The Pacific Arctic region is experiencing major reductions in seasonal sea ice and increases in sea surface temperatures. A key question is how the marine ecosystem will respond to these rapid environmental shifts. Variations in upper-ocean water hydrography, stratification, light penetration, planktonic production, pelagic-benthic coupling and sediment carbon cycling are all influenced by sea ice and temperature changes. To evaluate these responses, the Distributed Biological Observatory (DBO) was initiated in 2010 as a change detection array for the identification and consistent monitoring of biophysical responses to environmental change in the Arctic. The ecological trends approach embedded in DBO sampling is facilitated by repeated sampling each year through multiple international occupations of agreed-to transect lines, along with more continuous data collections obtained through mooring and satellite observations. This presentation will provide an overview of key results observed during multiple cruises that have been part of the DBO effort. In particular, biological changes in the northern Bering Sea resulting from the dramatic reduction in winter sea ice and warming seawater since 2018 are being linked to changes in the sediment-based prey for diving seaducks, walruses, gray whales, and bottom-feeding fish.

About the Speaker:

Jacqueline Grebmeier is a Research Professor at the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Sciences, Chesapeake Biological Laboratory (CBL). She received an undergraduate B.A degree in Zoology from the University of California, Davis in 1977, a M.S. degree in Biology from Stanford University in 1979, and a second M.S. degree in Marine Affairs from the University of Washington in 1983. She received a Ph.D. in Biological Oceanography from the University of Alaska Fairbanks in 1987. She completed a postdoctoral appointment at the University of Southern California from 1987-1988, and then joined the faculty at the University of Tennessee until she began her current position as a Research Professor at CBL in 2008. Her oceanographic research interests are related to pelagic-benthic coupling, benthic carbon cycling, and benthic faunal population structure in relation to ecosystem structure in polar marine systems. She has participated in more than 55 field research cruises, primarily in the Arctic. She has received multiple awards, including the Alaska Ocean Leadership Award from the Alaska SeaLife Center in 2015, the International Arctic Science Committee Medal in 2015, the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Sciences President’s Award for Excellence in Application of Science in 2017, and she was elected a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 2018. She has the lead on the international Distributed Biological Observatory in the Pacific Arctic that was established in 2010.
                   
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