https://doi.org/10.82144/f1e7b55e https://seamap.env.duke.edu/dataset/705 https://www.gbif.org/dataset/767f57dd-bdb8-44cb-bf20-f9aafafa4137 https://obis.org/dataset/f3316d34-fbbd-4c9a-9c1b-382a1d9877d3 Carsten Egevang Greenland Institute of Natural Resources Primary contact cep@dmu.dk www.arctictern.info OBIS-SEAMAP Marine Geospatial Ecology Lab, Duke University

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seamap-contact@duke.edu https://seamap.env.duke.edu OBIS-SEAMAP Marine Geospatial Ecology Lab, Duke University

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seamap-contact@duke.edu https://seamap.env.duke.edu distributor Carsten Egevang Greenland Institute of Natural Resources Primary contact cep@dmu.dk www.arctictern.info owner 2025-07-31 eng Original provider: Greenland Institute of Natural Resources Dataset credits: Greenland Institute of Natural Resources Abstract: The study of long-distance migration provides insights into the habits and performance of organisms at the limit of their physical abilities. The Arctic tern <i>Sterna paradisaea</i> is the epitome of such behavior; despite its small size (<125 g), banding recoveries and at-sea surveys suggest that its annual migration from boreal and high Arctic breeding grounds to the Southern Ocean may be the longest seasonal movement of any animal. Our tracking of 11 Arctic terns fitted with miniature (1.4 g) geolocators revealed that these birds do indeed travel huge distances (more than 80,000 km annually for some individuals). As well as confirming the location of the main wintering region, we also identified a previously unknown oceanic stopover area in the North Atlantic used by birds from at least two breeding populations (from Greenland and Iceland). Although birds from the same colony took one of two alternative southbound migration routes following the African or South American coast, all returned on a broadly similar, sigmoidal trajectory, crossing from east to west in the Atlantic in the region of the equatorial Intertropical Convergence Zone. Arctic terns clearly target regions of high marine productivity both as stopover and wintering areas, and exploit prevailing global wind systems to reduce flight costs on long-distance commutes. Marine Biology Telemetry Tagged animal long-distance migration at-sea hotspot global wind systems geolocator trans-equatorial migration N/A Four erroneous points were removed from the original dataset: ARTE_410, 9/17/2007 noon; ARTE_370, 9/13/2007 noon; ARTE_373, 9/15/2007 noon and 9/16/2007 noon. Sand Island (74.263 degrees N, 20.160 degrees W), northeast Greenland, is the breeding colony for these Arctic terns and was placed on the map (red-orange square). Sand Island can be used as the beginning and end of all tracks, but since exact dates of the starting and ending of the migration were not available (high-Arctic zone = continuous day light during summer = poor positions when using geolocators), the tracklines for each animal were not mapped to and from the breeding colony. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC-BY-NC) 4.0 License. https://seamap.env.duke.edu/dataset/705 Oceans,Greenland,high-Arctic,Antarctica,Weddell Sea -62.56 107.07 75 -76.84 2007-08-13 2008-05-31 Scientific names are based on the Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS). species Sterna paradisaea Arctic tern The Arctic tern is known to make the longest annual migration in the animal kingdom. During its breeding season, it is found far to the north where summer days are long, and it winters far south in the southern hemisphere, where the days are longest during November to February. This means that the Arctic tern probably experiences more sun light during a calendar year than any other creature on Earth. The long-distance travel of the Arctic tern is well-known both amongst researchers and in the broader public. Now, for the first time, technological advances allow us to follow the Arctic tern on its immense journey, practically from pole to pole. notPlanned Carsten Egevang Greenland Institute of Natural Resources Primary contact cep@dmu.dk www.arctictern.info NA NA NA Carsten Egevang owner NA zd_705 2025-07-31T15:32:43-04:00 dataset Egevang, C. 2012. Tracking of Arctic tern migrations 2007-2008. Version 1.0.0. Dataset published in OBIS-SEAMAP. https://doi.org/10.82144/f1e7b55e. OBIS-SEAMAP Dataset Page UTF-8 Interactive map https://seamap.env.duke.edu/dataset/705 FGDC Metadata UTF-8 XML https://seamap.env.duke.edu/dataset/705/fgdc EML Metadata UTF-8 XML https://seamap.env.duke.edu/dataset/705/eml OBIS-SEAMAP zd_705 zd_705 Egevang, C., I.J. Stenhouse, R.A. Phillips, A. Petersen, J.W. Fox and J.R.D. Silk. 2010. Tracking of Arctic terns Sterna paradisaea reveals longest animal migration. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America: 107: 2078-2081.