1. Environmental Variability, Bowhead Whale Distributions and Iñupiat Subsistence Whaling Carin Ashjian (Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)

2. Who are we? Oceanographers Carin Ashjian (WHOI) Robert Campbell (URI) Steve Okkonen (UAF) Barry Sherr (OSU) Ev Sherr (OSU) Modelers Wieslaw Maslowski (NPS) Yvette Spitz (OSU) Whale Ecologists Craig George (NSBDWM) Sue Moore (APL) Social Scientists Steve Braund (SRBA) Jack Kruse (UMassAmherst) Craig Nicolson (UMassAmherst)

3. Bowhead whales are found on the shelf along northern Alaska during their fall migration and are hunted there Barrow Kaktovik Why do whales prefer certain locations along the shelf? How might climate variability affect this behavior? How might climate variability affect whaling success?

4. We think that whales stop at Barrow to feed because there are high concentrations of plankton prey here Plankton composition (copepods or euphausiids/krill) is influenced by amount of Pacific Water Euphausiids/krill come to this region in Pacific Water Plankton patches are formed at fronts in the ocean or at places where there is a lot of food for the whale prey Euphausiids/KrillCopepods

5. How does the amount of Pacific Water vary? Two Climate Regimes Regime I (negative AO, strong Beaufort gyre): Greater influence of Beaufort Sea gyre near shore and Arctic water, less PW Regime II (positive AO, weak Beaufort gyre): More PW extending along Beaufort Shelf (contains euphausiids)

6. GOALS OF OUR PROJECT To describe why bowhead whales stop at Barrow during their migration To describe the oceanographic conditions that make this a good place for food To understand how climate variability might change the locations of good feeding spots when the whales are near Barrow

7. How will we do this? Biological-physical modeling of the ice-ocean system High resolution field study of the coastal ocean to identify the oceanographic conditions leading to plankton prey patches and to verify model predictions 20-year retrospective analysis of climate, ocean conditions, plankton and whale distributions, and hunting success Ground-truthing of the analyses and integration of expert local knowledge through interaction and involvement of whaling captains

8. How will we do this? Biological-physical modeling of the ice-ocean system High resolution field study of the coastal ocean to identify the oceanographic conditions leading to plankton prey patches and to verify model predictions 20-year retrospective analysis of climate, ocean conditions, plankton and whale distributions, and hunting success Ground-truthing of the analyses and integration of expert local knowledge through interaction and involvement of whaling captains

9. This is the kind of boat we will use We would work from mid-August to mid-September (if we need to) We will sample in both 2005 and 2006 High-resolution field sampling

10. High-resolution field sampling: the locations We will go out for 1-2 days at a time and come back to Barrow in between Exact locations of transects to be determined after discussions with whaling captains We need your help to identify the locations of our sampling

11. Field Sampling DISCRETE (AT STATIONS) CTD and Rosette - T, S, Fl, PAR, nutrients, phytoplankton and microzooplankton abundance and composition, chlorophyll a Video Plankton Recorder -high resolution vertical distributions of plankton Plankton net tows - zooplankton composition and plankton condition UNDERWAY ADCP - velocity and backscatter (plankton) CTD and fluorometer mounted on Acrobat towed undulating vehicle Bottom depth (ship’s fathometer) OTHER (DURING WHALING) Whale strike locations Boat towed CTDs (fronts, eddies, whales) Whale stomach content analysis (plankton type) Whale locations (aerial surveys)

12. Acrobat towed undulating vehicle

13. Underwater microscope Images of plankton are captured at 60 times per second and saved on an internal hard drive Coincident temperature, salinity, and depth Once back on board, the files are downloaded from the instrument Video Camera and Strobe CTD In-situ plankton type and abundance using a video plankton recorder

14. Shore Based Work Sampling program based at BASC and will use laboratory and storage facilities there Some laboratory analyses will be done here; other samples will be shipped home We will present our initial findings in September before we leave; we will come back in winter to show more.