Killer Whale Sightings and Sea Ice Trends in Eastern Canadian Arctic, 2002-2023

20 years of killer whale sightings in the eastern Canadian Arctic are analyzed, revealing a near doubling of their average seasonal presence from 26 days in 2002 to 48 days in 2023. The research links these distribution shifts to changing sea ice conditions, using a clustering metric based on the mean distance to the five nearest sightings. It draws from a sighting database spanning 1850-2023, though the core analysis focuses on the period from 2002 onward.

Use Cases

• Analyze trends in killer whale arrival and departure dates relative to sea ice concentration over the 20-year period.
• Model the relationship between the sighting clustering metric (mean distance to five nearest sightings) and annual sea ice conditions.
• Assess the extended seasonal presence (from 26 to 48 days) and its correlation with the lengthening open-water season in the Arctic.

Strengths

• 20-year temporal coverage (2002-2023) provides a clear longitudinal view of distribution shifts.
• Analysis is grounded in a long-term sighting database with records from 1850-2023 for historical context.
• Quantifies a concrete ecological change: average killer whale presence nearly doubled from 26 to 48 days over the study period.

Limitations

• Sighting data has inherent spatial biases, favoring areas near communities and coastal regions.
• The dataset's row count, column structure, and sample size are not specified in the provided input.
• Analyses rely on observational data which may have inconsistencies in collection effort over time and space.

Provenance

Source

Fisheries and Oceans Canada

Collection Method

Compiled from a long-term killer whale sighting database, with spatiotemporal analysis applied.

Time Range

Core analysis covers 2002-2023, with reference data spanning 1850-2023.

Freshness

Last updated in March 2026, indicating recent maintenance.

Geography

Eastern Canadian Arctic