Habitat use of the northern bottlenose whale (Hyperoodon ampullatus) near Jan Mayen, North Atlantic

Habitat use of the northern bottlenose whale Hyperoodon ampullatus in the Northeast Atlantic is poorly understood. This study aimed to identify locally utilised habitat features and create predictions of northern bottlenose whale habitat use over a wider area around the island of Jan Mayen, Norway. Bottlenose whales were sighted regularly near Jan Mayen in June 2014–2016 at higher rates than over a wider study region reported in other studies, indicating that the Jan Mayen habitat may be a hotspot of bottlenose whale presence in early boreal summer. Habitat models were created by fitting generalised additive models of selected environmental variables to sighting occurrence and additional whale sightings given a first encounter (total number of sightings – 1) recorded in June 2014–2016. Higher occurrence was estimated at steeper topography and April-average chlorophyll concentration below 0.4 mg m–3. Additional whale sightings given a first encounter were predicted to be higher at water depths (