Vol. 29, No. 8
August 2009
Photo by Kurt Byers.
Alaska Sea Grant welcomes David Christie as new director. Christie joined UAF in 2006 as a professor of marine science and director of the UAF/NOAA West Coast and Polar Regions Undersea Research Center, after 18 years at Oregon State University. During the past year he served as associate director of Alaska Sea Grant. He is director of the Kasitsna Bay Laboratory near Seldovia, and is a board member of the Western Association of Marine Laboratories.
"For me, the opportunity to put science to work in ways that directly benefit coastal Alaskans is a great new challenge," says Christie. "I’m looking forward to continuing the excellent work that Sea Grant does for the state of Alaska."
Christie is a marine geologist whose research focuses on tectonic forces and volcanic processes in the deep ocean. He received his doctorate from the University of Hawaii in geology and geophysics.
Paula Cullenberg was appointed to a new committee organized by the North Pacific Fishery Management Council, to help the council do a better job interacting with Alaska Native and rural communities. The Rural Community Outreach Committee's role is to suggest how to more effectively get the input the council needs both on a regular basis and in response to issues. Cullenberg is Alaska Sea Grant associate director, and Marine Advisory leader and coastal community development specialist.
Alaska shellfish farmers can now access water temperatures online and help prevent human illness caused by Vibrio parahaemolyticus thanks to Marine Advisory aquaculture specialist Ray RaLonde, who recently completed the setup of five temperature monitoring stations. The remote sensors were installed at Port Chester, Annette Island; Ketchikan Harbor; Craig, Prince of Wales Island; Sitka Sound; and Halibut Cove, Kachemak Bay.
The probes are located six feet under the surface, and water temperatures are measured every four hours and downloaded once per day. The Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation monitors the temperature data and will send an additional warning to farmers when Vibrio parahaemolyticus risk is higher, usually when the water temperature reaches 15ºC.
USDA Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service (CSREES) provided funding for installation. Volunteer support for deployment and maintenance of the loggers is provided by Annette Island Department of Natural Resources, MAP Ketchikan office, Sitka Sound Science Center, and Kachemak Shellfish Mariculture Association. For more information contact RaLonde at 907-274-9697 or afrlr@uaa.alaska.edu.
President Obama has honored NOAA's Dana Hanselman, an Alaska fisheries scientist, with a Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers. The award is the highest honor bestowed by the U.S. government on outstanding scientists and engineers in the early stages of their careers. Hanselman will travel to the White House in fall 2009 to receive his award, along with two other young scientists.
Alaska Sea Grant funded Hanselman when he was a UAF master's student in the late 1990s. He went on to earn his Ph.D. from UAF in 2004, under professor Terry Quinn at the SFOS Juneau Center. Supported as a National Sea Grant/NOAA fellow in population dynamics, Hanselman worked with Quinn and NOAA's Lew Haldorson on his dissertation project on Pacific ocean perch. He has published several research papers and is considered one of the top marine fisheries stock assessment experts in the nation.
This underwater glider changes depth by altering its buoyancy, and sends data
via satellite. Photo by Torie Baker.
Over a two-week period ending August 3, the Alaska Ocean Observing System conducted high-tech, high-speed field experiments in Prince William Sound, to collect data and evaluate models that predict wind, waves, ocean circulation, and oil spill trajectories. More than 20 scientists, students, and crew on three vessels traveled hundreds of miles throughout the sound to deploy 50 buoys and launch underwater gliders and autonomous vehicles that collect data. In addition, more than 50 land-based researchers and staff received data and conducted logistics and communications. Nationwide, numerous researchers and technicians stood by to access the data. Fifteen agency and university partners were involved in the experiment, called Sound Predictions 2009.
Data were uploaded and added to the Internet daily for immediate use by modelers nationwide, thanks to the efforts of Rob Cermak and others at UAF SFOS. MAP faculty Torie Baker and Marilyn Sigman and videographer Deborah Mercy were part of the experiment’s outreach effort. Molly McCammon, AOOS executive director and member of the Alaska Sea Grant Advisory Committee, led the outreach team.
"The need for accurate predictions is underscored by 2009 being the 20th anniversary of the Exxon Valdez oil spill in the sound," said McCammon.
Baker handled outreach activities that included collaborating on a daily public blog from researchers on board the vessels and distributing project information to locals. Public receptions in Cordova and Valdez drew more than 80 people who met scientists and learned about the gear. Baker also joined researchers and staff for a radio call-in program on the Valdez public station. Sigman is working on an educational podcast for incorporation into a K-12 curriculum that she is developing.
AOOS has been deploying data collectors and building models for nearly ten years, and will use the data from Sound Predictions 2009 strengthen the models, in part by comparing the 2009 results to those of 2004 and 2007. The mission of AOOS, one of 11 NOAA Integrated Ocean Observing Systems, is to improve the ability to observe and forecast ocean changes.
The International Polar Year lecture series in Nome concluded in May with a talk by UAF scientist Hajo Eicken—"What does sea ice tell us about things to come?" Over a two year period, the series of 17 lectures reached more than 1,350 people. Heidi Herter facilitated the talks, a joint effort of the Alaska Sea Grant Marine Advisory Program and UAF Northwest campus. Local residents attended talks on the effects of climate change on fisheries, storm systems and coastal erosion, preservation of Native languages and art, and other topics. Lectures were transmitted to rural communities and schools in northwestern Alaska by the Bering Strait School District. For a lecture archive see http://www.nwc.uaf.edu/index.php?option=com_content&task=section&id=14&Itemid=56.