Ocean Acidification Research Center

We had a pod of Dall’s Porpoise escort us out to our mooring site near Qutekcak (Seward), AK.

Mangaq is Sugpiaq/Alutiiq for porpoise. 🧪🌊🦑🐬 #FieldworkFriday #AlaskaSky

An oceanographer holds a niskin bottle weighted by a shackle. Attached to the shackle is an Apple Watch, also known as a sampling device thanks to Dr. Martini’s new app!

We did an experiment today too! Except we like our buddy that fished the watch out of the water!

Dr Tini ≠ Creepy. Testing is fun!

🧪🌊🦑🐳 #WhaleWednesday #AlaskaSky

Check out the #PWSC Mariculture Methods class and partnership with the Alutiiq Pride Marine Institute. 🧪🌊🦑 #AlaskaSky

pwsc.alaska.edu/pwsc-news/in...

Mariculture students with the Gulf of Alaska Ocean Acidification buoy before deployment.

We enjoyed chatting with visitors from Prince William Sound College! 🧪🌊🦑 #AlaskaSky #PWSC #GAKOA

📸 C. Conant

🧪🌊🦑 #AlaskaSky

A University of Alaska Fairbanks sign in front of snow covered mountains along Resurrection Bay in Seward, AK.

Qutekcak/Seward, AK #AlaskaSky
💙🐻‍❄️💛🌊

A large blue buoy sits in the University of Alaska Fairbanks Seward Marine Center warehouse.

The Gulf of Alaska #OceanAcidification buoy has a fresh coat of paint. #GAKOA #MooringMonday 🧪🌊🦑🛟👩🏻‍🎨

Left: Bering Sea daily sea ice extent 1978-1979 to 2025-26 with the past two seasons and the smoothed 1991-2020 median highlighted. Right: NWS Alaska Sea Ice Program sea ice concentration analysis to Feb 28, 2026.

Sea ice rapidly expanding in the Bering Sea past several days with very low temperatures and sustained north winds east of the date line. Big swings in ice extent area in the Bering are not unusual this time of year. Data courtesy NSIDC. #akwx #Arctic #SeaIce

The moon rise over the snowy mountains.

Still brisk here in Qutekcak (Seward). #akwx

Hi Bodil! 👋

A yellow surface buoy sits in the University of Alaska Fairbanks Seward Marine Center before being painted.

We are preparing the Gulf of Alaska #OceanAcidification buoy for a turnaround next week. 🧪🌊🦑🛟 #GAKOA #FieldworkFriday

cicoes.uw.edu/2024/04/13/p...

🤸🏻‍♀️🤸🏻‍♀️🤸🏻‍♀️

Looking north over the harbor in Seward, AK

Wind is coming down but it’s still 🥶. #akwx #AlaskaSky 🧪🌊🦑

A Birthday for GAKOA: Ten years of monitoring in the Gulf of Alaska - Alaska Ocean Acidification Network Alaska's longest continual ocean acidification mooring has been providing insights into ocean chemistry since 2013.

This week we are working out of the @uafairbanks.bsky.social Seward Marine Center to turnaround a mooring monitoring seawater carbon dioxide.

Check out the link below for #OceanAcidification #ThrowbackThursday.🧪🌊🦑

aoan.aoos.org/a-birthday-f...

The University of Alaska Fairbanks Seward Marine Center dock overlooking Resurrection Bay in a strong breeze, gusting 63mph.

We’re on Sugpiaq/Alutiiq land this week in Qutalleq (Seward), AK. #akwx #AlaskaSky 🧪🌊🦑💨💨💨

A decade of marine inorganic carbon chemistry observations in the northern Gulf of Alaska – insights into an environment in transition Abstract. As elsewhere in the global ocean, the Gulf of Alaska is experiencing the rapid onset of ocean acidification (OA) driven by oceanic absorption of anthropogenic emissions of carbon dioxide fro...

We are proud to join so many colleagues in this synthesis with our Northern Gulf of Alaska observations.

essd.copernicus.org/articles/16/...

Synthesis of data products for ocean carbonate chemistry Abstract. As the largest active carbon reservoir on Earth, the ocean is a cornerstone of the global carbon cycle, playing a pivotal role in modulating ocean health and the Earth's climate system. Unde...

🚨New paper! 🧪🌊🦑
Dr. Liqing Jiang led this synthesis of ocean carbonate chemistry. #OceanAcidification #mCDR @polarocean.bsky.social @jens-d-mueller.bsky.social @sivlauvset.bsky.social @jhauck.bsky.social @jpgattuso.bsky.social @oceancarbon.bsky.social

essd.copernicus.org/articles/18/...

We hope to have more tests for you if it ever stops snowing and we get to swim instead of shovel. ❄️ #PowderProblems

6.75" since 6am this morning, Cripple Creek. ❄️

The webinar is also hosted with the Alaska Geographical Information Network @alaskagina.bsky.social

gina.alaska.edu

Alaska HAB Network - Harmful Algal Bloom The Alaska Harmful Algal Bloom Network (AHAB) provides a statewide approach to HAB awareness, research, monitoring, and response in Alaska.

