Killer whale breaches in the waters off Bremer Bay. Photo courtesy Naturaliste Charters.
Why do more than 100 gather off Western Australia every year?
A Flinders University researcher has finally fathomed why large numbers of killer whales gather at a single main location off the West Australian southern coastline every summer.
Physical oceanographer Associate Professor Jochen Kampf.
In a new paper published in Deep Sea Research, physical oceanographer Associate Professor Jochen Kampf describes the conditions which have produced this ecological natural wonder of orcas migrating to the continental slope near Bremer Bay in the western Great Australian Bight from late austral spring to early autumn (January-April).
Credit: photo courtesy Naturaliste Charters, WA
A Flinders University researcher has finally fathomed why large numbers of killer whales gather at a single main location off the Western Australian southern coastline every summer.
In a new paper published in Deep Sea Research, physical oceanographer Associate Professor Jochen Kampf describes the conditions which have produced this ecological natural wonder of orcas migrating to the continental slope near Bremer Bay in the western Great Australian Bight from late austral spring to early autumn (January-April). The aggregation is connected to the local marine food web that follows from the upwelling of benthic particulate organic matter (POM) in a confined region near the seafloor plateau near the head of the Hood Canyon, says Associate Professor Kampf, from the Flinders University College of Science and Engineering.