Seasonal, Oceanographic and Atmospheric Drivers of Diving Behaviour in a Temperate Seal Species Living in the High Arctic

The harbour seal (Phoca vitulina) population in Svalbard marks the northernmost limit of the species' range. This small population experiences environmental extremes in sea and air temperatures, sea ice cover and also in light regime for this normally temperate species. This study deployed Conductivity Temperature Depth Satellite Relay Data Loggers (CTD-SRDLs) on 30 adult and juvenile harbour seals in 2009 and 2010 to study their foraging...