New Project Website Available
The Bering Sea Project
Bering Ecosystem Study and
Bering Sea Integrated Ecosystem Research Program
To visit the website, please go to:
http://bsierp.nprb.org
For further information, please contact:
Tom Van Pelt
Email: tvanpelt [at] nprb.org
The Bering Sea Project, jointly funded by the National Science
Foundation (NSF) and the North Pacific Research Board (NPRB), is a
multidisciplinary, $52-million study of the impacts of climate change on
the eastern Bering Sea ecosystem. This project brings together the NSF's
Bering Ecosystem Study (BEST) and the NPRB's Bering Sea Integrated
Ecosystem Research Program (BSIERP) to form a collaborative effort to
improve understanding of how the Bering Sea may respond to
climate change, especially in light of changing seasonal sea ice.
The project website, now available at: http://bsierp.nprb.org, allows
visitors to follow along as nearly one-hundred scientists from federal,
state, university, and private institutions study sea ice, track walrus,
sample fish, study seabirds, currents, the seafloor, and much more - all
in pursuit of improving understanding of the Bering Sea structure and
function, from atmospheric forcing and physical oceanography, to fish,
people, and communities.
Currently featured stories include:
- Logbook entries from the chief scientist of a research cruise
currently underway aboard the US Coast Guard icebreaker Healy:
http://bsierp.nprb.org/fieldwork/2009/healy_0902_log.html,
- Logbook stories from the just-completed Healy cruise in the polynya
south of St. Lawrence Island (northern Bering Sea), also available in
Google Earth kmz format:
http://bsierp.nprb.org/fieldwork/2009/healy_0901_log.html,
- NOAA research on winter sea temperature and salinity, carried out in
cooperation with a commercial fishing vessel:
http://bsierp.nprb.org/fieldwork/2008/winter-ocean.html, and
- A collection of recent media stories stemming from Bering Sea Project
research: http://bsierp.nprb.org/index.htm
To visit the website, please go to: http://bsierp.nprb.org.
Questions about the Bering Sea Project may be directed to the program
manager, Tom Van Pelt (tvanpelt [at] nprb.org).