In a recent article published in the journal Science, reporter Warren Cornwall writes:

“Five years after an unusual pattern of warm water started to form in the Gulf of Alaska, scientists are starting to understand the sweeping ecological impacts of an underwater heat wave that became known as The Blob. From tiny algae to humpback whales, the warm patch of water that eventually stretched across much of the west coast of North America touched virtually every level of the ecosystems there. Although the Blob has now faded, its effects continue to be felt. This research comes at a time of growing scientific interest, and mounting concern, about these underwater heat waves. Scientists now predict they will become more intense, more frequent, and longer lasting over this century, because of climate change. Blob-like temperatures are expected to become the new normal in the northeast Pacific Ocean by midcentury.”

The article spotlights Blob-related findings from the GulfWatch Alaska program for copepods (PI: Russ Hopcroft), forage fish (PI: Mayumi Arimitsu), and seabirds (PI: John Piatt), as well as includes research from program partners at NOAA and the US Fish and Wildlife Service.

The article can be accessed at:  Cornwall, In Hot Water Science 363 (6426) 10.1126/science.363.6426.442 (2019).

The Exxon Valdez oil spill that happened almost 30 years ago has left a scientific legacy in the marine science research field that’s now being used as a powerful research tool to evaluate the impact of other spills around the world.

At the 2019 Alaska Marine Science Symposium, a session was held to examine how these observations informed the understanding of more recent oil spills, like the 2007 Hebei Spirit spill in South Korea and the 2010 Deepwater Horizon spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

To read the full KTUU article visit: https://www.ktuu.com/content/news/How-researchers-are-learning-from-the-Exxon-Valdez-oil-spill-30-years-later-505118341.html

The latest version of the Quarterly Currents v2.3 (August 1, 2018 to November 1, 2018) newsletter is now available. The program submitted FY19 Work Plans to the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill Trustee Council (EVOSTC) in August and recommendations by the Science Review Panel, Science Coordinator, Public Advisory Committee, and the Trustees were to fully fund all projects including some additional unfunded needs. This long-term ecosystem level monitoring program stands out as a hallmark for Alaska providing a wealth of information to the scientific community, resource managers and the public. We greatly appreciate the EVOSTC support and positive feedback. Read this latest edition for a summary of the third quarter activities and accomplishments.

Mass die-offs and breeding failures, now ongoing for years, have marine biologists worried that this is a new normal caused by climate change.

To read the full Audubon article which features  some Gulf Watch Alaska and Northern Gulf of Alaska LTER scientists visit: https://www.audubon.org/news/in-alaska-starving-seabirds-and-empty-colonies-signal-broken-ecosystem

The latest version of the Quarterly Currents v2.2 (May 1, 2018 to July 31, 2018) newsletter is now available. The Gulf Watch Alaska program has sailed through the second quarter of year 7. Field work was the dominant theme this quarter, which started out blustery and cool in May and early June but warmed up in July. Read this latest edition for a summary of the program’s summer activities and accomplishments.

The latest version of the Quarterly Current vol 2.1 (February 1, 2018 to April 31, 2018) is now available. This issue launches year 7 of the Gulf Watch Alaska (GWA) monitoring program funded by the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill Trustee Council (EVOSTC). In this first quarter program researchers busily geared up for field work. Spring being a bit nippy this year, field teams wore extra layers. Read this latest edition for a brief first quarter summary of our program activities and accomplishments.

The Prince William Sound Science Center is pleased to announce the release of the 2018-2019 edition of the Delta Sound Connections. This annual natural history and science news publication is dedicated to the ecosystems of Prince William Sound, the Copper River watershed, and northern Gulf of Alaska. Delta Sound Connections highlights various research and education programs taking place in our region, right now.

Seth Danielson, a GWA Principal Investigator, embarked as a Principal Investigator on the Northern Gulf of Alaska Long Term Ecological Research (NGA-LTER) research cruise aboard the R/V Sikuliaq, April 18 – May 5, 2018. This cruise continues the sampling begun in fall 1997 under the NSF/NOAA NE Pacific GLOBEC program, and supported subsequently by a consortium of the North Pacific Research Board (NPRB), the Alaska Ocean Observing System (AOOS), and the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill Trustee Council’s (EVOSTC) Gulf Watch.

Seths’s focus is on the ‘motion of the ocean’, or the oceanographic processes that drive the NGA’s productivity and make it resilient. His work involves performing CTD measurements and bottle sampling to determine the thermohaline, velocity, light, and oxygen structure of the NGA shelf, in addition to its nutrient structure.

