Oceanography & Sea Ice

Arctic Ocean Education Resources

• Sounds of the Arctic – This poster, with sound files, was put together by Catherine Berchok (National Marine Fisheries Service, NOAA) and Kate Stafford (University of Washington, Applied Physics Lab) with support from BOEM (Bureau of Ocean Energy Management) and the NSB. You can listen to the sounds of marine mammals and sea ice, sounds that were collected using hydrophones placed underwater in the Arctic Ocean. Also see the Passive Acoustic Monitoring Study.

Click on the poster above for an Adobe Interactive copy. Or, click below for the following sounds that accompany this poster:

Bowhead whale moans
Bowhead whale song
More bowhead sounds here
Sea Ice
Bearded seal
Beluga whale
Narwhal
Walrus
Ribbon seal

• Sea Ice Project Jukebox.
• All About Sea Ice.
• Cameo Chemicals (NOAA) – This website allows you to look up hazards found in many chemicals, as well as looking at what happens when certain chemicals are mixed together.
• COSEE Alaska – COSEE (Centers for Ocean Sciences Education Excellence) is a National Science Foundation program is a group of ocean scientists, educators and coastal community members who seek to enhance ocean and climate change literacy in the public by helping ocean scientists reach broader audiences with their research.
• An Imminent Thaw: Changing Arctic Sea Ice – Marine education specialist Marilyn Sigman assisted in the production of a 10 minute podcast, An Imminent Thaw: Changing Arctic Sea Ice, which was broadcast in early November 2010. The focus is on COSEE Alaska themes of ocean climate change and the integration of Alaska Native knowledge with Western science. The podcast was based on interviews with scientists Tom Weingartner, Hajo Eicken, and Phyllis Stabeno, and members of Alaska Native communities about changes in sea ice patterns and their implications for the ecosystem and human communities that have depended traditionally on ice-associated animals. The importance of observing systems, using both technology and knowledgeable community observers, is highlighted.
• Faces of Climate Change – Three compelling short videos – Introduction to Climate Change, Disappearing Sea Ice, Life on the Ice – showcase the dramatic changes in Alaska’s marine ecosystems through interviews with scientists and Alaska Natives. The videos were produced by COSEE Alaska, the Alaska Sea Grant program, the Alaska Marine Conservation Council, and the Alaska Ocean Observing System.
• IDPO Climate Expeditions (ICE) – The Ice Drilling Program Office (IDPO) announces the launch of its new education-focused website, entitled IDPO Climate Expeditions (ICE). The site offers ice core-related lesson plans and resources for middle and high school classrooms; career profiles and links to universities with glaciology research centers for students; and informational articles, reliable resources, and multi-media for the public.
• Living on Alaska’s Changing Coast – Sea Grant Alaska – This site provides facts on climate change in Alaska and plans for adaptation to these changes.
• National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) Education Center.
• Ocean Portal (Smithsonian Institute) – Interesting stories and pictures from oceans worldwide. Includes many resources for educators.
• Sea Ice Breakout Animations – Shore near Barrow in 2014 – April 29 – May 4 – Animations courtesy of the Sea Ice Group at the UAF Geophysical Institute.

Websites for Ocean Species Identification

• Marine Species Identification Portal
• Fish – Atlas
• Fish life history database
• Arctic Ocean Diversity
• COPEPOD: A Global Plankton Database (NMFS)

Sea Ice and Arctic Oceanography Resources

• Alaska Monitoring and Assessment Program (AKMAP) – Alaska state program that monitors Alaska’s water resources.
• Alaska Ocean Acidification Network – Promoting understanding of ocean acidification and sharing best practices in Alaska.
• Alaska Ocean Observing System (AOOS) – AOOS is a network made up of fishermen, subsistence users, recreation users, resource managers, scientists and educators who provide coastal observations and data on Alaska’s marine ecosystems for the purpose of making better decisions on the use of this marine environment.
• ARMAP Arctic Research Mapping Application – Interactive maps supporting Arctic science.

