Thousands of whales have appeared off the coast of East Greenland due to melting ice

Author, Victoria Gill

Place of work, BBC Science Correspondent

Published 2 hours ago

Reading time: 3 min

Sea ice off the coast of East Greenland is rapidly disappearing, which giant whales are taking advantage of by inhabiting previously inaccessible waters.

For several years, researchers have been recording and filming how the world's largest mammals - including humpback whales, minke whales and fin whales - swim along this coast and find food during the summer season.

Historically, none of these animals lived here because they were hampered by ice in coastal waters. But now, due to climate change, the sea has become warmer and the ice has melted.

Scientists describe the phenomenon as a seasonal Arctic "food rush" - part of large-scale changes in the ecological regime in the ocean environment off the coast of East Greenland.

Based on ship sightings, there were no humpback whales in the region until 2006. In 2007, they were already seen seven times, and by 2024, the appearance of humpback whales had already been recorded 150 times.

In 2015 and 2024 Researchers have been conducting systematic aerial observations of baleen whales - a group that includes fin whales, minke whales and humpback whales - off the coast of East Greenland.

They combined their findings with the movements of 15 satellite-tagged whales and evidence from Inuit hunters to build a complete picture, concluding that about 4,000 humpback whales, 6,000 fin whales and 6,000 minke whales visited the Greenland Sea in the summer of 2024.

Lead researcher Professor Mads Peter Heide-Jørgensen from the Greenland Institute for Natural Resources calls this a "major ecological regime change".

Heide-Jorgensen, speaking to the BBC, called the changes in the region "probably the most radical we've seen in the subarctic."

Apparently, due to rising water temperatures, fish that whales feed on have appeared in the waters off East Greenland.

Scientists estimate that whales of all three species eat at least 800,000 tons of fish and krill during the summer season.

It is unclear whether the numbers of whales of these species have increased - or whether some have simply moved further north from other locations.

A number of experts interviewed by the BBC are concerned about the migration of animals from West Greenland. In Greenland, where some species of whales are hunted, this is a sensitive issue.

However, scientists note that these opportunistic baleen whales appear to be adapting to what is happening and may even benefit from these climate changes.

But other Arctic species are not so lucky. Narwhals and belugas now have to share their habitat with other whales, and are sometimes even displaced.

“For some species, climate change is not necessarily a problem, but an opportunity,” says Professor Heide-Jørgensen. “But other species are being deprived of their natural habitat.”

The study was published in the journal Frontiers in Marine Science.