To learn more about Seth’s work during the LTER cruise, watch this video short developed by the  “Microcosm” series, a documentary project that features the diversity and roles of microscopic life in the ocean.

Russ Hopcroft, a GWA Principal Investigator, embarked as Chief Scientist on the Northern Gulf of Alaska Long Term Ecological Research (NGA-LTER) research cruise aboard the R/V Sikuliaq, April 18 – May 5, 2018. This cruise continues the sampling begun in fall 1997 under the NSF/NOAA NE Pacific GLOBEC program, and supported subsequently by a consortium of the North Pacific Research Board (NPRB), the Alaska Ocean Observing System (AOOS), and the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill Trustee Council’s (EVOSTC) Gulf Watch. This is the first cruise as part of the NGA-LTER  funded by the National Science Foundation. The core scientific purpose of the Seward Line project is to develop an understanding of the response and resiliency of this marine ecosystem to climate variability. This cruise marks the 21st consecutive spring cruise for the Seward Line in the NGA, including Prince William Sound (PWS), and the 48th year of observations at GAK1.

Check out the Meet the Chief Scientist video or the cruise’s Science Update to learn more. Or, read the research cruise post on the NGA-LTER website or follow the latest Tweets (@sikuliaq) .

Happy sailing, Russ!

The Gulf Watch Alaska program was prominently featured in the 2018 Kachemak Bay Science Conference from March 7 to 10 in Homer, Alaska. The Kachemak Bay Science Conference is a forum for presenting scientific and traditional ecological knowledge relevant to Kachemak Bay and its surrounding coasts and waters to foster an informed community of environmental researchers, educators, and decision-makers. The theme of this conference was “Science without Borders: Working across disciplines, boundaries, and barriers”, which aimed to provide new information and syntheses to the broad community interested in and working on related issues.

The conference kicked-off with Gulf Watch Alaska’s own program lead and collaborating researcher, Mandy Lindeberg, as the plenary speaker. Mandy linked many aspects of her 25 year career conducting research along the Alaska coast to cross-discipline and boundary science. In particular, she spotlighted the Gulf Watch Alaska program’s unique ecosystem-level approach to undertaking large scale, multidisciplinary, integrated and long-term monitoring in Alaska. In her talk, she explained the benefits of long-term ecosystem monitoring to improving our understanding of how climate variations can drive bottom-up changes in marine food webs, affecting fish, seabirds, marine mammals, and intertidal organisms.

Gulf Watch researcher Katrin Iken talk about long-term changes in Kachemak Bay intertidal communities.

Principal investigators from the Gulf Watch Alaska program authored five oral presentations and two posters at the conference. Presentations covered topics focused on climate and oceanography, ecosystem perspectives, and lower trophic levels in the Kachemak Bay environment. Further, Gulf Watch Alaska program partners, Axiom Data Science and the Alaska Ocean Observing System, hosted a half-day workshop focused on data access through web-based portals. Collaborating scientists, Kris Holderied and Mandy Lindeberg, hosted a separate NOAA portal work session focused on Gulf of Alaska data, and Gulf Watch Alaska principal investigators provided an underwater tour of Kachemak Bay. To hear an audio recording of the plenary talk, listen here.

The following presentations and posters were presented by Gulf Watch Alaska researchers.

Oral presentations-

o Science Without Borders – is it possible?. (Plenary talk) Mandy Lindeberg, NOAA/NMFS Auke Bay Laboratories

o Heating up and cooling off in Kachemak Bay Alaska –what does it mean for the marine ecosystem? Kris Holderied, NOAA Kasitsna Bay Laboratory

o Ecosystem variability in lower Cook Inlet across trophic levels, space, seasons, and climate regimes, Martin Renner, Tern Again Consulting

o    A summary of some results from Gulf Watch Alaska monitoring in Kachemak Bay, Katrin Iken, University of Alaska Fairbanks

o    Trends in intertidal sea star abundance and diversity across the Gulf of Alaska: effects of sea star wasting, Brenda Konar, University of Alaska Fairbanks

o    Environmental factors affecting toxic phytoplankton in Kachemak Bay, Dominic Hondolero, NOAA Kasitsna Bay Laboratory

o    Can you dig it? Patterns of variability in clam assemblages within mixed-sediment habitats across the Gulf of Alaska, Benjamin Weitzman, USGS Alaska Science Center

Poster presentations-

o Gulf Watch Alaska: Taking the Pulse of the Northern Gulf of Alaska, Robert Suryan, NOAA/NMFS Auke Bay Laboratories

o    Nearshore food web structure in two contrasting regions of Cook Inlet, Danielle Siegert, University of Alaska Fairbanks

The science conference appealed to a diversity of researchers, educators, decision-makers, and interested members of the Homer community.

