Hammill Mike O.

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Hammill
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Mike O.
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  • Preprint
    Rapid circulation of warm subtropical waters in a major glacial fjord in East Greenland
    ( 2009-12-17) Straneo, Fiamma ; Hamilton, Gordon S. ; Sutherland, David A. ; Stearns, Leigh A. ; Davidson, Fraser J. M. ; Hammill, Mike O. ; Stenson, Garry B. ; Rosing-Asvid, Aqqalu
    The recent rapid increase in mass loss from the Greenland Ice Sheet is primarily attributed to an acceleration of outlet glaciers. One possible cause is increased melting at the ice/ocean interface driven by the synchronous warming of subtropical waters offshore of Greenland. This hypothesis is largely untested, however, because of the lack of observations from Greenland’s glacial fjords and our limited understanding of their dynamics. Here, we present new ship-based and moored oceanographic data, collected in Sermilik Fjord, a large glacial fjord in East Greenland, showing that subtropical waters are present throughout the fjord and are continuously replenished via a wind-driven exchange with the shelf, where they occur year-round. The temperature and rapid renewal of these waters suggest that, at present, they drive enhanced submarine melting at the terminus. Key controls on the melting rate are the volume and properties of subtropical waters on the shelf and the patterns of the along-shore winds, suggesting the glaciers’ acceleration was triggered by a combination of atmospheric and oceanic changes. These measurements provide evidence of rapid advective pathway for the transmission of oceanic variability to the ice-sheet margins and highlight an important process that is missing from prognostic ice-sheet models.
  • Preprint
    Convergence of marine megafauna movement patterns in coastal and open oceans
    ( 2017-09) Sequeira, Ana M. M. ; Rodríguez, Jorge P. ; Eguíluz, Víctor M. ; Harcourt, Robert ; Hindell, Mark ; Sims, David W. ; Duarte, Carlos M. ; Costa, Daniel P. ; Fernández-Gracia, Juan ; Ferreira, Luciana C. ; Hays, Graeme ; Heupel, Michelle R. ; Meekan, Mark G. ; Aven, Allen ; Bailleul, Frédéric ; Baylis, Alastair M. M. ; Berumen, Michael L. ; Braun, Camrin D. ; Burns, Jennifer ; Caley, M. Julian ; Campbell, R. ; Carmichael, Ruth H. ; Clua, Eric ; Einoder, Luke D. ; Friedlaender, Ari S. ; Goebel, Michael E. ; Goldsworthy, Simon D. ; Guinet, Christophe ; Gunn, John ; Hamer, D. ; Hammerschlag, Neil ; Hammill, Mike O. ; Hückstädt, Luis A. ; Humphries, Nicolas E. ; Lea, Mary-Anne ; Lowther, Andrew D. ; Mackay, Alice ; McHuron, Elizabeth ; McKenzie, J. ; McLeay, Lachlan ; McMahon, Cathy R. ; Mengersen, Kerrie ; Muelbert, Monica M. C. ; Pagano, Anthony M. ; Page, B. ; Queiroz, N. ; Robinson, Patrick W. ; Shaffer, Scott A. ; Shivji, Mahmood ; Skomal, Gregory B. ; Thorrold, Simon R. ; Villegas-Amtmann, Stella ; Weise, Michael ; Wells, Randall S. ; Wetherbee, Bradley M. ; Wiebkin, A. ; Wienecke, Barbara ; Thums, Michele
    The extent of increasing anthropogenic impacts on large marine vertebrates partly depends on the animals’ movement patterns. Effective conservation requires identification of the key drivers of movement including intrinsic properties and extrinsic constraints associated with the dynamic nature of the environments the animals inhabit. However, the relative importance of intrinsic versus extrinsic factors remains elusive. We analyse a global dataset of 2.8 million locations from > 2,600 tracked individuals across 50 marine vertebrates evolutionarily separated by millions of years and using different locomotion modes (fly, swim, walk/paddle). Strikingly, movement patterns show a remarkable convergence, being strongly conserved across species and independent of body length and mass, despite these traits ranging over 10 orders of magnitude among the species studied. This represents a fundamental difference between marine and terrestrial vertebrates not previously identified, likely linked to the reduced costs of locomotion in water. Movement patterns were primarily explained by the interaction between species-specific traits and the habitat(s) they move through, resulting in complex movement patterns when moving close to coasts compared to more predictable patterns when moving in open oceans. This distinct difference may be associated with greater complexity within coastal micro-habitats, highlighting a critical role of preferred habitat in shaping marine vertebrate global movements. Efforts to develop understanding of the characteristics of vertebrate movement should consider the habitat(s) through which they move to identify how movement patterns will alter with forecasted severe ocean changes, such as reduced Arctic sea ice cover, sea level rise and declining oxygen content.
