Seabirds in the Greenland, Barents and Norwegian seas, February-April 1982

Abstract

The pelagic distributions of seabirds in the Greenland, Norwegian and western Barents seas are poorly known, especially in winter. This paper describes quantitative observations made in the course of an oceanographic cruise between 60"-79"13'N and 15"W-l8"30'E from 25 February to 4 April 1982. Seabirds were generally scarce: the principal species were Fulmarus glacialis, Rissa nidacryla, Pagophila eburnea, Uria spp. and Alle alle. Numbers were greatest in the south and east, where the sea surface temperatures were warmest. Pagophila eburnea and Cepphus gtylle were most commonly seen near the edge of the pack-ice in the Greenland Sea. In the pack-ice zone Fulmam glacialis and Alle alle were commonest where the sea surface was 4040% covered with ice. These late-winter observations are compared with published accounts of summer distributions. Preliminary quantitative comparisons also suggest that the size of the population of Uria spp. wintering in the survey area, and especially in the western Barents Sea, is significantly larger than that which winters off Nova Scotia, eastern Canada; the reverse is true of Alle alle.