Kotzebue Ocean and Sea Ice Monitoring
Since 2019, AAOKH has worked collaboratively with the Native Village of Kotzebue to monitor ocean and sea ice conditions in Kotzebue Sound. These monitoring efforts provide insights into environmental changes that affect the safety of travel and access to important traditionally harvested foods for Qikiqtaġrumiut in Qikiqtaġruk (Kotzebue).
Each year near the outflow of the Noatak and Kobuk Rivers, a community-monitored sea ice mass-balance station is installed on the sea ice together with an ice-tethered oceanographic instrument deployed under the ice. The instrument continuously measures ocean temperature and salinity (how salty the ocean is) beneath the ice. Approximately weekly, an environmental monitor from the Tribe also takes casts of the ocean conditions with a handheld instrument and also takes measurements of sea ice and snow thickness.
This is a critical area both for wildlife and for people traveling across the sea ice to access important harvest locations. When paired with regular environmental observations contributed to AAOKH Kotzebue observer Bobby Schaeffer, this combined monitoring effort provides some of the only community-based and winter season ice and ocean measurements in coastal Arctic Alaska – telling a rich, holistic story of winter conditions and impacts to the community (see example).
Native Village of Kotzebue’s Tyson Kramer and Bobby Schaeffer drilling ice to measure thickness (Top) and lowering the oceanographic instrument that will measure the ocean temperature and salinity (Bottom).
Pairing Observations with Oceanographic Data
Here’s an example from Hauser et al. (2023), showing time series of oceanographic events detectable from oceanographic measurements of salinity, temperature, and chlorophyll-a (a measure of primary production) near Kotzebue, from April to August 2019. When set alongside observations and photos from Kotzebue, we can see the impacts to animals, harvesting, and travel of unusually warm ocean conditions.
May 13: Noah Naylor noted, “Channel opened and ugruk [bearded seal] hunting has started. It seemed [it used to be] the first 2 weeks in June.”
July 19, 2019: Bobby Schaeffer observed, “Since we had a hot June and parts of July, the waters warmed up not only up the rivers, but in the Kotzebue Sound as well. The water got too warm in the ocean so the crab split to deeper colder waters in mid July. This was a first. The CTD [ocean measurement] measured 64 degrees with very little salinity. Crazy!
August 14: Sisualik Elder Cyrus Harris reported seeing a lot of short-tailed shearwaters that were “hungry” and following boats. He had never seen this species before.
Find the Data
For regular updates on ice and ocean conditions at the station casts in Kotzebue Sound check out our Facebook Page. To access the latest sea ice and oceanographic measurements, click the links below. For data use, contact aaokh@alaska.edu.
UAF graduate student Maya Russin drills holes to set up the sea ice mass balance station to collect measurements of sea ice thickness and snow depth.
This project is co-led by the Native Village of Kotzebue’s Environmental Program, supporting local environmental monitor Tyson Kramer to make weekly measurements, and is currently funded by the North Pacific Research Board Project No. 2406. Ongoing collaborations and support for AAOKH observations in Kotzebue are part of the Arctic Marine Biodiversity Observing Network (AMBON), supported by awards to UAF from the Office of Naval Research and National Aeronautics & Space Administration. We appreciate logistical support from the US FWS Selawik Refuge and UAF Chukchi Campus.