NOAA's Arctic Research Initiative Proceedings of a Workshop (1997) / Chapter Skim
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2 PRESENTATIONS AND DISCUSSIONS
2 PRESENTATIONS AND DISCUSSIONS
Pages 13-124
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From page 13... ...
Presentations and Discussions ORIENTATION TO WORKSHOP GOALS Welcome Dave Clark, Polar Research Board On behalf of the Polar Research Board of the National Research Council, it is my pleasure to welcome you to this workshops concerned with NOAA's Arctic research initiative. The principal focus of this workshop is to develop a series of suggestions that the NOAA will find useful in guiding the next phase of the Arctic Research initiative.
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From page 14... ...
Arctic contaminants research meeting from Fairbanks last August. Jim Baker, NOAA's top administrator, will talk about "the big picture" and how the issue of contaminants and the Arctic Research initiative should fit into that larger context.
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From page 15... ...
So, he has a large hook, and will be ruthless in its application. Your meeting books contain a description of the Arctic Research Initiative, which you'll note focuses on the Bering Sea region and Western Alaska.
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From page 16... ...
Again, T am glad that you are all here, and ~ hope you have a productive meeting. PRESENTATIONS NOAA and Arctic Contaminants Research Alan Thomas with Eddie Bernard, Dave Hofmann ~ will be sharing my time with Eddie Bernard and Dave Hohnann, but let me just start by talking a little bit about the context; context is important because you always have to know the agency's mission.
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From page 17... ...
The Arctic Research initiative has been driven by a lot of activities. Gamy Brass and the Arctic Research Commission have been very interested in NOAA and our opportunities.
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From page 18... ...
Then just very quickly, the two really major areas were one, the Bering Sea green belt and processes in ecosystem production. That has been a focus of some interest to our Fisheries Service, interest to our research program and other parts of NOAA, and we were able to add, ~ think, value to some of the activities that are going on, as a part of our study of the variability in the Bering Sea and Western Arctic.
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The Bering Sea is very important for the Fisheries Service. We have done work on fisheries oceanography in that area, the donut hole problem on the international side.
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From page 20... ...
Eddie Bernard As Alan indicated, nine of the 15 proposals were associated with natural variability. The motivation for this is to understand the existing productivity of the Bering Sea.
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From page 21... ...
Now, although the green belt image T showed you earlier is a composite of many data, no one has actually gone and systematically surveyed this area until the first cruise in May, and so, let me just show you some preliminary results of that cruise. First of all, the first cruise went out and deployed some moorings and some drifters, and this was all money that was supplemental to the Coastal Ocean Program Southeast Bering Sea carrying capacity.
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From page 22... ...
One mode is in the Gulf of Alaska, and the other mode is in the Bering Sea. if you look at the time period between 1989 and 1996, versus the 1977 to 1980 time frame, it looks like over that period there have been some shifts in sea level pressure, and for the non-meteorologists in this area this represents a rising of the sea level pressure which would depress, would suppress the intensity of the Aleutian low, and then this would be Towering in this area the high pressure system.
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From page 29... ...
We have been doing research in the Arctic for a long time, and three of the programs that were funded under the Arctic Research Initiative involve Tong-term trends in arctic haze, measurements of W radiation in the Arctic, and we do actually have a program aimed at climate change in the Arctic. ~ am going to focus in on that one because it seems to be related to this issue which is one that is very well known and that is arctic haze.
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From page 30... ...
In February, when it is getting warmer the frequency of southwest wind is increasing, and the wind speeds are increasing slightly, while in November when it is getting colder the frequency of southwest winds is decreasing. So, at least initially it clearly looks like it is a transport phenomenon, a change in the general circulation.
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There is a document that we were provided called NOAA Backgrounder pertaining to the ART, and it is interesting that in this backgrounder some key performance measures were identified for the Arctic Research Initiative for year I, 2 and as the program moved forward. Can you comment on whether or not the year ~ performance measures were met or are in the progress of something being done for them?
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From page 41... ...
T wanted to get the PRB involved because ~ have a special place in my heart for the Polar Research Board. It was the first Academy committee ~ was ever on, and it was one of the places where T learned how one operates in an Academy committee.
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From page 42... ...
Finally there are two that T think are of special interest in relation to the Arctic and Arctic contaminants. One is the environmental monitoring initiative and the other is the endocrine disrupters.
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From page 43... ...
