Page 28 - ARUBA TODAY

A28 SCIENCE
Tuesday 16 april 2019
Pace of Bering Sea changes startles scientists

By DAN JOLING this whole Pandora’s box
Associated Press of not really knowing how
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) the ecosystem as a whole
— The Yupik Eskimo village is going to adjust to that,”
of Kotlik on Alaska’s north- Danielson said.
west coast relies on a cold, The U.S. Fish and Wildlife
hard blanket of sea ice to Service and the National
protect homes from vicious Park Service early last sum-
winter Bering Sea storms. mer detected trouble. Resi-
Frigid north winds blow dent called with reports of
down from the Arctic emaciated and dead sea-
Ocean, freeze saltwater birds.
and push sea ice south. Common murres, which
The ice normally prevents can use up fat reserves
waves from forming and and starve after three days
locks onto beaches, wall- without eating, fly hundreds
ing off villages. But not this miles to find fish schools
year. or krill but were washing
In February, southwest up dead on shore. Fork-
winds brought warm air tail storm petrels, fulmars,
and turned thin sea ice shearwaters, kittiwakes,
into “snow cone ice” that auklets and puffins also
melted or blew off. When died.
a storm pounded Norton No one can say why. Sea-
Sound, water on Feb. 12 bird experts wonder wheth-
surged up the Yukon River er the presence of more
and into Kotlik, flooding In this Feb. 12, 2019 photo provided by Philomena Keys, high water pushed up the Yukon River pollock and Pacific cod,
low-lying homes. from the Bering Sea floods yards around homes in the western village of Kotlik, Alaska. which have voracious ap-
Lifelong resident Philom- Associated Press petites and are far more ef-
ena Keyes, 37, awoke to at the University of Alaska torically has concentrated stock is declining, is suffer- ficient hunters of forage fish
knee-deep water outside Fairbanks. Pacific cod and walleye ing because of the warm- than seabirds, was a factor.
her house. “The projections were say- pollock in the southeastern ing temperatures? Or is it Dean Stockwell, a research
“This is the first I experi- ing we would’ve hit situa- Bering Sea. that they’ve moved north associate professor at the
enced in my life, a flood tions similar to what we saw “It tends to extend from the and it’s still a vibrant fish- University of Alaska Fair-
that happened in the win- last year, but not for anoth- Russian side to the north- ery?” See said. banks with a specialty in
ter, in February,” Keyes said er 40 or 50 years,” Daniel- west,” said Lyle Britt, a fisher- It’s too soon to conclude phytoplankton, said the
in a phone interview. son said. ies biologist for the National that atmosphere and ocean changes have the
Winter storm surge flood- Walruses and seals use sea Oceanic and Atmospheric ocean changes are due potential to affect plant life
ing is the latest indication ice to rest and give birth. Administration. “It kind of simply to climate change, at the bottom of the food
that something’s off-kilter Villagers use sea ice to hunt comes down almost like a said NOAA physical ocean- web but it’s too soon to
around the Bering Strait, them. Sea ice is the prima- little hockey stick shape ... ographer Phyllis Stabeno, know.
the gateway from the Pa- ry habitat of polar bears. through the center of the who has studied the Bering Of immediate concern is
cific Ocean to the Arctic Algae that clings to the southeast Bering Sea.” Sea for more than 30 years. whether warmer water will
Ocean. Rapid, profound bottom of sea ice blooms However, when Britt and The southern Bering Sea allow harmful algae con-
changes tied to high at- in spring, dies and sinks, other NOAA researchers since 2000 has undergone taining toxins to stay viable
mospheric temperatures, sending an infusion of food last year conducted annu- multi-year stanzas of low long enough for shellfish to
a direct result of climate to clams, snails and sea al fish and ocean condition and extensive ice, she said. eat them and pass toxins
change, may be reorder- worms on the ocean floor surveys, they got a big sur- When sea ice in November to marine mammals and
ing the region’s physical — the prey of gray whales, prise: For the first time in 37 began forming as usual, people. Toxins are being
makeup. Ocean research- walruses and bearded years, they found no cold she expected a bounce- carried to the Arctic, Stock-
ers are asking themselves seals. pool. back this winter. Instead, well said.
if they’re witnessing the Sea ice also affects com- Researchers found high warm winds in February No one has connected the
transformation of an eco- mercially valuable fish. Sea concentrations of Pacific mostly cleared the north- dots, said Britt, the NOAA
system. ice historically has created cod and walleye pollock ern Bering Sea of sea ice fisheries biologist.
The Bering Sea last winter a Bering Sea “cold pool,” in the northern Bering Sea. through the Bering Strait “At the moment, nobody’s
saw record-low sea ice. an east-west barrier of ex- But the species that was into the Chukchi Sea. sitting with in-hand a com-
Climate models predicted tremely cold, salty water supposed to be there, Arc- “We’re in winter,” she said. prehensive research study
less ice, but not this soon, at the bottom of the wide, tic cod, was hardly found. “This is all supposed to be that covers the birds and
said Seth Danielson, a shallow continental shelf. More than half the fish frozen.” the mammals and the fish
physical oceanographer The wall of cold water his- landed in U.S. waters come Formation of the cold pool and the zooplankton all in
from the North Pacific, and is again in doubt. It could one synthesized report,” he
most are caught in the Ber- return in the future, but said, adding that it will take
ing Sea. temperatures are trending researchers more time to
Chad See, executive direc- upward with the rate of figure out what’s going on.
tor of the Freezer Longline greenhouse gases entering Meantime, Kotlik resident
Coalition, a trade associa- the atmosphere. Keyes is researching cli-
tion of vessels that target Scientists say figuring out mate change effects in
Pacific cod using baited the ocean physics is far less her coastal village of 650
lines, said members caught of a challenge than pro- as project coordinator for
their quota last year but jecting the biological rami- a team working under a
had to travel farther north. fications. Bureau of Indian Affairs
“Does that mean that the “We sort of opened up program.q