Whale playground offers glimpse into Russia's melting Arctic

A young whale pokes its melon-shaped head into the cool morning air near this remote island, a sign its herd is thriving despite mounting threats in Russia's melting Arctic.

Cameras and microphones capture the whale's every move as scientists use the species only shore-side breeding ground to see how they are coping as fleets of oil tankers replace melting ice in their traditional feeding grounds.

"Belugas are a bellwether species... what happens to them reflects the effects of pollution and global

Scientists have recorded a small drop in the whale population that they attribute in part to human activity in Arctic regions. "As global warming continues, the threats are going to grow dramatically," Belkovich said.

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Since monitoring began scores of whales have traveled hundreds of miles (kilometres) each year to this White Sea sandbank to mate, frolic and train their young.

Distinctive markings on the whales' backs allow the researchers to track the population from year to year, monitoring their health, longevity and interactions with rival herds.

"It's the only place in the world they come so close to the shore," said Vladimir Baranov, a senior researcher with Moscow's Institute of Oceanology, who films the Belugas close up underwater in their natural setting.

-- The whales can play here because there is no danger --

"They can play here because there is no danger," said Olga Kirilova, a fellow researcher. "But in the winter they go north and face intensive shipping, the tankers and their pollution."

With the melting of ice sheets in the Arctic, the Russian government has set the development of rich oil and gas reserves in the region as a priority, including fields in the Barents Sea where many of the Belugas spend the winter.

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