So, the idea on the national environmental monitoring initiative is to see if we can put in place a monitoring system which will allow us to monitor both the ecological and biological side of earth as well as we are doing with the physical and climate side. With that, we can start to get some real indicators about how things are changing.
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From page 44... ...
DR. BAKER: This meeting is one example and another is the Arctic Research Initiative in NOAA; both are examples of how to work the process.
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The whole point of looking at arctic contaminants as we have here in this workshop and then trying to broaden out an initiative is something T am very interested in trying to do. AMAP is a program that was discussed with me when ~ first came in as NOAA Administrator.
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From page 46... ...
There is very extensive petroleum development and production operation going on the North Slope of Alaska and we know that there is widespread occurrence of contaminants in nearly all aspects of the arctic ecosystem; more recently, we found some evidence of new generation pesticides widely distributed in the air, fog, seawater and the surface layer in the Bering Sea and Chukchi Seas. ~ would like to address three issues relative to contaminants in the Arctic and what we have done about it.
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From page 47... ...
But, if you Took at the concentration in marine mammals in Alaska it is quite appreciable, but the levels are not very high. The question sometimes arises when people are looking at the concentrations of contaminants in other parts of the Arctic and then not relating to how the contaminants really are comparable or not comparable to the Alaskan area.
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From page 48... ...
DR. HAMEEDI: When the Arctic Research Initiative was developed 2-~/2 years ago, Ed Myers and T worked together.
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From page 64... ...
The second one, high-resolution sea surface temperature analysis for the ice-free areas of the water in that region, and the hydrologic forecasts of the Joku~halups which is the sudden release and flood of water from glacier-dammed lakes during the summer melt season. Moving right along to activities related to contaminant issues, and this may be a little bit of a stretch for us, is transport of contaminants in water bodies, and thus there is an interest in the ocean sea circulation.
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From page 65... ...
So, mesoscale modeling is an important area. The primary role for the Weather Service, when T use the term "monitoring" here, ~ am talking about observations, atmospheric observations primarily; mesoscale mode!
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From page 66... ...
DR. OECHEL: ~ gather from your presentation that there is more handshaking between the Arctic Research initiative and your program than maybe some of the other programs; is that true?
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From page 70... ...
NMFS is also involved in efforts to recover protected species, which is dominated in the Arctic by marine mammals. NMFS is also working to maintain healthy living marine resource habitats.
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From page 71... ...
And yes, these levels do exceed the levels that we see effects in terrestrial mammals. The effects we will expect in marine mammals may be very different because physiologically they are different.
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From page 72... ...
We know that many of the contaminants that we see can affect immune function, and we are going to have to look at it cumulatively. A lot of times for marine mammals we are not allowed to do directed experiments but they can do some kinds of experiments in other countries.
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From page 73... ...
There are ozone data that are available that are archived for pretty close to 20 years. A database does exist, and whether or not it can be focused on a very specific region such as the Bering Sea is something that has to be looked at.
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From page 74... ...
You would have to go to the data center itself. PARTICIPANT: ~ have a connection to that National Snow and ice Data Center, and T will say that in their case they cannot answer your kind of question, but they are working with IRE on data rescue for the Arctic Ocean, the sea ice and the meteorological information that is gathered out of the polar drifting stations.
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From page 75... ...
So, this is a very critical area for fisheries in the United States. The main lesson is that we do not fully understand the fragility of the Southeast Bering Sea ecosystem, and the main issue is that pollock population levels fluctuate widely under natural variability and this is coincident with some declines that have been seen in the 1970s and 1980s in seabird and mammal populations, which are at the upper trophic levels of the food chain in that ecosystem.
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From page 76... ...
The green belt shows high productivity. The green belt covers the slope area of the whole Bering sea, but the key feature here in teems of our research in the Coastal Ocean Program is we found out that while pollock are spread all over the Bering Sea this is a focal point in terms of larval recruitment, high chlorophyll abundance and it is just a hot spot of activity for pollock.
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From page 77... ...
This one was of more interest because it was directly adjacent to the green belt, but there were eddies that were found offshore.
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From page 79... ...
In its present form, the southeast Bering Sea ecosystem has a dominant species: the pelagic, commercial fish walleye poHock. Because of its prevalence, poDock is a nodal species, con stitut~ng an integral part of the region's food chain as bow prey and predator.
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From page 81... ...
