Narwhals Dive Deep to Help Scientists Research the Warming Arctic
Scientists come in all shapes and sizes. Sometimes, that shape is a blubbery 1,000-kilogram whale with a 2-meter tusk.
Scientists from the University of Copenhagen and the Greenland Institute of Natural Resources collaborated with narwhals to study warming water temperatures in East Greenland. The research, published in Science Advances, focused on Scorseby Sound, the world's largest fjord system, which spans about 10,000 square kilometers and reaches depths of over 1,000 meters.
Narwhals were used as ocean sampling platforms due to their ability to reach remote and deep locations. Researchers attached satellite transmitters to six narwhals, which recorded data from 2,060 dives over a period of three years between August 2017 and July 2020. The data collected included temperature, salinity, and dive depth.
The findings revealed that glaciers terminating in deep basins tend to have warmer waters surrounding them compared to glaciers in shallow basins, particularly at depths of 200 to 500 meters. The influx of Atlantic waters, contributing to glacier melting, was found to be particularly significant in areas 300 kilometers or more from Greenland's outer coast.
This study not only provided new insights into the effects of atlantification in East Greenland but also demonstrated the potential of using unconventional collaborators, such as narwhals, in oceanographic research.
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