The Arctic climate, Arctic habitats, the lives of many Eskimos, and much of the geographic Arctic is defined by sea ice. This critical component is changing rapidly. In lieu of conversations with bowhead whales, here we ask scientists and Eskimos to tell us what they know about sea ice.
(If you have a slow internet connection, make sure HD is turned off, in the upper right hand corner of the video clip.)
Dr. Matthew Sturm
Research Physical Scientist
Dr. Sturm is responsible for conducting wide-ranging geophysical studies on snow in high latitudes. His work has taken him from the Antarctic to the Arctic, and he has been the leader of more than 30 expeditions in winter in pursuit of his science. He is based at the Alaska Office in Fairbanks, but collaborates with a wide range of scientists both at CRREL and elsewhere. His most recent work focuses on the role of snow cover on climate, with particular attention to snow ecology, and climate change resulting from snow-vegetation interactions.
Matthew Sturm, ice and snow expert from Fairbanks, Alaska, talks about his long scientific trips across the Arctic on snowmachines.
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Dr Don Perovich
Research Geophysicist
Dr Don Perovich is a Research Geophysicist at the Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory in Hanover NH and is an Adjunct Professor in the Thayer School of Engineering, Dartmouth College. His primary research interest is understanding the role of sea ice in the global climate system, with an emphasis on the heat budget of sea ice and the ice albedo feedback. He has participated in numerous Arctic field experiments including serving as the Chief Scientist of field campaigns studying the electromagnetic properties of sea ice (EMPOSI) and the surface heat budget of the Arctic (SHEBA).
"Imagine what it would be like to walk on a frozen ocean, a vast beautiful wasteland..." Don talks of tipping points, "ice albedo feedback," and the roll of clouds in the loss of sea ice.
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Dr. Steven Amstrup
Research Wildlife Biologist
Dr. Steven Amstrup talks about polar bears & the retreating ice due to climate change. Dr. Amstrup is a Research Wildlife Biologist with the United States Geological Survey at the Alaska Science Center, Anchorage, AK. He led the international team of researchers which prepared 9 reports that became the basis for the recent decision, by the Secretary of Interior, to list polar bears as a threatened species.
Alaska's foremost polar bear expert talks about the effect of the retreating ice on bears
Research Wildlife Biologist, Alaska Science Center, USGS, Anchorage, Alaska. Dr. Amstrup talks about Polar Bear science and managing bears as the pole warms up and the ice retreats.
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Eugene Brower
Inupiaq Elder & Whaling Captain
Inupiaq Eskimo elder and whaling captain Eugene Brower knows the ice in the Chukchi Sea off Barrow, Alaska, through many thousands of hours hunting the bowhead whale. Out there, he has seen some amazing things.
As a young boy Iñupiaq Eskimo elder Eugene Brower from Barrow, Alaska, moved up the ranks to Harpooner and finally to whaling captain. On a Sunday in March 2009, he took some time out to talk about whaling
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Geoff Carroll
Areas Wildlife Biologist, Alaska's Department of Fish & Game
Geoff Carroll, Area Wildlife Biologist for Alaska's Department of Fish and Game, talks about his love of the Arctic, and especially the sea ice, and about his passion for sled dogs. In 1986, he accompanied Will Steger on a National Geographic sponsored 56-day dog sled expedition to the North Pole. One of these clips shows Geoff out on the ice his Greenland dogs.
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Here are some interesting Arctic ice links, still images and webcams:
(1) Ice radar at Barrow:
At the bottom of this page are links to animations showing interesting ice
deformation events (the top of the page has the current and last day's data)
http://www.gi.alaska.edu/snowice/sea-lake-ice/barrow_radar.html
Animations for all the years of Barrow and Wales/Bering Strait data are at:
http://www.gi.alaska.edu/snowice/sea-lake-ice/Data/Barrow_Wales_data.html
(2) Web cams at Barrow and Wales:
At the bottom of these pages are movies of the ice year (1 image per day) for
the years for which we have observations, these are very nice to look at and
give a good idea of the ice year.
http://www.gi.alaska.edu/snowice/sea-lake-ice/barrow_webcam.html
http://www.gi.alaska.edu/snowice/sea-lake-ice/wales_webcam.html