In order to direct field operations for her study of ocean color (funded! In FY97 for one year by COP's Southeastern Bering Sea Carrying Capacity program)
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From page 82... ...
This document is available through the What's New sections of PMEL. World Wide Web sites maintained by Southeast Bering Sea Carrying Capacity (htip://www.pmel.noaa.gov/sebscc/)
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From page 84... ...
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From page 86... ...
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From page 87... ...
Another major effort is the fact that the Arctic environmental protection strategy is now being melded into the Arctic Council, which has a broader mandate than the Arctic environmental protection strategy. There is an increased focus on sustainable development by whatever definition you wish to apply, and there is a greater emphasis on human health.
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From page 88... ...
Questions/Discussion: DR. COX: T am not sure whether or not this is an appropriate time to bring up the AMAP program but since we are talking about international efforts, ~ went through the executive summary of the AMAP program and was happy to see that they identified pollution threats or potential threats, gaps in understanding and recommendations for future work, but what T didn't see were what are the priorities.
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From page 89... ...
Second, it is not always your friends that take you out of it, and sometimes when things are going good, you ought to just shut up and enjoy it. ~ don't know whether NOAA feels that they were put in it with the Arctic Research Initiative or not.
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From page 90... ...
There are a number of programs we are talking about, including this one, that we can give many names to. The work in the Bering Sea is under the Arctic Research initiative of NOAA but related work is being done under TASC's BESTS program.
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From page 91... ...
The thing began with an agreement that the U.S. would participate in the ALPS and a response by Chuck's committee, the interagency Arctic Research and Policy Committee, which is 12 agencies in the Federal Government that have interest in the Arctic, called the Arctic Contaminant Research and Assessment Program, ACRAP.
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From page 92... ...
policy, we are going to get involved with the Arctic Council, and we are going to be looking at fishery issues or looking at international politics in the Bering Sea, then we have a whole bunch of other players who have to be at the table.
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From page 93... ...
The Cooperative institute for Arctic Research was formed in 1993 and therefore existed prior to the establishment of the Arctic Research initiative. The establishing MOU between MOAA and the University of Alaska has been in place for four years and many of its initial "askings are under way.
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From page 94... ...
There were two thematic areas identified by the workshop and carried through this process: natural variability and anthropogenic influences on the Bering Sea ecosystem. Within the anthropogenic influences theme, contaminants, arctic haze, and ozone issues were funded.
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From page 95... ...
A portion of that award will be used for an arctic contamination synthesis scoping workshop this fall. One of the principal purposes of that workshop will be to design future U.S./International research projects that will be presented at the next Arctic Environmental Protection Strategy meeting as a contribution to the next phase of the Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Program.
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From page 96... ...
There was a very interesting and productive effort funded by EPA Region 10 through the University of Alaska Anchorage Institute for Social and Economic Research that evaluated the Canadian research program published in 1996 that included summaries of environmental and human health impacts of contaminants in the Canadian arctic. r encourage this co~runittee to include those published results in their deliberations as they were very well presented.
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From page 97... ...
DR. COX: Just to follow up on what you were saying if my memory serves me correct, Patricia was designated the responsibility to get Alaskan Native input.
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From page 98... ...
interest in this at this point. Other Perspectives Gary Brass, Regarding collaborative work with the Japanese The Japanese Government has agreed in this fiscal year, and their fiscal year begins on the first of April, to begin a program called the Frontier Program in Global Change Prediction.
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From page 99... ...
What that means is the monies already committed to important programs aren't going to be pulled from those programs and committed to the center, and what T have been encouraging the Japanese about, all along, is to join these existing programs, for instance to join the Land, Atmosphere, Ice Interaction Program to get aboard SHEBA to work in the Bering Sea program to do the things that we are already doing. There is a perfect place for them to come in, learn, get their sea-legs, and find out how to do this process.
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From page 100... ...
The components of this section of the Plan are listed. The Plan includes: data and information management coupled with data rescue; observation; process research; model development; and risk assessment and risk management.
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From page 101... ...
Here is a department policy on how to deal with Alaskan Natives, and they didn't know that they were supposed to have these interchanges and try to get local information and incorporate this. This prospectus gives a number of suggestions on how that can be done.
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From page 102... ...
Consider the stakeholders, the people who live in the Arctic. Other Perspectives David Hofmann regarding the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement Program ~ didn't get a chance to mention that the Department of Energy has a research program called the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement Program.
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From page 103... ...
