Jacqueline Mary Grebmeier | |
---|---|
Academic background | |
Education | BSc, Zoology, 1977, University of California, Davis MA, biology, Stanford University MA, Marine Affairs, University of Washington Ph.D., 1987, University of Alaska Fairbanks |
Thesis | The ecology of benthic carbon cycling in the northern Bering and Chukchi Seas (1987) |
Academic work | |
Institutions | University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science University of Tennessee |
Jacqueline M. Grebmeier is an American ecologist who specializes in polar biological oceanography.
Grebmeier completed her Bachelor of Science degree in Zoology from the University of California,Davis in 1977 before enrolling at Stanford University for her first Master's degree in Biology. Following this,she earned her second master's degree in Marine Affairs from the University of Washington in 1983, [1] specializing in applications of Arctic science to Arctic resource utilization policy,and her PhD in Biological Oceanography from the University of Alaska Fairbanks in 1987. [2]
Upon completing her PhD,Grebmeier joined the faculty at the University of Tennessee in 1989. As a research associate professor of ecology and evolutionary biology,she was the project co-leader on a joint U.S.-Russian study of ecosystems in the Bering and Chukchi seas and an advisor to the National Academy of Sciences and the National Science Foundation. In 2000,Grebmeier was selected by President Bill Clinton to serve on the Arctic Research Commission in order to develop and recommend an integrated national policy on research in the Arctic. [3] Following this,she served as part of a team studying the relationship between plankton in the ocean surrounding Antarctica and carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. [4] In 2006,Grebmeier and her colleagues published the seminal paper,"A major ecosystem shift in the northern Bering Sea" in Science , [5] which showed the harms of global warming in the ecology of the Bering Sea. [6]
Grebmeier was appointed a research professor at the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science,working in the Chesapeake Biological Laboratory,in 2008. [7] While serving in this role,she chaired the International Pacific Arctic Group to establish a Distributed Biological Observatory in the North American Arctic. [8] As a result of her "exceptional and sustained contributions to the understanding of the Arctic" Grebmeier was awarded the 2015 IASC Medal [9] and the Alaska Ocean Leadership Award from the Alaska SeaLife Center. [10] The following year,she won the 2016 President's Award for Excellence in Application of Science for her "exceptional and sustained contributions to the understanding of the Arctic." [11]
In 2018,Grebmeier was elected a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. [12] During the COVID-19 pandemic,Grebmeier raised the alarm on the rising disappearing Alaskan sea ice and its significant impact on the Arctic marine ecosystem. [13]
Grebmeier is married to Lee Cooper,an oceanographer, [14] and they have one daughter together. [15]
The Bering Sea is a marginal sea of the Northern Pacific Ocean. It forms,along with the Bering Strait,the divide between the two largest landmasses on Earth:Eurasia and The Americas. It comprises a deep water basin,which then rises through a narrow slope into the shallower water above the continental shelves. The Bering Sea is named after Vitus Bering,a Danish navigator in Russian service,who,in 1728,was the first European to systematically explore it,sailing from the Pacific Ocean northward to the Arctic Ocean.
The Iñupiat are a group of indigenous Alaskans whose traditional territory roughly spans northeast from Norton Sound on the Bering Sea to the northernmost part of the Canada–United States border. Their current communities include 34 villages across Iñupiat Nunaat,including seven Alaskan villages in the North Slope Borough,affiliated with the Arctic Slope Regional Corporation;eleven villages in Northwest Arctic Borough;and sixteen villages affiliated with the Bering Straits Regional Corporation. They often claim to be the first people of the Kauwerak.
The ringed seal is an earless seal inhabiting the Arctic and sub-Arctic regions. The ringed seal is a relatively small seal,rarely greater than 1.5 m in length,with a distinctive patterning of dark spots surrounded by light gray rings,hence its common name. It is the most abundant and wide-ranging ice seal in the Northern Hemisphere,ranging throughout the Arctic Ocean,into the Bering Sea and Okhotsk Sea as far south as the northern coast of Japan in the Pacific and throughout the North Atlantic coasts of Greenland and Scandinavia as far south as Newfoundland,and including two freshwater subspecies in northern Europe. Ringed seals are one of the primary prey of polar bears and killer whales,and have long been a component of the diet of indigenous people of the Arctic.
Chukchi Sea,sometimes referred to as the Chuuk Sea,Chukotsk Sea or the Sea of Chukotsk,is a marginal sea of the Arctic Ocean. It is bounded on the west by the Long Strait,off Wrangel Island,and in the east by Point Barrow,Alaska,beyond which lies the Beaufort Sea. The Bering Strait forms its southernmost limit and connects it to the Bering Sea and the Pacific Ocean. The principal port on the Chukchi Sea is Uelen in Russia. The International Date Line crosses the Chukchi Sea from northwest to southeast. It is displaced eastwards to avoid Wrangel Island as well as the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug on the Russian mainland.
The Alaska Current is a southwestern shallow warm-water current alongside the west coast of the North American continent beginning at about 48-50°N. The Alaska Current produces large clockwise eddies at two sites:west of the Haida Gwaii and west of Sitka,Alaska.
