Bering Sea Ecosystem Study (BEST)-Bering Sea Integrated Ecosystem Research Program (BSIERP)
March 31 - May 12, 2009 | USCGC Healy, Bering Sea
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Archive Available! Live from IPY event from 6 May 2009 with Simone and many researchers aboard the USCGC Healy in the Bering Sea.
Simone Welch can't imagine living life without science. Growing up with a father who was a coral reef ecologist, she has traveled to many islands and coasts while he conducted his research. After graduating from George Washington University with a bachelor's degree in journalism, Ms. Welch worked in journalism for National Public Radio and National Geographic. After returning to school for a master's degree in education, Ms. Welch taught for the Peace Corps in West Africa before becoming an elementary school science teacher at Oyster Bilingual Elementary in Washington, D.C. She hopes that her students leave her classroom each day with science not only in their heads but on their clothes and hands too! Ms. Welch is an amateur photographer, and her other personal interests include snowboarding, rock climbing, yoga, and most of all, traveling. She hopes to someday become a limnologist, but to never stop teaching.
Carin Ashjian is the chief scientist on the second of two scientific cruises onboard the USCGC Healy in the Bering Sea this summer. Dr. Ashjian is an associate scientist in the Department of Biology at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. Her research focuses on a variety of problems in biological oceanography and zooplankton ecology, with special interest in the ecology of zooplankton in polar regions, since these ecosystems may be significantly impacted by climate change. Since the early 1980's, Dr. Ashjian has participated in over 35 research cruises. She received her Ph.D. in 1991 from the University of Rhode Island. To learn more about Dr. Ashjian's scientific interests, please visit her Woods Hole biography page.
A diverse research team aboard the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter (USCGC) Healy will conduct sampling along a series of transects over the eastern Bering Sea. Research on the ship is multidisciplinary, with scientists using a variety of techniques to document ocean conditions and the productivity of the Bering Sea ecosystem. Research teams measure the temperature, salinity, and nutrient content of the sea water, changes in sea ice cover, and the concentration of nutrients used and released by phytoplankton. They also conduct surveys of zooplankton, fish, seabirds, and marine mammals such as walrus and seal to assess the health of these populations. A major focus of this cruise is characterizing the phytoplankton bloom associated with the edge of the melting sea ice.
These measurements will give scientists an indication of the current status of the Bering Sea ecosystem and any changes that might affect the use of its resources, and the economic, social, and cultural sustainability of the people who depend on it. This is the second 2009 cruise in support of the Bering Sea Ecosystem Study (BEST) and the Bering Sea Integrated Ecosystem Research Program (BSIERP).
The team will be travelling on the USCGC Healy in the Bering Sea. The Bering Sea lies to the west of Alaska and to the east of Russia. The team will depart from and return to the port of Dutch Harbor, Alaska, the most productive fishing port in the United States.