  • Article
    Google haul out : Earth observation imagery and digital aerial surveys in coastal wildlife management and abundance estimation
    (Oxford University Press, 2017-06-14) Moxley, Jerry ; Bogomolni, Andrea L. ; Hammill, Mike O. ; Moore, Kathleen M. T. ; Polito, Michael J. ; Sette, Lisa ; Sharp, W. Brian ; Waring, Gordon T. ; Gilbert, James R. ; Halpin, Patrick N. ; Johnston, David W.
    As the sampling frequency and resolution of Earth observation imagery increase, there are growing opportunities for novel applications in population monitoring. New methods are required to apply established analytical approaches to data collected from new observation platforms (e.g., satellites and unmanned aerial vehicles). Here, we present a method that estimates regional seasonal abundances for an understudied and growing population of gray seals (Halichoerus grypus) in southeastern Massachusetts, using opportunistic observations in Google Earth imagery. Abundance estimates are derived from digital aerial survey counts by adapting established correction-based analyses with telemetry behavioral observation to quantify survey biases. The result is a first regional understanding of gray seal abundance in the northeast US through opportunistic Earth observation imagery and repurposed animal telemetry data. As species observation data from Earth observation imagery become more ubiquitous, such methods provide a robust, adaptable, and cost-effective solution to monitoring animal colonies and understanding species abundances.
  • Article
    Atlantic water variability on the SE Greenland continental shelf and its relationship to SST and bathymetry
    (John Wiley & Sons, 2013-02-20) Sutherland, David A. ; Straneo, Fiamma ; Stenson, Garry B. ; Davidson, Fraser J. M. ; Hammill, Mike O. ; Rosing-Asvid, Aqqalu
    Interaction of warm, Atlantic-origin water (AW) and colder, polar origin water (PW) advecting southward in the East Greenland Current (EGC) influences the heat content of water entering Greenland's outlet glacial fjords. Here we use depth and temperature data derived from deep-diving seals to map out water mass variability across the continental shelf and to augment existing bathymetric products. We compare depths derived from the seal dives with the IBCAO Version 3 bathymetric database over the shelf and find differences up to 300 m near several large submarine canyons. In the vertical temperature structure, we find two dominant modes: a cold mode, with the typical AW/PW layering observed in the EGC, and a warm mode, where AW is present throughout the water column. The prevalence of these modes varies seasonally and spatially across the continental shelf, implying distinct AW pathways. In addition, we find that satellite sea surface temperatures (SST) correlate significantly with temperatures in the upper 50 m (R = 0.54), but this correlation decreases with depth (R = 0.22 at 200 m), and becomes insignificant below 250 m. Thus, care must be taken in using SST as a proxy for heat content, as AW mainly resides in these deeper layers.
  • Article
    Spatiotemporal variation in pup abundance and preweaning survival of harbour seals (Phoca vitulina) in the St. Lawrence Estuary, Canada
    (Canadian Science Publishing, 2023-07-12) Renaud, Limoilou-Amelie ; Pigeon, Gabriel ; Van de Walle, Joanie ; Bordeleau, Xavier ; Hammill, Mike O. ; Pelletier, Fanie
    Marine mammal populations worldwide greatly benefitted from conservation measures put in place since the 1970s following overexploitation, and many pinniped populations have recovered. However, threats due to bycatch, interspecific interactions or climate change remain, and detailed knowledge on vital rates, population dynamics, and their responses to environmental changes is essential for efficient management and conservation of wild populations. In this study, we quantified pup abundance and survival of individually marked harbour seal (Phoca vitulina Linnaeus, 1758) pups during the preweaning period at Bic Island and Métis sites in the St. Lawrence Estuary from 1998 to 2019. We used mark-recapture models to evaluate competing hypotheses regarding variation in daily preweaning survival rates and capture probability during the pups’ first 30 days of life. Pup abundance increased from 76 [95% CI: 59, 101] to 323 [95% CI: 233, 338] in the past two decades at Bic Island and from 66 [95% CI: 47, 91] to 285 [95% CI: 204, 318] at Métis. Preweaning survival was generally higher at Bic (0.73 [95% CI: 0.58, 0.82]) than at Métis (0.68 [95% CI: 0.52, 0.79]). We hypothesize that differences between habitats and human disturbance contribute to lower preweaning survival at Métis, but behavioural studies are needed to understand the impacts of disturbance on mother–pup interactions during the nursing period.