PhD Student and 2024 Field Team Leader Parker Levinson reports from Turks Head Weddell Seal Pupping Colony in Erebus Bay, Antarctica in this video filmed yesterday by Prof. Jay Rotella. This pupping season has been challenging for the Field Team due to the condition of the sea ice in the study area this year and the early Austral Spring weather.

Currently the Field Team is both flagging safe snowmobile routes to more of the major Weddell seal pupping colonies in Erebus Bay, and tagging day-old seal pups as they are able, and as more and more pups are being born in the study area every day now.

Peak Weddell seal pupping season in Erebus Bay usually begins around the 30th of October or so. In many parts of the Erebus Bay Weddell Seal Population Study Area the sea ice is thinner this season but still freezing and growing for now, and with numerous cracks and areas of rafted ice. This makes access to the gathering seals more challenging for the field researchers. In other areas of Erebus Bay the sea ice is a good bit thicker. The team helps with recon of safe routes, and sets flags to mark those safe routes for snowmobile access to the various pupping colonies. As the sea ice changes over the course of the season, the field team will continue to reassess those flagged routes and sea ice crack crossings, and adjust those routes as need be.

All that combined with early Austral Spring weather, which can be very windy and stormy quite frequently, the 2024 Field Team has its hands full this season! In the photo below, the team gathers for a restful lunch on the sea ice.

We round out this post with a photo of lead scientist Prof. Jay Rotella and PhD student and 2024 Field Team Leader Parker Levinson, taken by Sophia Rotella, below. Go Team 2024!

– Mary Lynn Price