The speaker is Dr. Thomas Farrugia, Director of the Alaska Harmful Algal Bloom Network #HABs #AHAB @aoos-alaska.bsky.social 🧪🌊🦑 #AlaskaSky

ahab.aoos.org

VAWS – Underwater Storms: How harmful algal blooms form and their impacts on Alaska’s oceans | ACCAP Speaker: Dr. Thomas Farrugia, Scientific Program Manager, AOOS, Alaska Harmful Algal Bloom Network Coordinator About the webinar: Harmful Algal Blooms (HABs) in Alaska can produce toxins that move …

Save the Date 🗓️🧪🌊🦑
March 4, 11am

The Alaska Center for Climate Assessment and Preparedness #ACCAP is hosting a webinar on Harmful Algal Blooms #HABs #AlaskaSky @uafairbanks.bsky.social @aoos-alaska.bsky.social @alaskawx.bsky.social

uaf-accap.org/event/vaws-u...

Left: Bering Sea daily sea ice extent 1978-79 to 2025-26 with the past two seasons and the 1991-2020 smoothed median highlighted. Right: NWS Alaska Region sea ice concentration analysis to February 21, 2026.

Sea ice extent in the Bering Sea has decreased 20 percent in the past two weeks due to frequent storminess/south winds. Dramatic weather pattern change is imminent with colder air & north winds poised to return, so it's quite possible the maximum extent is yet to be reached. #akwx #Arctic #SeaIce

LEO Network – Helping to Understand Environmental Vulnerability and Change | ACCAP Speaker: Mike Brubaker, Director, Community Environment and Health, Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium The Local Environmental Observer (LEO) Network was originally developed as a tele-consulta…

Check out this week's Alaska Center for Climate Assessment and Preparedness #ACCAP @uafairbanks.bsky.social @alaskawx.bsky.social

Local Environmental Network #LEO with the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium #AlaskaSky

uaf-accap.org/event/leo-ne...

OSM kicks off today in Glasgow! As a reminder, we have compiled a list of ocean acidification relevant talks and posters - newly updated since our last email! On Wednesday 25 February, ICONEC, the International Carbon Ocean Network for Early Career, is hosting a gathering at 18:30 at the Islay Inn. This is a great chance for early careers working on ocean carbon to network and meet others in the GOA-ON community!

@goa-on.bsky.social has a list of #OceanAcidification talks at #OSM26 🧪🌊🦑

goa-on.us20.list-manage.com/track/click?...

The Bering Sea shelf is a large marine ecosystem that supports critical commercial, cultural, and subsistence ecosystem services that are vulnerable to extreme events and anthropogenic stressors such as ocean acidification (OA). Previous work has developed a suite of model-based products simulating historical and future projected changes in aragonite saturation state (Ωarag) and pH for this region, however, forecasts on seasonal timeframes have remained a critical gap. Here, we use the ROMS Bering10K model to assess forecast skill in predicting surface and bottom water Ωarag and pH conditions on lead times from 1–9 months. We simulate 28 years (1982–2010) of 3-member ensemble retrospective forecasts, initialized both in April and May following the retreat of winter sea ice and several months in advance of when the most acidic bottom water conditions occur in late summer and early fall. We find that the model is skillful in forecasting shelf-wide anomalies in bottom water pH and Ωarag, however, this forecast skill is largely derived from strong persistence. Conversely, dynamic model forecasts for surface Ωarag and pH are more skillful than persistence forecasts, suggesting that the dynamic model is capturing physical-biogeochemical mechanisms governing spring-summer productivity. Forecast skill for finer-scale spatial anomalies is more limited, but is still strong in some subregions such as Bristol Bay, which is home to the iconic red king crab fishery. These model forecasts can provide several months advance notice for acidified water conditions and bolster a suite of ongoing products used to support evidence-based decisions for marine resource management.

Dr. Darren Pilcher is giving a poster at #OSM26. 🧪🌊🦑
Seasonal Forecasts of pH and Aragonite Saturation for the Bering Sea Shelf #OceanAcidification #Alaska

The coastal waters of Southeast Alaska are naturally susceptible to corrosive carbonate conditions. The region is caught between the high-CO2, high alkalinity waters of the North Pacific and high-CO2, low alkalinity glacial run-off from Alaskan and Canadian ice fields, producing strong gradients in marine influence and large differences in the chemistry of local watersheds and from fjord to fjord. Climate-change pressures from ocean acidification, warming waters, and increased glacial melt could expand corrosive conditions in space and time, leaving few refugia for shelled organisms. Coastal Alaska is also information poor, with few long-term carbonate monitoring stations or research cruise tracks. To evaluate and manage the threat of coastal acidification, a consortium of tribal governments in Southeast Alaska has been monitoring the carbonate chemistry in local communities since 2017. Here, we present these coastal observations for the first time, identify the seasonal and spatial variation in carbonate chemistry across Southeast Alaska, and develop a predictive model for local carbonate conditions that incorporates glacial influence, circulation patterns, biological productivity, and freshwater sources. We then map the vulnerability of communities to further coastal acidification and identify the primary drivers of future chemical change. This work highlights the efficacy and importance of community-based monitoring programs, produces a predictive model for local carbonate chemistry applicable to other complex glaciated fjord systems, and provides a framework for calculating and projecting community-scale coastal acidification risks and drivers.

Dr. Esther Kennedy is giving an #OSM26 talk! 🧪🌊🦑
Tribal management of coastal acidification risks across Southeast Alaskan fjords. #OceanAcidification #AlaskaSky @uafairbanks.bsky.social

seator.org

The State of Alaska Legislature honored the 65th Anniversary of the University of Alaska Fairbanks College of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences.

Happy Birthday 6️⃣5️⃣ to the College of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences @uafairbanks.bsky.social! 🧪🌊🦑🎈 #AlaskaSky