Leopard seals on Macquarie Island
Leopard seals on Macquarie IslandDr Ben Raymond and Harry Burton, Australian Antarctic Division |
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Project background
The numbers of leopard seals on Macquarie Island have been recorded since about 1948. Leopard seal numbers show a periodic pattern, with large numbers of leopard seals observed about every four years. No relationship between these periodic seal sightings and physical or biological environmental variables has to our knowledge been published.
Spatial data mining techniques were used to search for relationships between seal abundance and physical environmental variables including sea ice cover and sea surface temperature.
Summary of results
The numbers of leopard seals appearing on Macquarie Island was found to be correlated with the sea ice cover and sea surface temperatures of the year before.
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The correlation map between sea ice (percentage cover) and leopard seal abundance on Macquarie Island in the following year (1979-2002). Diagram: Ben Raymond |
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The correlation map between sea surface temperature and leopard seal abundance on Macquarie Island in the following year (1948-2002). Diagram: Ben Raymond |
References
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Raymond, B., Watts, D.J., Burton, H., and Bonnice, J. (2004) Data mining and Antarctic scientific data. Submitted.
Related resources
At the Australian Antarctic Division
