Mary Pete, recently appointed to the U.S. Arctic Research Commission to represent indigenous perspectives and to focus on anthropology, subsistence, and education; testified at a Senate field hearing on the implications for federal resources and local communities of a changing Arctic in Barrow on August 29, 2010.  MORE >>

Local residents and biologists were startled by the sighting of a polar bear near the village of Emmonak at the mouth of the Yukon River. There have been other sightings of polar bears on the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta this summer compared to only a few that have been seen this far south every three to five years  MORE >>

In its recent ocean news update, SeaWeb summarized several articles from the June 18, 2010, issue of Science related to the effects of ocean warming. Absorption of carbon dioxide and heat - the scale and pace of change in chemical and physical conditions have set in motion a wide range of biological responses, including: **Changes in the distribution, abundance, and productivity of phytoplankton communities **Acidification and stratification of the ocean **Decrease in annual productivity by at least six percent since the early 1980s with nearly 70 percent of this decline occurring in the polar and subpolar regions **Rising temperatures in polar regions are reducing ice thickness and extent, removing habitat for species from polar bears to penguins and fundamentally altering marine ecosystems. **Warming waters are prompting a poleward shift in the distribution of a number of species, resulting in an increase in the number of invasive or exotic species, including pathogens. (Hoegh-Guldberg and Bruno) **Ocean pH is lower now than it has been in 20 million years. (Kerr) **The rate of ocean pH is unprecedented, a factor of 30 to 100 times faster than changes in the recent geological past, and perturbations will last many centuries to millennia. (Doney) **Some marine species may benefit from higher CO2 levels such as phytoplankton, seagrass, and seaweed species that increase their rate of photosynthesis. (Doney)  MORE >>

The evidence of climate change presented for Alaska's seas at the 2010 AMSS included effects of both warmer years than on average and colder years than on average as well as evidence that different areas and species will respond differently to climate change.  MORE >>

NOAA scientist Sue Moore reported at the 2010 Alaska Marine Science Symposium on a study that related the changes in Arctic sea ice extent with the movements and habitats of polar bears, walruses, and gray whales in the Pacific side of the Arctic region.  MORE >>

A suite of studies presented at the 2010 Alaska Marine Science Symposium focused on humpback whales as a potential culprit restricting the recovery of herring stocks in Prince William Sound  MORE >>

A research team at the NOAA NMFS Auke Bay Lab explored the physiological effects of acidification on marine fishes with an experiment to determine the effects of lowered pH on survival and growth of Pacific herring embryos.  MORE >>

University of Toronto graduate student Phoebe Chan won an award at the Alaska Marine Science Symposium for one of the best student presentations for the story told to her by the growth rings laid down by coralline red algae.  MORE >>

A new study has yielded surprising findings about how the shells of marine organisms might stand up to an increasingly acidic ocean in the future. Under very high experimental CO2 conditions, the shells of clams, oysters, and some snails and urchins partially dissolved. But other species seemed as if they would not be harmed, and crustaceans, such as lobsters, crabs, and prawns, appeared to increase their shell-building.  MORE >>

King salmon play an outsize role in villages along the Yukon River. Fishing provides meaningful income, feeds families throughout the year, and keeps alive long-held traditions of Yup’ik Eskimos and Athabascan Indians. However this year, a total ban on commercial fishing for king salmon on the river in Alaska has strained poor communities and stripped the prized Yukon fish off menus in the lower 48 states  MORE >>

Scientists carrying out studies of wildlife in the Arctic say global warming is causing dramatic changes in animal and plant life, threatening some species with extinction. The report is a compilation of studies of Arctic ecosystems by an international team of scientists who have been collaborating during the fourth International Polar Year, which ended in 2008  MORE >>