Pribilof Islands CommunityBased Ocean Monitoring Pribilof Islands, Alaska Phillip A' Zavadil1, Anton

1
Pribilof Islands Community-Based Ocean
MonitoringPribilof Islands, AlaskaPhillip A.
Zavadil1, Antonio Jenkins2, Margaret Sullivan2,
Bruce W. Robson3, Max Malvansky, Jr. 41Aleut
Community of St. Paul Island-Tribal
Government-Ecosystem Conservation
Office2NOAA/EcoFOCI and University of Washington
JISAO 3Community Ecology Resources4Traditional
Council of St. George-Kayamita-Eco Office
Dock/Land side SBE Instrument sits at 3-4 meters
depth ? ! Ca tube in water
The Pribilof Islands Aleut communities of St.
Paul and St. George, in collaboration with the
NOAA Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory
(PMEL) began the Pribilof Islands Community-based
Ocean Monitoring Program (PICBOMP) in 2007. The
PICBOMP is designed to collect continuous water
temperature and salinity measurements to provide
a time series of high quality oceanographic
measurements from shallower coastal Bering Sea
waters. This type of data, important for
monitoring changes in ocean characteristics, have
not previously been collected. The preliminary
results presented in this poster show that
near-shore ocean monitoring sites such as those
maintained by the Pribilof communities can
provide a valuable long-term source of low-cost,
real-time local data. The instrumentation and
data relay system worked exceptionally well and
the initial deployments also provided valuable
information on improvements to the system for
these and future near-shore moorings. This was
especially valuable in terms of instrument
placement in the harbors and proximity to runoff
and fresh-water influx. The initial success of
the PICBOMP demonstrates that scientific
observation can be coupled with community
involvement and local knowledge for a
constructive partnership toward the assessment of
long-term changes in the Bering Sea.
PICBOMP INSTRUMENTATION AND TECHNOLOGY
PRIBILOF ISLANDS, MOORING M2 AND M4, AND BERING
SEA ICE EDGES
The Aleut Community of St. Paul Island-Tribal
Government-Ecosystem Conservation Office (ECO)
would like to announce the Pribilof Islands
Community Based- Monitoring Project or PICBOMP.
This project is funded by the North
Pacific Research Board (www.nprb.org) and
combines scientific methodology with
the collection of local and traditional knowledge
to assess long-term changes in the Bering Sea and
their impact on local residents. Moored
temperature and salinity sensors have been
deployed in the St. Paul and St. George harbors.
The data collected from the moorings maintained
by each community will provide local residents
and scientists from the Pacific Marine
Environmental Laboratory in Seattle
(www.pmel.noaa.gov) with valuable time-series
measurements to track climate-induced changes in
the coastal zone of the Bering Sea. Mooring data
is relayed by a satellite link and uploaded to
the internet to inform local residents about
ocean conditions. The Tanam Amginaa (Island
Sentinel) Program on each island will provide a
mechanism for residents to record their
observations of phenomena related to local
climate conditions. Please watch for further PSAs
and go to the ECO website (www.tribaleco.com/cm)
to look for weekly updates of local data.
The PICBOMP systems were deployed at the mouth of
the harbor on St. Paul (57.07N, 170.16W) and
St. George Islands (56.34N, 169.39W). To put
the Pribilof Islands data in the context of the
larger Bering Sea Ecosystem, we compared the
Pribilof data to mooring data from two long-term
PMEL moorings maintained near 70 meters depth
east of the Pribilofs on the Southeast Bering Sea
Shelf (see map above). These data from moorings
M2 (56.88N, 164.06W) and M4 (57.85N, 168.87W)
are collected between 9 and 12 meters depth using
a Seabird SeaCat. M2 and M4 data are defined by
their location in the middle shelf domain, where
the water column is mostly well mixed in the
winter, and is a two-layer system in the summer
with a well-defined mixed-layer depth at 20-35
meters. In contrast, the St. Paul and St. George
moorings are located in near-shore, well-mixed
waters influenced by both the middle domain and
the outer shelf domain. Seasonal ice, wind and
tides also influence both locations the harbor
at St. Paul is vulnerable to ice, whereas St.
Georges south-facing location is protected from
ice. The contours plotted in the map above show
ice-edge for the day of maximum ice extent during
2008 relative to the last 10 years.
We attached Seabird MicroCat 37SM instruments
mounted in PVC pipe to a pier piling at the mouth
of the harbors of St. George and St. Paul
Islands. Data collection occurs at 3-4 meters
depth. The MicroCat units are connected by cable
to Low Power Logger and Transmitter (LPLT)
systems developed by the EcoFOCI division at
PMEL. The LPLT is designed to transmit data with
low power demand from a remote, rugged site such
as the Pribilof Islands. The system provides
several power options an internal battery
lasting 1 years, or an external battery that
uses 12 VDC, 120/240 VAC. The low power
requirements (lt2mA on standby) ensure a long
battery life. Data collection is controlled by a
low-cost and easy-to-use single-board computer
programmed by the user via a laptop computer.
Hourly data are transmitted to PMEL by Iridium
satellite phone and are automatically plotted and
uploaded via ftp to the project web page where
they can be accessed by community members and the
wider Bering Sea scientific community
(http//www.tribaleco.com/cm/ see
programs/environmental).
TIME SERIES OF TEMPERATURE AND SALINITY
MEASUREMENTS FROM THE PRIBILOF ISLANDS, MOORING
M2 AND M4
The PICBOMP systems were deployed on St. Paul
Island on October 17, 2007, and removed from
early February to mid-May to prevent damage from
sea ice in the harbor. Data collection resumed
in mid-May and continued through late December,
2008. Water temperature in St. Paul harbor
ranged from a low of -1.76 C in February, 2008
to a high of 8.67 C in August, 2008.
Instruments at St. George were deployed on May
17, 2008 and data were collected through October
20, 2008, so colder months are not yet part of
the data record. The maximum water temperature
recorded in St. George Harbor was 8.39 C in
August of 2008. These data are shown above
plotted as a time series with data from the M2
and M4 moorings. Within the time period covered,
M2 showed a maximum temperature of 9.98C in
early September, 2008 and a minimum of -1.70C in
early March, 2008. The more northerly M4 had a
maximum of 8.67C in mid-August, 2008 and a
minimum of -1.75C in late March, 2008. The time
series comparisons shows that the Pribilof data
are within the expected range for the nearshore
region. Higher variability during some periods,
especially in salinity measurements, indicates
that the instruments may be subject to runoff and
fresh-water influx in the harbor areas.
AcknowledgementsWe would like to thank the
following people and organizations for their
assistance and support on this project Phyllis
Stabeno, Dustin J. Jones, Samantaha M. Zacharof,
Jonathan Merculieff, Peter Gabe Tetoff, Osvaldo
E. Escarate, Denis Lekanof, Gary Merculief,
Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory, and
World Wildlife Fund.