The International Arctic Science Committee (IASC) is a non-governmental organization which is composed of international science groups participating in arctic science research. IASC is an International Scientific Associate of ICSU,and was established in 1990. IASC's main aim is to initiate,develop,and coordinate leading edge scientific activity in the Arctic region,and on the role of the Arctic in the Earth system. It also provides objective and independent scientific advice to the Arctic Council and other organizations on issues of science affecting the management of the Arctic region. The decision-making organs of IASC are the Council and the Executive Committee. The day-to-day operations are supported by its secretariat headed by the executive secretary. IASC's geographical remit covers the Arctic Ocean and the surrounding landmasses.
The spotted seal,also known as the larga seal or largha seal,is a member of the family Phocidae,and is considered a "true seal". It inhabits ice floes and waters of the north Pacific Ocean and adjacent seas. It is primarily found along the continental shelf of the Beaufort,Chukchi,Bering and Okhotsk Seas and south to the northern Yellow Sea and it migrates south as far as northern Huanghai and the western Sea of Japan. It is also found in Alaska from the southeastern Bristol Bay to Demarcation Point during the ice-free seasons of summer and autumn when spotted seals mate and have pups. Smaller numbers are found in the Beaufort Sea. It is sometimes mistaken for the harbor seal to which it is closely related and spotted seals and harbor seals often mingle together in areas where their habitats overlap.
Sallie Watson "Penny" Chisholm is an American biological oceanographer at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She is an expert in the ecology and evolution of ocean microbes. Her research focuses particularly on the most abundant marine phytoplankton,Prochlorococcus, that she discovered in the 1980s with Rob Olson and other collaborators. She has a TED talk about their discovery and importance called "The tiny creature that secretly powers the planet".
The Alaska pollock or walleye pollock is a marine fish species of the cod genus Gadus and family Gadidae.
Fiona McLaughlin is a senior Oceanographer,employed by Canada's Department of Fisheries and Oceans. McLaughlin joined government service in 1972. Since 1994 she has concentrated on the ecology of the Arctic Ocean.
A planktivore is an aquatic organism that feeds on planktonic food,including zooplankton and phytoplankton. Planktivorous organisms encompass a range of some of the planet's smallest to largest multicellular animals in both the present day and in the past billion years;basking sharks and copepods are just two examples of giant and microscopic organisms that feed upon plankton. Planktivory can be an important mechanism of top-down control that contributes to trophic cascades in aquatic and marine systems. There is a tremendous diversity of feeding strategies and behaviors that planktivores utilize to capture prey. Some planktivores utilize tides and currents to migrate between estuaries and coastal waters;other aquatic planktivores reside in lakes or reservoirs where diverse assemblages of plankton are present,or migrate vertically in the water column searching for prey. Planktivore populations can impact the abundance and community composition of planktonic species through their predation pressure,and planktivore migrations facilitate nutrient transport between benthic and pelagic habitats.
Susana AgustíRequena is a Spanish biological oceanographer who has participated in over 25 oceanographic expeditions in the Arctic,Southern Ocean (Antarctic),Atlantic,Pacific and Indian Oceans. She played a key role in the Malaspina Circumnavigation Expedition. She is professor in Marine Science at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology in Saudi Arabia and an adjunct Professor at the University of Tromsø(Norway).
Barrow Canyon is a submarine canyon that straddles the boundary between the Beaufort and Chukchi seas. Compared to other nearby areas and the Canada Basin,the highly productive Barrow Canyon supports a diversity of marine animals and invertebrates.
Herald Shoal is a region of high benthic productivity on the Chukchi Sea shelf. It serves as rich foraging habitat for many species of marine mammals and birds.
The Northern Bering Sea Climate Resilience Area,encompassing 291,000 square kilometers,is a protected area within the Bering Sea,established by President Obama on December 9,2016 by Executive Order 13754. It represents a hugely productive,high-latitude marine ecosystem and supports one of the largest seasonal marine mammal migrations in the world,including thousands of bowhead and beluga whales,hundreds of thousands of walruses and ice seals,and millions of migratory birds. Moreover,it is home to more than 40 tribes of coastal Yup’ik and Inupiaq peoples whose way of life has been linked with the marine environment for thousands of years.
The Bering Strait has become vulnerable to climatic changes,trans Arctic shipping,and resource exploitation. The Obama administration's Executive Order 13754 of December 9,2016 defines a Northern Bering Sea Climate Resilience Area that gives protection to the indigenous coastal communities that rely on the strait for subsistence hunting,and the surrounding marine ecosystem's vitality. It exists within the U.S exclusive economic zone and within maritime boundaries agreed upon between the Soviet Union and the U.S. The ecosystem,civilization,and international trade all rely on each other,thus encouraging the establishment of the sensitive marine areas in the Bering Strait. The executive order was upheld by international climate goals,and environmental management standards. Since the location is of international interest,it became vital to protect this area from further exploitation in the oil and shipping industry.
Sharon Louise Smith is an American marine ecologist known for her work on zooplankton and their ability to respond to climate change. Smith was Professor Emeritus at the Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science at the University of Miami.
Phyllis Jean Stabeno is a physical oceanographer known for her research on the movement of water in polar regions. She has led award-winning research projects in the Arctic and was noted for a distinguished scientific career by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Sue E. Moore is a scientist at the University of Washington known for her research on marine mammals in the Arctic.
Vera Kingeekuk Metcalf is educator and advocate known for her work in the preservation of traditions and language of Alaska Native people. in 2019 she was elected to the Alaska Women's Hall of Fame.