mass Die-Off Events

Scientists Say Arctic Sea Ice Levels Linked With Gray Whale Mass Die-Off Events

Scientists Say Arctic, Sea Ice Levels Linked With , Gray Whale Mass Die-Off Events.

LiveScience reports that scientists may have determined the reason behind a series of mass deaths among gray whales in the northeastern Pacific Ocean.

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According to a new study, scientists have linked recent major mass mortality events with Arctic sea ice levels.

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According to a new study, scientists have linked recent major mass mortality events with Arctic sea ice levels.

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Three major die-off events have impacted gray whales off the coast of North America since the 1980s.

Those events reduced the whale population by 15% to 25% each time they occurred, killing over 2,000 gray whales.

In 2019, the latest die-off event started with over 70 gray whales washing ashore dead in only six months.

Since then, a total of 688 are known to have died, while the cause of the event has remained unclear.

These are extreme population swings that we did not expect to see in a large, long-lived species like gray whales, Joshua Stewart, Study lead author and assistant professor at Oregon State University's Marine Mammal Institute, via LiveScience.

According to the new study, published in the journal 'Science,' changing conditions and fluctuations in sea ice levels in the Arctic may be responsible for these events.

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Sea ice cover and the amount of available food may dictate how the gray whale population fares.

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When the availability of their prey in the Arctic is low and the whales cannot reach their feeding areas because of sea ice, the gray whale population experiences rapid and major shocks, Joshua Stewart, Study lead author and assistant professor at Oregon State University's Marine Mammal Institute, via LiveScience.

When the availability of their prey in the Arctic is low and the whales cannot reach their feeding areas because of sea ice, the gray whale population experiences rapid and major shocks, Joshua Stewart, Study lead author and assistant professor at Oregon State University's Marine Mammal Institute, via LiveScience