LONG DURATION TRANSMITTER
Perséfone
Female with calf
Place of tagging: Golfo Nuevo
Date of tagging: Oct. 25, 2023
Transmission stopped: Jun. 26, 2024

Photo:

Perséfone´s tracking route

  • Persefone’s tag stopped transmissions on June 26th, only two days after having lost contact with Artemisa, and while they were both in the same area. Perséfone was tagged on October 25, 2023, in Golfo Nuevo and we tracked her over 245 days, during which she covered more than 18,000 kilometers (11,185 miles). During her migration, Persefone spent time in the SW Atlantic ocean basin, and then in the frigid waters of the Weddell Sea and the Scotia Sea, especially in the highly productive sector southeast of the Islas Georgias del Sur (South Georgia).

  • During these past two weeks Persefone traveled about 400 kilometers (249 miles) westwards from the north of the Sandwich del Sur (South Sandwich) archipelago, until she reached the area over the plateau of the Islas Georgias del Sur (South Georgia) where Eos had been for 4 months. The attraction this area has for whales, to which Artemisa has also arrived, suggests it has an abundance food.

  • After traveling from south to north along the arc of the Islas Sandwich del Sur (South Sandwich Islands), Persefone remained focused on a highly productive area north of the archipelago. In these past few days she has traveled 100 kilometers (62 miles) from west to east, always over the submerged Scotia Arc.

  • Persefone traveled in a wide arc from south to north within the Scotia Sea, along the boundary of the Islas Sandwich del Sur (South Sandwich Islands). In the last few days she remained in the far northwest of this archipelago, only 100 kilometers from Artemisa.

  • Persefone is near Artemisa and Eos, south of the Islas Georgias (South Georgia) and west of the Islas Sandwich (South Sandwich Islands). She arrived in this area from the Weddell Sea, passing eastwards of the Islas Orcadas del Sur (South Orkney Islands), and traveling northwards through the Scotia Sea.

  • Persefone is traveling close to the limit between the Scotia Sea and the Weddell Sea, east of the Orcadas del Sur (South Orkneys). She has spent the last 15 days feeding in a productive patch north of the Weddell Sea.

  • Of the whales tagged in 2023, Persefone is now the one farthest south. Heading southeast she traveled directly almost 1,000 kilometers (621 miles) through the Scotia Sea. Now in the Antarctic Weddell Sea, she continues heading southeast with no sign she has found an area in which to feed.

  • From her last position over the Malvinas (Falkland) Plateau, Persefone crossed the Scotia Arc southeastwards and arrived at the sub-Antarctic Scotia Sea.

  • Persefone recently arrived in the waters of the Islas Malvinas (Falkland Island) plateau. This whale had been far north in the deep ocean basin, at the latitude of Golfo San Matías, but struck out southwards on January 29, traveling non-stop until reaching her present position. She will likely find an optimum zone for feeding since both Eos and Calliope are in the same area.

  • Persefone continues traveling in circular patterns in the productive waters of the ocean basin. Unlike the other whales we continue tracking, this adult female has not yet concentrated in a particular sector of the Southwest Atlantic.

  • Persefone and her calf crossed directly over the continental shelf and the continental slope, without stopping. Once in the deep ocean basin, about 600 kilometers (373 miles) east of Peninsula Valdes, Persefone began traveling in a zig-zagging circular anti-clockwise path, then traveled northwest, nearing the continental slope, at the latitude of Bahia San Blas. Her long duration transmitter device interrupted transmissions for a time but began transmitting again a few days ago. Persefone is now in the deep ocean basin east of the continental slope at 41°S.

  • This female, pregnant at the time, was observed on July 2 in Golfo Nuevo, by the scientists who are studying the body condition of the whales in this population. We thus know that, at the time of tagging, Perséfone had already given birth and had been traveling within the gulf for at least 115 days. With Perséfone´s satellite tag we were able to follow her travels along the entire northern coast of the gulf. Twenty days after deployment, she and her calf crossed the continental shelf and the continental slope traveling to the deep ocean basin where the mother is probably feeding.