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NASA to Hold Media Teleconference on New Ocean Discovery - Briefing Materials
 
ICESCAPE, or Impacts of Climate on EcoSystems and Chemistry of the Arctic Pacific Environment, is a NASA-sponsored mission to explore the effects of climate change in the seas along Alaska's western and northern coasts. During a news conference on Thursday, June 7, 2012, 2 p.m. EDT, ICESCAPE researchers and an external commenter will discuss an unprecedented biological discovery in Arctic Ocean waters during the summer of 2011.

The journal Science has embargoed the findings prior to the teleconference.

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Briefing Panelists
  • Kevin Arrigo, ICESCAPE mission lead, Stanford University, Stanford, Calif.
  • Don Perovich, ICESCAPE cryosphere scientist and visiting professor, Dartmouth College Thayer School of Engineering, Hanover, N.H.
  • Walker Smith, marine scientist, Virginia Institute of Marine Science, College of William and Mary, Gloucester Point, Va.

Kevin Arrigo

(download presentation slides)

IMAGE 1 Coast Guard ship (Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center/Kathryn Hansen)

IMAGE 2 map of Arctic Ocean area In the summers of 2010 and 2011, the Impacts of Climate change on the Eco-Systems and Chemistry of the Arctic Pacific Environment (ICESCAPE) shipborne expedition explored the biology, ecology and biogeochemistry of Arctic waters in the Beaufort and Chukchi seas. (Credit: NASA)

IMAGE 3 Karen Frey ICESCAPE scientist Karen Frey taking optical measurements in a melt pond, with the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Healy on the background. (Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center/Kathryn Hansen)

IMAGE 4 diatoms An assemblage of diatoms, one of the most common kinds of phytoplankton, as seen through a microscope. These tiny oceanic plants were in a sample of water collected about 5 feet below the ice during the 2011 ICESCAPE campaign. (Credit: William M. Balch/Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences)

IMAGE 5 Plot showing how phytoplankton abundance varies with depth along a transect from open water (right) to under the ice (left). Plot showing how phytoplankton abundance varies with depth along a transect from open water (right) to under the ice (left). Note the much higher concentrations (in red) beneath the sea ice. (Credit: Kevin Arrigo/Stanford University)

IMAGE 6 graph of global phytoplankton abundance When added up over the whole water column, the total amount of phytoplankton observed beneath the sea ice during ICESCAPE was among the highest ever measured anywhere in the global ocean. (Credit: Kevin Arrigo/Stanford University)

Don Perovich

(download presentation slides)

IMAGE 7 above and below views of pre-melt ice The bright layer of snow that accumulates over Arctic sea ice during the winter blocks most sunlight from reaching the waters underneath. (Credit: Don Perovich/U.S. Army Cold Regions and Engineering Laboratory)

IMAGE 8 above and below views of post-melt ice The shallow but extensive ponds that form on sea ice when its snow cover melts in the summer act as windows, letting light penetrate the ice cap. (Credit: Don Perovich/U.S. Army Cold Regions and Engineering Laboratory)

IMAGE 9 nutrient-rich waters under the Arctic ice cap When light reaches the nutrient-rich waters under the Arctic ice cap, it creates the perfect environment for phytoplankton to bloom. (Credit: Don Perovich/U.S. Army Cold Regions and Engineering Laboratory)

Walker Smith

(download presentation slides)

IMAGE 10 graph of Arctic sea ice area from 1979 to 2011 Reduction in the area of the Arctic covered by summer sea ice, from 1979 to 2011. (Credit: NASA)

IMAGE 11 images depicting Arctic sea ice in 1979 (left) and 2011 Images showing the Arctic sea ice minimum in September of 1979 (the year satellites started recording sea ice extent) and in September of 2011. (Credit: NASA)
 
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