Comparison graph of Arctic Sea Ice Extent as of December 2, 2012. (NSDIC)

Average Arctic Sea Ice Extent for the month of November from 1979 to 2012. This graph shows a decline of about 4.8% per decade. (NSDIC)

• Arctic – Sea Ice Extent (NOAA). Winter 2013 Newsletter.
• BioMap Alaska Citizen Science for Alaska’s Oceans – This website is used to track species’ movements around the state of Alaska’s oceans. Sightings are reported and confirmed by a team of experts. Currently, this website tracks a small number of species of interest and is being piloted as a method of gathering information.
• Chukchi Sea Surface Currents – Dr. Tom Weingartner (UAF) has constructed a website that updates the Chukchi Sea surface currents hourly just off of Barrow. This is close to real time. The reason why we do not see arrows right off Barrow is that two radars must overlap. There are two radar systems (Barrow and Wainwright), but Point Franklin blocks the signal. They are hoping to improve this. You should also be able to go to animations (from the home page) and playback the surface currents from the last 12 hours.
• Chukchi Sea – Autonomous Remote Technology – This site describes projects carried out by the Institute of Marine Science at UAF using Autonomous Remote Technology (ART). You can find out more about the instruments used and other projects, as well as the Chukchi Sea project which involves the deployment of gliders off of the coast of Wainwright and into the Chukchi Sea lease areas.
• Ice radar at Barrow – At the bottom of this page are links to animations showing interesting ice deformation events (the top of the page has the current and last day’s data).
• Web cams at Barrow and Wales – At the bottom of these pages are movies of the ice year (1 image per day) for the years for which we have observations, these are very nice to look at and give a good idea of the ice year.
• International Arctic Research Center (IARC). North by 2020 – A forum to explore, discuss, plan and prepare opportunities for sustainable development in a North experiencing rapid transformation. It does so by facilitating research and education across disciplinary boundaries to address the real world concerns surrounding Northern futures while at the same time engaging public, private, and government stakeholders.
• Chukchi Current and Ice Movement Workshop.
• LEO – Local Environmental Observer Network – A network of local observers and topic experts, sharing knowledge about unusual animal, environment, and weather events.
• Multisensor Analyzed Sea Ice Extent – Northern Hemisphere – The National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) and the U.S. National Ice Center (NIC) are pleased to announce a new daily sea ice analysis product entitled “The Multisensor Analyzed Sea Ice Extent – Northern Hemisphere” (MASIE-NH). You can view an arctic-wide sea ice and snow extent map which shows the ice edge images daily and monthly. See the archived images near the bottom right-side of the page.
• National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) – The National Snow and Ice Data Center provides up-to-the-day updates on the condition of Arctic Ocean sea ice.
• Sea Ice for Walrus Outlook (SIWO) – The Sea Ice for Walrus Outlook, an activity of the Study of Environmental Arctic Change (SEARCH) Sea Ice Outlook, is a resource for Alaska Native subsistence hunters, coastal communities, and others interested in sea ice and walrus. The SIWO will be updated weekly with information on sea ice conditions relevant to walrus in the Northern Bering Sea and southern Chukchi Sea regions of Alaska. SIWO updates will be released every Friday through late June. This collaboration includes weather and ice forecasters; climate scientists and sea-ice researchers at NOAA, the National Weather Service, and the University of Alaska; and the Arctic Research Consortium of the U.S. (ARCUS, with funding from the National Science Foundation’s Division of Arctic Sciences), who are teaming up with Alaska Native sea-ice experts and the Eskimo Walrus Commission.
• Sea Ice Atlas – A joint project funded by Alaska Ocean Observing System (AOOS), Alaska Center for Climate Assessment and Policy (ACCAP), and Scenarios Network for Alaska and Arctic Planning (SNAP). This is a digital atlas chronicling sea-ice concentrations in the Beaufort, Chukchi and Bering Seas from 1850 to 2012.
• Sea Ice Group at the Geophysical Institute (UAF) – This website provides information on sea ice research being conducted by UAF research scientists in Alaska.
• Sea Ice Project Jukebox (UAF) – This site includes recordings of interviews of local ice experts from Northern Alaska on sea ice conditions, plus observations and changes over time.
• Seasonal Ice Zone Observing Network (SIZONet) – The Local Observations database was developed to record, archive, and share indigenous sea ice knowledge and expertise. This information is generously shared with the public by the observers and the communities within which the observers reside. Anyone interested in browsing or using the information review must agree to adhere to the ethical and appropriate use guidelines.
• U.S. Ice Drilling Program – This website provides information on drilling in the ice as a means of understanding climate change in the past. The program is funded by NSF and includes scientists and projects studying polar ice sheets and high-latitude glaciers.

Us Coast Guard in the Arctic

• Us Coast Guard in the Arctic.
• Arctic Shield 2012.
• Arctic Shield 2012 Environmental Assessment.

MODIS map of the North Slope on 13 July 2013. (Image obtained from the MODIS website)

Banner photo credit: Craig George