Projects

Thank you for your support!

We are very thankful to our funders for their support, including the Alaska Ocean Observing System (AOOS), Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM), Coastal Marine Institute (CMI), Cooperative Institute for Alaska Research (CIFAR), National Atmospheric and Space Administration (NASA), National Park Service (NPS), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), National Science Foundation (NSF), North Pacific Research Board (NPRB), Pollock Conservation Cooperative Research Center (PCCRC), and the State of Alaska.

OA Monitoring at Shoreside Locations

Funding Source: AOOS, NOAA, State of Alaska
This project was launched by Wiley Evans and Jeff Hetrick and is now led by the Alutiiq Pride Marine Institute, Kodiak Area Native Association, NOAA Alaska Fisheries Science Center Kodiak Laboratory, Sitka Tribe of Alaska, Southeast Tribal Ocean Research, and UAF Ocean Acidification Research Center. Preliminary data can be found on the Hakai Institute website.

OA and Fisheries Recruitment Dynamics in the Eastern Bering Sea

Funding Source: NOAA
This project adds carbonate system parameters to the current fishery and ecosystem monitoring and will support the development of an OA index for the Bering Sea Ecosystem Status Report (ESR).

Ocean Acidification Time-Series

Funding Source: AOOS
This project maintains observations at long-term time series locations including GAK1 along the Seward Line in the Northern Gulf of Alaska and M2 and M8 in the southeastern Bering Sea. These multi-decadal projects are critical to understand change. Partners are the Seward Marine Center, NGA LTER, and the Fisheries-Oceanography Coordinated Investigations (FOCI).

Autonomous Observations of Ocean Acidification in Alaskan Coastal Waters

Funding Source: NOAA
This project provides support to maintain the surface moorings in the northern Gulf of Alaska and southeastern Bering Sea. Partners include the Seward Marine Center in Seward, the NOAA Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory in Seattle, and the NOAA Ocean Acidification Program.

Distributed Biological Observatory

Funding Source: NOAA
The Distributed Biological Observatory (DBO) is a multidisciplinary sampling program in the Pacific Arctic Region (PAR). This project is designed to be a change detection array in the Bering, Chukchi, and Beaufort Seas. Partners include the NOAA Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory in Seattle and NOAA Arctic Research Program.

Ocean Acidification in the Gulf of Alaska

Funding Source: NOAA
A basin-wide cruise to monitor OA in the Gulf of Alaska will be executed every four years to quantify the extent and intensity of summertime OA events brought on by coastal upwelling, respiration, and freshwater runoff. Stations are occupied from Dixon Entrance to Shelikof Strait. Partners include the NOAA Ocean Acidification Program.

Monitoring Ocean Acidification in Alaskan waters

Funding Source: State of Alaska
This is a statewide effort to observe the extent, duration, and intensity of ocean acidification in Alaskan waters. Ship-based measurements, shore-based monitoring, and the first high latitude surface OA mooring network were initiated through this project. Partners include the Alutiiq Pride Shellfish Hatchery in Seward, Alaska; OceansAlaska in Ketchikan; the Alaska Fisheries Science Center Laboratory in Kodiak; and the Hakai Institute, BC, Canada.

Past Projects

MARES: Marine Arctic Ecosystem Study

Funding Source: BOEM / Stantec
This is an integrated ecosystem research initiative to better understand the relationship of the physical, biological, chemical, and human systems of the Beaufort Sea. Partners include the ASL Environmental Sciences, National Oceanographic Partnership Program, and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.

Monitoring Ocean Acidification in the Northern Gulf of Alaska and in Prince William Sound

Funding Source: AOOS
This study is being done as part of the continued monitoring along the Seward Line in the northern Gulf of Alaska and in Prince William Sound. It seeks to better understand the seasonal variability and controls on OA in a region that is a commercially important fishery.

Collaborative Research: An Interdisciplinary Monitoring Mooring in the Western Arctic Boundary Current—Climatic forcing and ecosystem response

Funding Source: NSF
During the study a multidisciplinary mooring will be deployed in the Chukchi/Beaufort Sea for 5 years that is capable of measuring a number of different physical, biological and chemical variables in the Arctic Ocean, one of which will be pH. These measurements will provide new insights into the seasonal cycling of important carbonate parameters. The project is being led by Dr. Bob Pickart of WHOI.

Moored Observations of Ocean Acidification in High Latitude Seas

Funding Source: NOAA
This project will support the deployment of two mooring systems capable of making continuous OA observations through the year at fixed depths in the water column. One of these mooring will be placed in the southern Bering Sea, and the other near Bering Strait. The project is being conducted in collaboration with Professor Bob Byre at the University of South Florida.

Collaborative Research: Observation and Prediction of Ocean Acidification in the Western Arctic Ocean—Impacts of Physical and Biogeochemical Processes on Carbonate Mineral States

Funding Source: NSF
This project will seek to determine the distribution, extent and controls on OA in the western Arctic Ocean. It will be done in collaboration with Dr. Laurie Juranek at the University of Washington Joint Institute for the Study of the Atmosphere and Ocean (JISAO) and Dr. Richard Feely at the NOAA Pacific Marine Environmental Lab (PMEL)

Biogeochemical Assessment of the North Aleutian Basin Ecosystem: Current Status and Vulnerability to Climate Change

Funding Source: CMI / BOEM)
The focus of this study is to determine the biogeochemical impact of processes such as sea-ice formation and melt on the cycling of carbon in the Bering Sea, including the distribution and extent of ocean acidification. The project has been done in association with the Bering Ecosystem Study (BEST). The project is being conducted by CFOS graduate student Jessica Cross.

Present and Future Impacts of Ocean Acidification on Juvenile Walleye Pollock Metabolic Processes and Growth Rates

Funding Source: PCCRC
The focus of this project is to assess how both larval and juvenile pollock respond to reduced pH. The project is being conducted at the Hatfield Marine Science Center in Newport, Oregon, in collaboration with Dr. Tom Hurst. The project is being done by CFOS graduate student Elena Fernandez.

Investigation of the Controls and Feedbacks on the Biogeochemical Cycling of Inorganic Carbon, Air-sea CO₂ Fluxes and the Impacts of Ocean Acidification on the Arctic Pacific Shelves

Funding Source: NASA
This study is being done as part of the larger ICESCAPE project. Our portion of the project is being conducted in collaboration with Dr. Nick Bates at the Bermuda Institute of Ocean Sciences and seeks to better understand the processes that control air-sea exchange of CO₂ and ocean acidification in the Chukchi Sea.

Moored Observations of Ocean Acidification in the Northern Gulf of Alaska including Resurrection Bay and Prince William Sound

Funding Source: NPRB)
This project will support the deployment of a mooring capable of making OA observations at the surface and near the bottom in the northern Gulf of Alaska just outside of Resurrection Bay and Prince William Sound. It will provide valuable insights into the seasonal cycling of pH and carbonate minerals concentrations in a sensitive area. The project is being conducted in collaboration with Dr. Chris Sabine at the NOAA Pacific Marine Environmental Lab (PMEL) and Dr. Laurie Juranek at the University of Washington Joint Institute for the Study of the Atmosphere and Ocean (JISAO).