Vanishing Bering Sea ice threatens one of the richest U.S. seafood sources
https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2019/05/vanishing-bering-sea-ice-threatens-one-richest-us-seafood-sources
Source: By Warren Cornwall, Science Magazine.
Excerpt: When ice failed to cover much of the eastern Bering Sea between Alaska and Russia in early 2018, oceanographer James Overland chalked it up to a freak chance. Then, it happened again this year, with late-winter sea ice falling to some of the lowest levels seen in at least 4 decades. Now, scientists are studying whether this is the meteorological equivalent of drawing the ace of spades twice in a row, or another sign of the systemic changes sweeping the Arctic as a result of climate change. "I'm not ruling out that we really have a new regime over the Bering Sea," says Overland, who works at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA's) Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory (PMEL) in Seattle, Washington. A lasting shift could dramatically transform a region with some of the nation's most valuable fisheries and indigenous communities whose way of life relies on ice. Already scientists have documented changes in algae as well as zooplankton, fish, and seabird populations. The shifts are "a bit of a warning sign that these things can happen rather quickly," says Robert Foy, the Juneau-based science and research director for NOAA's Alaska Fisheries Science Center, which is headquartered in Seattle.... See also 2019-05-17 - Q&A: On a Bering Sea island, disappearing ice threatens a way of life. By Warren Cornwall, Science Magazine. [https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2019/05/qa-bering-sea-island-disappearing-ice-threatens-way-life]
Source: By Warren Cornwall, Science Magazine.
Excerpt: When ice failed to cover much of the eastern Bering Sea between Alaska and Russia in early 2018, oceanographer James Overland chalked it up to a freak chance. Then, it happened again this year, with late-winter sea ice falling to some of the lowest levels seen in at least 4 decades. Now, scientists are studying whether this is the meteorological equivalent of drawing the ace of spades twice in a row, or another sign of the systemic changes sweeping the Arctic as a result of climate change. "I'm not ruling out that we really have a new regime over the Bering Sea," says Overland, who works at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA's) Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory (PMEL) in Seattle, Washington. A lasting shift could dramatically transform a region with some of the nation's most valuable fisheries and indigenous communities whose way of life relies on ice. Already scientists have documented changes in algae as well as zooplankton, fish, and seabird populations. The shifts are "a bit of a warning sign that these things can happen rather quickly," says Robert Foy, the Juneau-based science and research director for NOAA's Alaska Fisheries Science Center, which is headquartered in Seattle.... See also 2019-05-17 - Q&A: On a Bering Sea island, disappearing ice threatens a way of life. By Warren Cornwall, Science Magazine. [https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2019/05/qa-bering-sea-island-disappearing-ice-threatens-way-life]