Subglacial discharge plume behaviour revealed by CTD-instrumented ringed seals.

ABSTRACT: Subglacial discharge plumes increase submarine melting of marine-terminating glaciers significantly; however, in-situ data on their properties and behaviour are limited. We present oceanographic data collected by ringed seals (Pusa hispida) instrumented with GPS-equipped conductivity-temperature-depth satellite relay data loggers (GPS-CTD-SRDLs) in Kongsfjorden, Svalbard, during 2012. The seals foraged just outside the plumes and collected hydrographic data from within the plumes' upwelling cores as they returned to the surface. The seals encountered water with fractions of subglacial discharge as high as 27% at 60 m below the ocean surface. The ringed seals responded rapidly to spatial and temporal variations in subglacial discharge at the glacier terminus, suggesting that prey becomes av

SUBMITTER: Everett A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6128829 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature