Bowhead whale body condition and links to summer sea ice and upwelling in the Beaufort Sea

We examined the response of bowhead whale (Balaena mysticetus) body condition to summer sea ice conditions and upwelling-favorable winds. We used a long-term dataset collected from whales of the Bering–Chukchi–Beaufort Seas (BCB) stock to estimate various body condition indices (BCI’s) for individual whales that were harvested by Alaskan Eskimos. A series of offshore regions frequented by bowhead whales in summer were delineated and used to...