Bering Ecosystem Study (BEST) Related Links

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Research and Funding Organizations Working in the Bering Sea

A non-exhaustive list of potential organizations funding and conducting research in the Bering Sea, includes - in alphabetical order:

- Alaska Forum on the Environment: The Alaska Forum, Inc is a registered 501(c)(3) non-profit organization formed to support the Alaska Forum on the Environment, an annual educational event focused on contaminants, hazardous waste cleanup, hazardous materials management, and pollution prevention. This event, which began in 1990 as the Alaska Federal Facility Environmental Roundtable as an annual conference, takes place every year.

- Alaska Ocean Observing System (AOOS): A regional component of the developing National Oceanographic Partnership Program, AOOS plans to support moorings and other observing systems in the eastern Bering Sea, as part of a long-term monitoring effort in Alaskan waters. Additionally, monitoring of the high arctic and Gulf of Alaska AOOS domains may provide a valuable broader-scale perspective for regional comparisons.

- Arctic Environmental Observatory in the Bering Strait: An NSF-funded cooperative research project involving studies of benthic communities on the shallow Bering and Chukchi shelves, the development of a seawater environmental system at Diomede Village, and community outreach activities at Little Diomede Island.

- North Pacific Research Board (NPRB): The mission of the NPRB is to develop a comprehensive science program of the highest caliber to enhance understanding of the North Pacific, Bering Sea, and Arctic Ocean ecosystems and fisheries. Its new science plan emphasizes the development of integrated ecosystem research programs in regions such as the southeastern Bering Sea.

- Bering Sea Aleutian Salmon International Survey (BASIS): This collaborative study among the U.S., Japan, and the Russian Federation is funded by the North Pacific Anadromous Fish Commission. Annual late summer / early fall fieldwork by this program provides insight into seasonal cycles in the epipelagic environment (physics, chemistry, plankton, juvenile salmon).

- The CLImate VARiability and Predictability (CLIVAR) program, has addressed issues relating to natural climate variability and anthropogenic climate change since 1995. CLIVAR activities include observing and modeling climate changes and decadal variations of the North Pacific, which provides the essential large-scale ocean-ice-atmosphere context for the local processes studied in BEST. As part of the wider World Climate Research Programme (WCRP), CLIVAR is studying the global climate system in partnership with the International Geosphere Biosphere Programme (IGBP) and the International Human Dimensions Programme (IHDP).

- Ecosystem Studies of Sub-Arctic Seas (ESSAS): Integration with this new regional GLOBEC program, which addresses the effects of changing climate on sub-arctic seas including the Bering Sea, will facilitate regional comparisons. BEST is the U.S. component of ESSAS.

- International Polar Year (IPY) is a major international science initiative involving an intense period (March 2007 - March 2009) of interdisciplinary research and data collection, designed to provide a snapshot in time of the state of the polar regions. BEST activities will contribute to IPY objectives.

- National Marine Mammal Laboratory (NMML): Marine mammal field studies including vessel-based surveys (e.g., right whales), acoustic monitoring (e.g., blue and humpback whales), and rookery-based telemetry studies (e.g., fur seals, sea lions).

- National Marine Fisheries Service Alaska Fisheries Science Center (AFSC): The center is responsible for fisheries oceanographic studies in the eastern Bering Sea and for surveys of the distribution and abundance of fish there.

- North Pacific Fisheries Management Council (NPFMC): The council is responsible for stock assessments and setting fisheries quotas.

- North Pacific Marine Science Organization (PICES): Established in 1992, PICES, is an intergovernmental scientific organization (current members: Canada, People's Republic of China, Japan, Republic of Korea, Russian Federation, and the United States of America), with the following goals: (i) Promote and coordinate marine research in the northern North Pacific and adjacent seas especially northward of 30 degrees North; (ii) Advance scientific knowledge about the ocean environment, global weather and climate change, living resources and their ecosystems, and the impacts of human activities; (iii) Promote the collection and exchange of scientific information on these issues.

- Study of Environmental Arctic Change (SEARCH): An interagency effort to understand the nature, extent, and future development of the system-scale change presently seen in the Arctic. These changes are occurring across terrestrial, oceanic, atmospheric and human systems, including:(i) increased air temperatures over most of the Arctic, (ii) changing ocean circulation and rising coastal sea level, (iii) reduced sea ice cover, and (iv) thawing permafrost.

- Western Arctic Shelf-Basin Interactions (SBI): Funded through the NSF Arctic System Science (ARCSS) Program and the Office of Naval Research, this project investigates the production, transformation, and fate of carbon at the shelf-slope interface in the Chukchi and Beaufort seas. The field program is complete, and investigators are synthesizing data toward modeling potential impacts of change on the physical and biological linkages between these shelves and adjacent basins.

Field Programs and Cruises

- EcoFOCI Bering Sea Expedition: In April / May 2006 two ships, NOAA ship Miller Freeman and R/V Thomas G. Thompson, participated in an expedition to the Bering Sea ice edge, under the auspices of NOAA's Fisheries Oceanography Coordinated Investigations program.

- T/S Oshoro Maru Surveys: Japan, which has been very active in Bering Sea ecosystem research in the past, conducts annual surveys of the eastern Bering Sea shelf. These surveys, which comprise the longest time series of shelf water properties and plankton, are invaluable for examining low frequency variability related to climate since the mid 1950s.

Activities from NSF-funded Arctic Climate Projects

- North Pole Environmental Observatory (NPOE): special report

- Study of Environmental Change in the Arctic (SEARCH): special report

- Western Arctic Shelf-Basin Interactions (SBI): special report

- Snow Science Traverse - Alaska Region (SnowSTAR): special report

Data Repositories

- Census of Marine Life (CoML): Field projects (e.g., the Arctic Ocean Diversity project) and data repositories (e.g., Ocean Biodiversity Information System) under the auspices of the CoML initiative, will make historical and contemporary datasets available to the public.

- Alaska Marine Information System (AMIS): A web-accessible information system created by the North Pacific Research Board.

- Bering Climate and Ecosystem Data: A portal to NOAA's climatic, physical and biological data from the Bering Sea ecosystem.

Last modified: 2008-01-01