Arctic Sea Ice Day!

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Tomorrow is Arctic Sea Ice Day and the start of the beluga whale season in Hudson Bay! You can watch some of the celebrations here!

The Beluga Bits citizen science project is being conducted by a team of researchers, led by Dr. Stephen Petersen and C-Jae Breiter. Dr. Petersen is the head of Conservation and Research for the Assiniboine Park Zoo in Winnipeg, Canada. His research concentrated around Arctic marine mammals and their relationship to their ecosystem. C-Jae also works at the Assiniboine Park Zoo and is a Research Conservation Specialist. She has been a member of the Beluga Bits research teach from Day 1, in 2016. Additionally, there are researchers involved with the project as well as the boat captain, who works with all the equipment needed for the underwater cameras. Without these people, this project would not be possible. 

The graphic shows a little bit about what I (and my other fellow citizen scientists) will be doing as a part of Beluga Bits. The beluga boats go into the Churchill estuary and the underwater video captures the whales swimming along around the boat. Short clips are then converted into image snapshots where individuals can determine how many individuals are in the image, how old they are (based on coloration), sexing those available, and distinguishing any key features about the whales. The hope is that this research will allow the researchers a better understanding of the individuals that visit the Hudson Bay by looking at their social structures, what kind of habitat they prefer, and life histories, as well as creating a photo-identification catalog.  

Excited for tomorrow, I hope you join me!

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