The latest version of the Quarterly Current vol 1.4 (November 1, 2017 to January 31, 2018) is now available. Read this latest version for a brief fourth quarter summary of Gulf Watch Alaska program activities and accomplishments. This issue marks the end of monitoring year 6 for the anticipated 20-year program – also known as the first year of the second five-year increment successfully implemented by the EVOSTC. We have made a great deal of progress since the program’s inception in 2012 and we look forward to future achievements!

What does the Prince William Sound ecosystem look like more than two decades after the Exxon Valdez oil spill? According to NOAA Fisheries scientists and partners who have been monitoring the ecosystem since the spill occurred in 1989, the answer is complicated. It’s a picture that includes loss, recovery, change and persisting conditions.

A newly published Special Issue of Deep Sea Research II, includes 19 research papers on the Sound ecosystem. The work of this collaborative group of NOAA Fisheries scientists and other agencies and organizations is being conducted under the Gulf Watch Alaska and Herring Research and Monitoring programs funded by the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill Trustee Council. Findings from these programs are providing resource managers with important insights for recovery and protection of ecosystems after major oil spills. You can read more about the Gulf Watch Alaska research papers and other studies in the Special Issue of Deep Sea Research II links below.

The NOAA Fisheries Highlights has featured a series of articles about a few of the papers authored by NOAA Fisheries scientists. Read the articles to learn more.

• A Wealth of Scientific Information, Decades in the Making
• Dall’s Porpoise Expands Territory in a Changing Prince William Sound
• Lingering Oil from Exxon Valdez Spill

Gulf Watch Alaska publications

Deep Sea Research Part II: Topical Studies in Oceanography

What does the Prince William Sound ecosystem look like more than two decades after the Exxon Valdez oil spill? According to NOAA Fisheries scientists and partners who have been monitoring the ecosystem since the spill occurred in 1989, the answer is complicated. It’s a picture that includes loss, recovery, change and persisting conditions.

A newly published Special Issue of Deep Sea Research II, includes 19 research papers on the Sound ecosystem.  Here, we highlight a few of the papers authored by NOAA Fisheries scientists.

To read the full NOAA Fisheries Highlight article visit: https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/feature-story/wealth-scientific-information-decades-making

Dall’s porpoise are not hard to find in Alaska waters. If you are in a boat, chances are they will find you. Possibly the fastest of all dolphins and porpoises, Dall’s are notorious bow riders, darting back and forth in front of a moving ship, carving a rooster-tail spray as they surf the bow wave.

This affinity for ships and speed makes the compact black-and-white porpoise one of Alaska’s more visible marine mammals, but also one of the most difficult to study. Their behavior confounds traditional survey methods that depend on research subjects not racing eagerly toward the survey vessel. Although Dall’s porpoise are an abundant fish predator, they have been little studied in Prince William Sound since the 1980s – before the Exxon Valdez oil spill.

NOAA Fisheries scientists, under the Gulf Watch Alaska monitoring program, have now analyzed Dall’s porpoise distribution in Prince William Sound for the first time in nearly three decades. They found some behaviors contrary to what scientists knew about Dall’s, signaling major changes in the Prince William Sound ecosystem.

Read the full NOAA Fisheries Highlights article to learn more: https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/feature-story/dalls-porpoise-expands-territory-changing-prince-william-sound

A small portion of the oil from the 1989 Exxon Valdez spill still lingers in patches beneath Prince William Sound, Alaska, beaches. However, this and other studies suggests the remaining oil is sequestered, or buried, and currently is not posing a risk to the coastal and marine ecosystem.

“In the early years after the spill, experts anticipated that the oil would naturally degrade and not persist in the environment. After repeated visits to specific sites over the last 15 years, I haven’t found this to be the case. For these sites, the oil may be in the environment for a long time,” says study leader Mandy Lindeberg, a NOAA Fisheries scientist.

Few spills in the marine environment have presented the opportunity to measure persistence and loss rates over such a duration. Findings from this study provide resource managers with important insights for recovery and protection efforts after major oil spills.

To learn more read the full NOAA Fisheries Highlights article: https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/feature-story/lingering-oil-exxon-valdez-spill

Over the last year, warm water temperatures in the Gulf of Alaska, infamously known as the blob, have dissipated. Warmer water temps are thought to have a hand in massive bird die-offs and a decline in Pacific cod stocks. Now that the three-year period of summer-like marine conditions is over, scientists and fishery managers are eager to assess the full impact of the blob.

