Show simple item record

dc.contributor.authorVanselow, K. H.
dc.contributor.authorJacobsen, S
dc.contributor.authorHall, Chris
dc.contributor.authorGarthe, Stefan
dc.date.accessioned2022-04-28T12:44:26Z
dc.date.available2022-04-28T12:44:26Z
dc.date.issued2017-08-15
dc.description.abstractThe Earth’s atmosphere and the Earth’s magnetic field protects local life by shielding us against Solar particle flows, just like the sun’s magnetic field deflects cosmic particle radiation. Generally, magnetic fields can affect terrestrial life such as migrating animals. Thus, terrestrial life is connected to astronomical interrelations between different magnetic fields, particle flows and radiation. Mass strandings of whales have often been documented, but their causes and underlying mechanisms remain unclear. We investigated the possible reasons for this phenomenon based on a series of strandings of 29 male, mostly bachelor, sperm whales (Physeter macrocephalus) in the southern North Sea in early 2016. Whales’ magnetic sense may play an important role in orientation and migration, and strandings may thus be triggered by geomagnetic storms. This approach is supported by the following: (1) disruptions of the Earth’s magnetic field by Solar storms can last about 1 day and lead to short-term magnetic latitude changes corresponding to shifts of up to 460 km; (2) many of these disruptions are of a similar magnitude to more permanent geomagnetic anomalies; (3) geomagnetic anomalies in the area north of the North Sea are 50–150 km in diameter; and (4) sperm whales swim about 100 km day−1, and may thus be unable to distinguish between these phenomena. Sperm whales spend their early, non-breeding years in lower latitudes, where magnetic disruptions by the sun are weak and thus lack experience of this phenomenon. ‘Naïve’ whales may therefore become disoriented in the southern Norwegian Sea as a result of failing to adopt alternative navigation systems in time and becoming stranded in the shallow North Sea.en_US
dc.identifier.citationVanselow, Jacobsen S, Hall C M, Garthe S. Solar storms may trigger sperm whale strandings: explanation approaches for multiple strandings in the North Sea in 2016. International Journal of Astrobiology. 2017;17(4):336-344en_US
dc.identifier.cristinIDFRIDAID 1478719
dc.identifier.doi10.1017/S147355041700026X
dc.identifier.issn1473-5504
dc.identifier.issn1475-3006
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/10037/24936
dc.language.isoengen_US
dc.publisherCambridge University Pressen_US
dc.relation.journalInternational Journal of Astrobiology
dc.rights.accessRightsopenAccessen_US
dc.rights.holderCopyright 2017 Cambridge University Pressen_US
dc.titleSolar storms may trigger sperm whale strandings: explanation approaches for multiple strandings in the North Sea in 2016en_US
dc.type.versionpublishedVersionen_US
dc.typeJournal articleen_US
dc.typeTidsskriftartikkelen_US
dc.typePeer revieweden_US


File(s) in this item

Thumbnail

This item appears in the following collection(s)

Show simple item record