Scientists Say Arctic, Sea Ice Levels Linked With , Gray Whale Mass Die-Off Events.<br />LiveScience reports that scientists may have determined <br />the reason behind a series of mass deaths among <br />gray whales in the northeastern Pacific Ocean. .<br />According to a new study, scientists have linked recent <br />major mass mortality events with Arctic sea ice levels. .<br />According to a new study, scientists have linked recent <br />major mass mortality events with Arctic sea ice levels. .<br />Three major die-off events have <br />impacted gray whales off the coast <br />of North America since the 1980s.<br />Those events reduced the whale population <br />by 15% to 25% each time they occurred, <br />killing over 2,000 gray whales.<br />In 2019, the latest die-off event <br />started with over 70 gray whales washing <br />ashore dead in only six months.<br />Since then, a total of 688 are known <br />to have died, while the cause of <br />the event has remained unclear.<br />These are extreme population swings <br />that we did not expect to see in a large, <br />long-lived species like gray whales, Joshua Stewart, Study lead author and assistant professor at Oregon State University's Marine Mammal Institute, via LiveScience.<br />According to the new study, published in the journal 'Science,' changing conditions and fluctuations in sea ice levels in the Arctic may be responsible for these events. .<br />Sea ice cover and the amount of <br />available food may dictate how <br />the gray whale population fares. .<br />When the availability of their prey <br />in the Arctic is low and the whales <br />cannot reach their feeding areas because <br />of sea ice, the gray whale population <br />experiences rapid and major shocks, Joshua Stewart, Study lead author and assistant professor at Oregon State University's Marine Mammal Institute, via LiveScience.<br />When the availability of their prey <br />in the Arctic is low and the whales <br />cannot reach their feeding areas because <br />of sea ice, the gray whale population <br />experiences rapid and major shocks, Joshua Stewart, Study lead author and assistant professor at Oregon State University's Marine Mammal Institute, via LiveScience
