Seaquakes Cause 65 Pilot Whales to Beach in Golden Bay on 14-18 January 2014
Details of 3 seaquakes that might have caused this stranding: http://www.emsc-csem.org/Earthquake/earthquake.php?id=349210 http://www.emsc-csem.org/Earthquake/earthquake.php?id=349185 http://www.emsc-csem.org/Earthquake/earthquake.php?id=349169 The pod of ~85 pilot whales that beached themselves repeatedly between 14-18 January 2014 were injured by excessive pressure changes (seaquakes) above the epicenter of 3 quakes that erupted in the seafloor of the Southern Ocean about 5,000 km upstream from Farewell Spit on 22 December 2013 (see links above). Strong winds caused rough seas, which separated the pod in Golden Bay. Twelve whales went ashore with the shoreward flow of the incoming tide on the morning of 14 January. That night, as the tide started washing out to sea, the rescuers refloated the whales and guided them back into waist deep water and let them go. They swam a few kilometers away, but when the tide started rising and the surface currents began flowing back to the...