Ecosystem response to a temporary sea ice retreat in the Bering Sea: Winter 2009

Observing the Oceans Acoustically

“…Consequently, marine animals ranging from the smallest larvae to the largest whales have evolved mechanisms for both producing and receiving acoustic signals. Information contained in underwater soundscapes provide a means to better understand the influence of environmental parameters on local acoustic processes (McWilliam and Hawkins, 2013;Miksis-Olds et al, 2013;Staaterman et al, 2014), assess habitat quality and health (Parks et al, 2014;Staaterman et al, 2014), and better understand the impacts and risks of human contributions to the soundscape on marine life.…”

“…By recording acoustic backscatter from at least two frequencies, the differences in backscatter between the two frequencies can be used to distinguish between different scatterers in the water column (Watkins and Brierley, 2002;Warren et al, 2003). Successful incorporation of upward looking, single beam echosounders in moorings at Ocean Station Papa (Trevorrow et al, 2005) and in the Bering Sea (Miksis-Olds et al, 2013;Miksis-Olds and Madden, 2014;Stauffer et al, 2015) demonstrate the maturity of this technology in providing time series of acoustic backscatter used to investigate the abundance and behavior of zooplankton and fish, predator-prey relationships, and community structure.…”

Acoustic documentation of temperate odontocetes in the Bering and Chukchi Seas

“…Previous research has shown that several marine mammal species that spend some or all of their life cycles in the Arctic (bowhead, gray, and beluga whales; and bearded and ribbon seals) adjust their distributions, mating, and migrating behaviors concurrently with ice cover changes, such as ice retreating midwinter compared to being continuously present (Grebmeier and Dutton , Miksis‐Olds et al . , Miksis‐Olds and Madden , Hauser et al . ).…”

Spring plankton dynamics in the Eastern Bering Sea, 1971–2050: Mechanisms of interannual variability diagnosed with a numerical model

“…Time series of BESTMAS forcing along these 98 trajectories are shown in Figure (note the temporary ice retreat in March 2009 described by Miksis‐Olds et al . []) and spring and summer cruise observations along with model results are shown in Figure . This observational data set (“IEB60”) served as the primary standard for parameter tuning.…”