The Aerial Surveys of Arctic Marine Mammals (ASAMM) project was a continuation of the Bowhead Whale Aerial Survey Project (BWASP) and Chukchi Offshore Monitoring in Drilling Area (COMIDA) marine mammal aerial survey project. BWASP was conducted from 1979 to 2010 and targeted the autumn migration of bowhead whales through the western Beaufort Sea, although line transect data on all marine mammals sighted were collected. COMIDA surveys were conducted in the Chukchi Sea Planning Area in the northeastern Chukchi Sea from 1979 to 1991 and 2008 to 2010 to monitor marine mammal distribution, relative density, and behavior during the open-water (ice-free) months, from mid-June or early July to the end of October.  BWASP and COMIDA surveys were funded or conducted by the Minerals Management Service (now BOEM) and the Bureau of Land Management, and starting in 2008, the Marine Mammal Laboratory began co-managing the projects with BOEM.  In 2011, these projects were merged into ASAMM. Survey protocols remained consistent from1982-2019.

The goal of ASAMM was to document the distribution and relative abundance of bowhead, gray, fin, humpback, killer, minke, and right whales, belugas, and other marine mammals in areas of potential oil and natural gas exploration, development, and production activities in the Alaskan Beaufort and northeastern Chukchi seas.

Data from the ASAMM surveys provides important historic context to relate variation in marine mammal distribution or abundance to other variables, such as physical oceanographic conditions, indices of potential prey density, and anthropogenic activities if information on these variables is available.

• Alaska
• Amundsen Gulf
• Beaufort Sea
• Bering Sea
• Chukchi Sea
• Essential Ocean subvariables (EOV subvariables) & Essential Biodiversity Variables (EBVs)
  • Marine mammals abundance
  • Marine mammals distribution
  • Marine mammals ecosystem functioning - ecosystem disturbances
• GOOS Essential Ocean Variables (EOVs)
  • Marine mammals abundance and distribution