The other issue that has been raised quite a bit is what kinds of linkages are we going to create internationally with the Alaskan Native Science Commission, with the State of Alaska, etc., and there are all kinds of other issues like data integration and logistics that are extremely important. These are issues that we should address in each of our groups.
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From page 104... ...
in involvement in the Arctic environmental protection strategy and the negotiation that led to formation of the Arctic Council. There is a whole host of interrelating issues, many of them dealing with foreign policy because we are dealing with multiple nations, not just the eight Arctic countries but others as well.
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From page 105... ...
We also talked briefly about coordination: once we decide where NOAA fits in to that big picture we should talk about how NOAA is going to link to the other niches. PARTICIPANT: Our group thought that the coupling together of the anthropogenic influences of arctic haze, ozone, and UV flux with natural variability was a good one, and that it is in the right direction.
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From page 106... ...
But to have simultaneous measurements means that all of the Arctic countries have to agree, first of all to have these monitoring stations and second that they would be all willing to share this information in real time. The other point that ~ didn't mention is that these monitoring stations which are currently existing would be very good candidates for the rest of the plan, which is to modify these stations in such a way that the effects biologists could go there and actually do their measurements on site or away Mom the site.
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From page 107... ...
DR. BRASS: ~ want to make a quick cogent about natural variability.
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From page 108... ...
T gathered from a recent Polar Research Board meeting that the archeologists on the one hand and the paleoclimatologists on the other aren't talking to each other and that is too bad.
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From page 109... ...
, ~ ~ AM^r. van we say: "this is what AMAP Phase I} should look like." Our contribution to AMAP becomes this $l or $10 or however millions of dollars are being put into arctic haze, climate change, ozone contaminants all the way down the line.
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From page 110... ...
MR. MYERS: Yesterday ~ went through my AMAP notes and there is a lot of history that precedes AMAP and the Arctic Research initiative, but between Gamy Brass and Chuck Myers and some others today this history has all either directly or indirectly been covered.
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From page 111... ...
Also, I feel that a companion joint program with Russian colleagues should start looking at the other side of the Bering Sea. It is one system.
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From page 112... ...
A proceedings has a different level of outside review because it isn't recommending actual steps to be taken, but it still needs to be looked at by a selected group of experts who say, "Does this make sense? " So, there is quite a lot to be done, in a relatively short period of time this summer.
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From page 113... ...
The major items were this first one, surface and satellite monitoring and modeling of the W radiation field and then there was a little laundry list. But the basic concern is effects of UVB on terrestrial ecosystems, aquatic ecosystems and human health.
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From page 114... ...
Here we discussed atmospheric circulation variations, understanding sources and regions of aerosols, and intercomparisons of databases in the U.S., Russia and other parts of the world. Perhaps the two contenders for most of the attention, according to our group, were understanding and defining long-term trends and then understanding the characteristics of the aerosols and so understanding chemical and physical characteristics of arctic haze.
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From page 115... ...
Presentations and Discussions 1 15 ~ .
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From page 116... ...
Define what the important parameters are and develop models to describe the variability. This was an interesting outcome from our discussion and that is the use of manmade or anthropogenic contaminants as tracers to better understand natural variability.
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From page 117... ...
Presentations arid Discussions 117 ..
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From page 118... ...
A third consideration is that, there should be special attention paid to multiple stressors and synergy. Fourth, an ecosystem approach should be used, with special emphasis on the food web and biomagnification.
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From page 119... ...
but try to no a little bit beyond that and see what the next step is. Sixth, there is the environmental impact of the research itself.
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From page 120... ...
. ~ :the: scope~::of NOAA's Mandate :~include ecological::risk assessment, the: IODg- term study of: possible:: ::sentinel: species;:: and :~ex~sure: estimates.: ::~ NOAA's Arctic Research Initiative .
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From page 121... ...
Role in AMAP The Arctic Research Initiative has been designed, in part, to satisfy the U.S. involvement in AMAP Phase II.
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From page 122... ...
122 Questions/Discussion: NOAA's Arctic Research Initiative DR. THOMAS: ~ just want to be sure ~ understand.
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From page 123... ...
Presentations and Discussions 123 initially convinced we couldn't do much of value inside of 2 days, yet ~ think we have made some progress. ~ hope this workshop and its proceedings will be usefi~} to NOAA, and that we have helped make the 1997-98 funding year even more successfi~l than the previous one.
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