An albatross soaring over the wide open ocean doesn’t just rely on chance sightings of prey; it actually follows its nose. Dimethyl sulfide (DMS) is a biological sulfur compound that can result from the activity of microorganisms called phytoplankton. Not only does airborne DMS provide a wind-map for foraging seabirds, it also also aids in […]
Tag: plankton
A continent of ice on the wane
Ned Rozell for UAFGI – Despite taking up as much space as Australia, the blue-white puzzle of ice floating on the Arctic Ocean is an abstraction to the billions who have never seen it. But continued shrinkage of sea ice is changing life for many living things. A few Alaska scientists added their observations to […]
Triumphs of the endangered Bowhead Whale
Each spring, wildlife biologist Craig George stands where shore-bound sea ice meets open water at Point Barrow and counts whales. Barrow Alaska is the northernmost town in the united states. The lookout point, accessed daily via snowmobile, is no more than a canvas windbreak atop a pile of ice. Warming spring temperatures thin and break […]
Blue Lights
By Carin Ashjian for The Arctic Winter Cruise 2011 We spent yesterday sheltered in the ice, at a place called “refuge”. We moved here two nights ago to enjoy the calm afforded by the sea ice as the latest Bering Sea storm raged over us. Today the weather has moderated and we sampled across a […]
Into the southern Chukchi Sea
By Carin Ashjian for The Arctic Winter Cruise 2011 We are moving further south. As we go, the ice is filling the Chukchi Sea, filling that sea with us still in it. A few days ago, there was sea ice only in the northern part and along the coast. Now, as we go south, the […]
Sample, sample, sample…..
By Carin Ashjian for The Arctic Winter Cruise 2011 There is a sense of anticipation in the air. Tomorrow is Thanksgiving and we will be observing it, even though we are at sea in the Arctic. As luck would have it, we have a couple of long transits between stations to accomplish tonight and tomorrow […]
Thump, Shudder, Screech
By Carin Ashjian for The Arctic Winter Cruise 2011 We are in the thick of winter now. We have reached our furthest northern point, at 72 27.18 N, over the slope-basin in about 2000 m of water. As we moved north, the ice became thicker and more resilient. Sometimes moving is easy, sometimes we claw […]
Arctic Night
By Carin Ashjian for The Arctic Winter Cruise 2011 Today the sun did not rise. We have come so far north that we have reached a latitude where the sun did not come above the horizon on this winter day, where night lasted for 24 hours. We were treated instead to a few hours […]
Into the Ice
By Carin Ashjian for The Arctic Winter Cruise 2011 We are now, finally, in ice. The ship is shuddering along, not breaking ice but rather pushing floes of pancake ice aside. When occasionally we break into a lead of open water, the ship glides unfettered, seemingly not moving because there is no irregular bumping and […]
Through the Strait
By Carin Ashjian for The Arctic Winter Cruise 2011 This morning at around 1030 local time we passed through Bering Strait and into the Chukchi Sea. As we go, the air becomes colder, the water becomes colder, the sea is gray, and the winds are howling at 30 knots from the NE. We are […]
Setting Sail into Winter
By Carin Ashjian for The Arctic Winter Cruise 2011 The sun was shining brightly in Seward as we slipped our lines free from the dock and moved gently away. The winter cruise was starting! It was a long time in coming, with many ups and downs as the schedule changed. But today, we finally […]