Update

Now Archived! In case you missed it, the live presentation from Piper and researcher Lee Cooper from the USCGC Healy in the Chukchi Sea on Tuesday, 20 August 2019 is now online. You can view it here

What Are They Doing?

A CTD (conductivity, temperature, and depth) instrument comes up from the depths of the Chukchi Sea. Aboard the USCGC Healy.
A CTD (conductivity, temperature, and depth) instrument comes up from the depths of the Chukchi Sea. Aboard the USCGC Healy.
This is an observational research program evaluating changes in the Pacific Arctic ecosystem in response to sea ice declines and other climate related processes. The approach is to undertake repeat sampling of specific locations that are biologically diverse or rich in production to detect change, and also to use the capabilities aboard the USCGC Healy to undertake process oriented experiments that address specific issues such as ocean acidification, changes in biological productivity and other areas of sampling that can be addressed by shipboard sampling and experimentation.

Where Are They?

An aerial view of the USCGC Healy in the Chukchi Sea.
An aerial view of the USCGC Healy in the Chukchi Sea.
They will be ship-based aboard the USCGC Healy in the northern Bering and Chukchi Seas.

Latest Journals

Today was bittersweet as we packed up the labs downstairs, freshwater washed our mustang suits, and did our final loads of laundry. We have continuously steamed toward Nome since 1am this morning without stopping. Although my time on the Healy is coming to a close, I have had an amazing experience…
Read Journal 1
Today was our final day of sampling until we head back south to Nome. We are in Ledyards Bay collecting CTD and water data, bongo net tows, and van Veen grab contents. The rest of our time has been packing up the lab and looking for marine mammals on the bridge. The lab looks so empty now and it is…
Read Journal 1
The small research team from the Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC) have been recovering and deploying moorings in several places along our route north of the Bering Strait. One type of mooring that they have been recovering are sediment traps. Jonaotaro Onodera is the…
Read Journal 0
Still north of Barrow, we are deploying CTDs, bongo nets, and van Veen grabs when we have time between mooring operations, which I will get to later this week. Also, a reminder to sign up for the live webinar from the Healy on Tuesday, August 20th at 5pm EST here. Now to the science! Microplastics…
Read Journal 1
Project Information
Dates
-
Location
Ship-based, northern Bering and Chukchi Seas
Project Funded Title
The Distributed Biological Observatory (DBO)-Northern Chukchi Integrated Study (NCIS): Hydrography, Sediment, and Macrofaunal Population Dynamics

Journal Map

Journals
Meet the Team
Piper Bartlett-Browne - Educator
Educator
St. Thomas Aquinas High School

Piper Bartlett-Browne is a high school science teacher at St. Thomas Aquinas High School in Dover, NH. In addition to her teaching, she also serves on the Teacher Advisory Council at the New England Aquarium and runs a science internship program for high school students in collaboration with the University of New Hampshire. Piper has also personally participated in research through the RETE Program where she worked on The Living Bridge Project looking at the effects of pollutants and potential environmental impacts on local watersheds.

Piper’s teaching philosophy is to encourage students to engage in hands-on activities that generate data to investigate the application of academic concepts to real-world scenarios. She seeks to connect her students directly with the scientific community in order to foster enthusiasm and awareness, thus encouraging them to see themselves as genuine contributors to science.

Piper has a passion for the outdoors and living in New Hampshire gives her the opportunity to hike and ski. She enjoys traveling and exploring the underwater world through scuba. Piper is excited for this opportunity and to bring her experience back to her students.

Lee Cooper - Researcher
Researcher
University of Maryland

Lee Cooper is a research scientist with the State University System of Maryland, and has been working in the Arctic for approximately 30 years on interdisciplinary research problems. He is interested in high latitude oceanography, but has also worked on land, and in freshwater systems. His research specialty is biogeochemistry and he presently studies biological changes in the northern Bering Sea. He is committed to public service in support of improving arctic research through service on committees, organizing workshops, and teaching and public outreach responsibilities through the University of Maryland. Read more about Lee Cooper here [http://arctic.cbl.umces.edu]

Northern Chukchi Integrated Study Resources

Don't Clam Up - The Effects of Warming Seas on Respiration and Biomass

Overview

This lesson plan is designed to teach students about the importance of the benthic community in the shallow portions of the Arctic and how climate change may affect their respiration. One of the dominant benthic animals in the Arctic, the bivalve Macoma sp., is an important food source for higher trophic level organisms such as walrus and Spectacled Eiders

Resource Details
Lesson
Arctic
About a week
High school and Up
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What's On the Bottom?

Overview

This lesson plan is designed to teach students about benthic biodiversity in the Arctic by analyzing data from the Distributed Biological Observatory (DBO). Although you can’t see them from the surface, the organisms found on the ocean floor are important indicators of ecosystem health and provide information about productivity. Students will explore sites throughout the Bering and Chukchi Seas

Resource Details
Lesson
Arctic
About a week
High school and Up
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STEM Experience Report - Piper Bartlett-Browne

The PolarTREC Field Experience

PolarTREC (Teachers and Researchers Exploring and Collaborating) is a professional development program that pairs K-12 teachers in the United States with polar researchers. Teachers engage in field research and develop long-term relationships with scientists in order to better understand the scientific process and implement the skills and knowledge they have gained into the classroom. The goal

Resource Details
Report
Arctic
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STA Teacher Uses Summer Break to Research in the Arctic

Article from a local Dover, New Hampshire news outlet about Piper Bartlett-Browne's expedition aboard the USCGC Healy for the Northern Chukchi Integrated Study expedition.

Resource Details
Article
Arctic
All Aged
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PolarConnect Event with Piper Bartlett-Browne

Watch the archive of a live event with PolarTREC educator Piper Bartlett-Browne and the team working on the Northern Chukchi Integrated Study. Piper was joined by Dr. Lee Cooper and other teammates aboard the USCGC Healy for this event.

Resource Details
Event
Arctic
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