To read the full KBBI article featuring GulfWatch Alaska scientist, Kris Holderied: http://kbbi.org/post/now-blob-over-scientists-are-eager-assess-its-impact

The Gulf Watch Alaska program participated from January 22-26 in the 2018 Alaska Marine Science Symposium in Anchorage, Alaska. The symposium is Alaska’s premier marine research conference, bringing together over 700 scientists, educators, resource managers, students, and interested public to discuss the latest marine research being conducted in Alaskan waters. Each day of the conference highlights important Alaskan marine ecosystems, including the Gulf of Alaska session on January 23 that featured many Gulf Watch Alaska talks. The Alaska Marine Science Symposium uniquely convenes all presentations during one combined plenary session (as opposed to split sessions) to maximize the sharing of information with the entire audience.

Researchers from the Gulf Watch Alaska program were authors of five oral presentations and 17 posters featured in two different sessions. Presentations covered climate and oceanography, ecosystem perspectives, lower trophic levels, and new discoveries about the biology of plankton, infauna, fish, birds, and mammals. Highlighted were reviews by Gulf Watch Alaska researchers about the impacts of the recent 3-year North Pacific ocean “heat wave,” 25 years of Exxon Valdez oil spill experience, newly discovered ecosystem connections, human/resource connections, and many other subjects of direct relevance to response and restoration in Prince William Sound and the Gulf of Alaska.

Gulf Watch Alaska was featured in 17 posters at the Alaska Marine Science Symposium poster sessions on January 22 and 23 (photo credit: NOAA).

The following talks were presented by Gulf Watch Alaska researchers. A list of  all the Gulf Watch Alaska presentations and posters can be found here.

• • A profiling observatory for high resolution oceanographic, biogeochemical, and plankton observations in Prince William Sound. Robert Campbell, Prince William Sound Science Center.
  • Ecosystem variability in lower Cook Inlet across trophic levels, space, seasons, and climate regimes, Martin Renner, Tern Again Consulting.
  • Detecting and inferring cause of change in Alaska nearshore marine ecosystem: An approach using sea otters as a component of the nearshore benthic food web. James Bodkin, U.S. Geological Survey.
  • Changes in forage fish during the winter 2015-16 seabird die-off and the North Pacific marine heat wave. Mayumi Arimitsu, U.S. Geological Survey.
  • Unprecedented scale of seabird mortality in the NE Pacific during the 2015-2016 marine heatwave. William Sydeman (on behalf of John Piatt), U.S. Geological Survey.

Throughout the symposium, the Gulf Watch Alaska program also engaged in separate discussions with Alaskan colleagues on current and planned research and monitoring activities. Additionally, a program-wide meeting was held on January 23 as an opportunity to coordinate on program activities, share research updates, and plan annual activities.  

The Gulf Watch Alaska program convenes in a special one-hour session at the Alaska Marine Science Symposium to coordinate on program activities and share recent research and monitoring updates (Photo credit: Stacey Buckelew).

Beginning this spring, the Program Management team has been publishing quarterly newsletters that are shared with the EVOS Trustee Council.  We are pleased to announce that these newsletters are now also available to the public on our website. Click the Quarterly Currents Newsletter to read more about the latest program activities and findings of the the Gulf Watch Alaska program. We will be creating original content each quarter to give inside access to what we have been doing, researching, and finding. Stay tuned!

This past week researchers, program managers, and Science Review Panel members from the Gulf Watch Alaska and Herring Research and Monitoring Program convened in Cordova, Alaska for the annual program meetings. Key findings from the Year 6 research and monitoring efforts were shared, with a focus towards ecosystem-level synthesis of scientific results. Time was also spent planning and coordinating the upcoming Year 7 activities. An evening presentation to community members was given by Robb Kaler (USFWS) about how The Blob and El Nino may be related to the mass seabird mortalities observed in the Gulf of Alaska during 2016.

Invited presentations were given by Sam McClatchie, NOAA Southwest Fisheries
Science Center, who related the benefits and lessons-learned of the California Cooperative Oceanic Fisheries Investigations (CalCOFI), which was established in 1949, to Gulf Watch Alaska long-term monitoring. Stephani Zador of the NOAA Alaska Fisheries Science Center also discussed the application of data, ecosystem, assessments, and report cards to decision-making in the Gulf of Alaska Marine Ecosystem region. Finally, researchers had a viewing of David Rosenthal’s Katmai exhibit of paintings based on his Artist-in-Residence at Katmai National Park working with the Gulf Watch Alaska nearshore team. The exhibit also featured information about the scientific work being done by the researchers. A debt of gratitude is owed to the Prince William Sound Science Center and the Cordova Community Center for extending such a fine welcome!