Deployments on behalf of SEATRACK in Franz Josef Land archipelago (80,338°N x 52,818°E) are carried out at three locations; Cape Flora on Northbrook Island and Tikhaya bay and Rubini Rock on Hooker Island. The study sites are all located within the Franz-Josef Land state federal wildlife reserve (zakaznik) established in 1994, and managed by the Russian Arctic National Park since 2011.
Cape Flora, at the southwestern most tip of Northbrook Island (250 km2) is a historical site, visited by most of the early explorers. Cape Flora supports one of the largest seabird colonies in archipelago with breeding populations roughly estimated at some 50000 pairs for Brünnich’s guillemots, over 1000 pairs for Little auks, some 10000 pairs for Black-legged kittiwakes, some tens of pairs for Black guillemots and some 50 pairs for Glaucous gulls. Seabirds have been monitored at Cape Flora intermittently since the 1980s. Cape Flora was chosen as a pilot site for SEATRACK in 2013. Black-legged kittiwakes have been instrumented there since 2013, Brünnich’s guillemots and glaucous gulls since 2014. All three species at Flora Cape are also sampled for ARCTOX project on circumpolar contaminant study. Kittiwakes are sampled for circumpolar comparative CORT study.
Tikhaya Bay and Rubini Rock located on Hooker Island (500 km2) in the very center of the archipelago, are amongst the best known seabird colonies in the Franz-Josef Land. Tikhaya Bay was first inhabited by humans during the wintering of Georgiy Sedov’s expedition in 1913/14, and later, with the establishment of a polar weather station in 1929, it became a central hub for scientific exploration of the archipelago. First population estimates of seabirds in Rubini Rock were carried out 1930. Since then, seabirds have intermittently been monitored on Rubini Rock, and studies of little auk ecology carried out in Tikhaya Bay. Rubini Rock supports large and diverse seabird colonies. It is estimated that some 15000 pairs of Brünnich’s guillemots, 1000 pairs of little auks, 10000 pairs of black-legged kittiwakes, 30 pairs of Glaucous gulls, some tens of pairs of black guillemots and less than 50 pairs of northern fulmars breed there. Larger separate colony of little auks stretches along the rocky slopes of Sedov Cape on the opposite coast of Tikhaya Bay.Tikhaya Bay was chosen as a pilot site for SEATRACK in 2013 and loggers deployed on Brünnich’s guillemots, black-legged kittiwakes and little auks but later deployments were limited only to little auks.
Notice: Russian field sites are not part of SEATRACK phase III.
Site coordinator
Maria Gavrilo
Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute
Data availability
