Even if a whale does surface for a photo, a 12.5-meter North Atlantic right whale only appears as an 83-pixel smudge on the sharpest satellite images. And since one satellite photo can cover up to 200 square kilometers, it’s like taking a picture of a toothpick on the sidewalk from an upstairs balcony.

🛰️🔎🐳
Written by J. Besl

#whales #belugas #satellites #oceans #science

https://hakaimagazine.com/news/finding-a-whale-in-a-watery-haystack/

The situation with endangered Cook Inlet beluga whales is not encouraging. They face combined threats and have continued to decline. #belugas #Alaska
https://alaskabeacon.com/2023/02/01/combined-threats-are-keep-cook-inlet-beluga-numbers-perilously-low-scientists-say/

"As global warming causes Arctic waters to heat up and sea ice to melt, #MarineAnimals adapted to a cloistered life are threatened by the arrival of other #aquaticmammals and by increases in human activity.

The three #whale species that live in the #arctic year-round— #narwhals, #belugas and #bowheads—are particularly at risk."

https://phys.org/news/2022-12-cloistered-arctic-whales-bigger-climate.html#!

Belugas in Alaska and other arctic areas are in trouble.

' Belugas, like chimpanzees, birds, humans, and many other animals, create cultures by passing knowledge and customs from one generation to the next. With climate change and other human activities reshaping the world at an alarming rate, belugas will likely have to rely on innovative cultural practices to adapt — genetic adaptation is simply too slow to keep up. '

#whales #belugas #ClimateChange #Indigenous

https://undark.org/2022/11/30/in-alaska-a-mystery-over-disappearing-whales/