Cape Cod - leading stranding site in USA

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The chart above is a graphic illustration of the seaquake epicenters along the Mid-Atlantic Ridge as determined by undersea hydrophones during 325 days of 2002. The area of interested for Cape Cod Bay strandings is a whale and dolphin habitat located ~600 miles north and ~1000 miles south of Iceland. In this area is where all the whales and dolphins that mass strand on Cape Cod hang out in September October and November. If a pod were injured by a seaquake near Iceland or near Jan Mayen Island, it would travel with the oceanic currents that flow from the area and has a great chance of ending in Cape Cod Bay.

To see if there were any seaquake activity in the area that might account for the high number of strandings in Cape Cod Bay in November, December, and January of the 2005-2006 stranding season, the data at ANSS Catalog was search north of Iceland with the following parameters are:

Date       Time                     Lat            Lon      Dep    Mag          Nst
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2005/09/02 00:21:48.62  72.6030    4.0560  10.00  4.30   Mb   32
2005/09/02 00:35:23.43  72.6560    3.8050  10.00  4.50   Mb   91
2005/09/02 00:36:58.78  72.6670    4.0160  10.00  4.00   Mb   21
2005/09/02 00:49:50.11  72.6500    3.9450  10.00  4.20   Mb   52
2005/09/09 15:36:43.56  73.2770    7.0820  10.00  4.30   Mb   30
2005/09/09 21:10:18.90  73.2780    6.1690  10.00  4.30   Mb   45
2005/09/13 02:50:59.71  71.1000   -7.4280  10.00  4.30   Mb  111
2005/10/04 17:51:39.29  71.0900   -7.6960  19.70  3.60   ML   18
2005/10/10 06:56:57.70  71.2200   -6.5840  15.00  3.80   ML    9 
2005/10/19 09:01:10.02  70.9280   -6.8420  10.00  4.30   Mb   68 
2005/10/19 12:32:38.21  70.8980   -6.9060  10.00  4.30   ML   36 
2005/11/06 22:18:19.09  71.3030   -6.0240  10.00  3.30   ML   14 
2005/11/07 01:49:38.39  71.6890  -12.0640  23.60  5.00  Mb  207  
2005/11/12 17:01:37.32  68.8860  -17.1760 10.00  4.90  Mb  139 
2005/11/19 20:09:47.93  71.5680   -3.7560  10.00  3.80   Mb   20 
2005/12/04 04:14:31.46  72.0390   -0.6430  10.00  4.40   Mb   49
2005/12/16 12:24:59.70  71.5700  -11.0260  10.00 3.80  Mb   19
2005/12/22 08:49:27.95  72.1440    0.8860  10.00  4.10   Mb   18 
2005/12/30 16:48:24.55  73.4100    7.8650  10.00  3.80   Mb   12

The same time frame was used in a search South of Iceland using the following parameters:

Date       Time                       Lat       Lon           Dep   Mag Magt  Nst 
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2005/09/01 11:09:24.52  45.8510  -27.8210  10.00  4.50   Mb   15     
2005/09/14 11:23:52.80  47.2510  -27.1430  10.00  4.40   Mb   33  
2005/09/14 11:32:04.96  47.6570  -27.2500  10.00  4.20   Mb   26
2005/09/28 03:58:28.70  62.2910  -26.0710  10.00  4.50   Mb   32
2005/10/08 20:03:30.25  47.1870  -26.9570  10.00  4.30   Mb   25 
2005/11/22 11:51:10.55  51.7910  -31.3280  10.00  4.10   Mb   12 
2005/12/02 08:40:16.93  52.9070  -34.6260  10.00  4.70   Mb  147   
2005/12/09 02:32:47.82  45.4520  -27.7600  10.00  4.10   Mb   62 
2005/12/19 19:16:58.59  52.7210  -34.8150  10.00  4.60   Mb  170     
2005/12/30 06:26:12.72  57.1470  -33.8400  10.00  4.20   Mb   14

None of the events above are shown as less than 10 km deep. This is unusual and likely indicates that the recording equipment is limited. The general rule here is that a seaquake of equal magnitude will emit more energy in the water at lesser depths. For example, it might be that a magnitude 5 seaquake might cause twice as much disturbance in the water at 8 km than at 10 km. Depth is likely to be MORE determinative of injury than magnitude.

Cape Cod is the leading stranding site in the US because its geographical land mass serves as a giant catching

arm for pods moving with the flow (Williams 1987). It is located about 2,600 miles down stream from Iceland and from the Reykjanes Ridge, a known pilot whale habitat. Oxygen isotope analysis of the shelf water off Cape Cod (Chapman 1989) indicates the water originated off Iceland in support of this theory.

The giant catching arm of Cape Cod is typical of major stranding sites around the globe as noted by Brabyn (1992) in New Zealand. All major sites have geographical protrusions that oppose the current, and they all are located at the right distance down stream from seismically-active pelagic whale territories to allow time for the whales to lose their ability to avoid a stranding as noted earlier.

Cape Cod received a lot of mass strandings in December 2005 and January 2006. (Stranding on Cape Cod)

The dolphins arriving in late January died almost as soon as they hit the beach so there is a good chance these animals spent more than the average 65 days at sea since their injury. Thus, if this theory is correct, then these dolphin were injured in November along the Mid-Atlantic Ridge somewhere near Iceland since this area is the nearest seismically-active upstream habitat for the species in question.

In support, the cool, clear North Atlantic waters both north and south of Iceland are teeming with the same whales and dolphins that usually strand on Cape Cod beaches.

A check of the seismic data above and below Iceland reveals 15 possible earthquakes (see above). Six of these events are highly suspect since they are shallow, powerful, and occurred at night during prime feeding hours.

Studying these current patterns will show that whales and dolphins injured around Iceland and Greenland could very well end up on the beaches of Cape Cod. Cape Cod might also be getting more strandings this year because of local wind patterns further north. The wind might be keeping pods that would strand in Canada offshore until they reach Cape Cod. Science Daily: Winds, Ice Motion Root Cause Of Decline In Sea Ice, Not Warmer Temperatures

The Arctic Oscillation is a seesaw pattern in which atmospheric pressure at the polar and middle latitudes fluctuates between positive and negative phases. The wind patterns associated with the Arctic Oscillation affect the surface winds and temperature over North America and Eurasia, as well as the Arctic.

The Arctic Oscillation was in an extreme "high," or positive, phase in the early '90s and is generally in a moderate phase today. Rigor and John M. Wallace, UW professor of atmospheric sciences, say the extreme high caused winds at the surface to circulate in ways that blew most of the thicker, older ice out of the Arctic Ocean into the Atlantic. "It was as if winds generated in response to the Arctic Oscillation in those years became a far bigger 'broom' sweeping ice out of the arctic," Rigor says.

Another reason for the increase in strandings of smaller pods might be a drop in the shark population. More healthy populations of predators in previous years would naturally have culled the smaller pods long before they reached the beach.

Brabyn, Mark W., Ian G. McLean (1992) Oceanography and Coastal Topography of Herd-Stranding Sites for Whales in New Zealand, J. Mammalogy 73(3): 469-476

Chapman, D.C., R.C. Beardsley (1989) On the Origin of Shelf Water in the Middle Atlantic Bight, J. Physical Oceanography V19 P384

Williams, David W. (1988) Auditory Trauma as the Major Factor in Whale Strandings, Report Submitted to the US Marine Mammal Commission 17 October, 1988