Polar Environment Studies Funded by MMS

Charged with protecting the marine environment, while fostering the responsible development of the Nation’s offshore natural resources, including the Alaskan Arctic, Minerals Management Service (MMS) is funding multiple projects in conjunction with the International Polar Year initiatives to achieve observational research in the Arctic.

New research initiatives being coordinated through the MMS Alaska Regional office include studies examining the polar environment and the effects that oil and gas exploration and development may have on the ocean environment and the people living along the Arctic coast.

In January 2007, the MMS launched a three-year cooperative agreement with the University of Alaska Fairbanks to study with refined precision the subsistence harvest and food sharing networks among communities on Alaska’s North Slope. The study will coordinate datasets and field methods in order to identify social and environmental stresses contributing to the vulnerabilities of these Arctic communities confronting social changes. Additional studies being planned and conducted are:

·         Identifying the extent of offshore human activities in the Alaskan Arctic, and the potential effects they are having on marine mammals;

·         Aerial Surveys of bowhead whales to measure their distribution in changing ice conditions in the Beaufort Sea. The bowhead whale is an integral part of the Inupiat culture and way of life on the Beaufort and Chukchi Sea coasts. Each year the MMS conducts the Bowhead Whale Aerial Survey Project tracking the fall migration of the bowhead from its summer feeding grounds in the Alaskan and Canadian Beaufort Sea to the Chukchi and Bering Seas where they spend the winter. Conducted since 1979, the survey has provided information on the locations, behaviors and environmental conditions associated with the bowheads. This ongoing study is providing a snapshot of migration patterns and ice coverage of this area over the last 28 years.

·         Modeling the habitat of polar bears on the landfast ice;

·         Recording the movement and distribution of  ringed seals;

·         Studying the migration of king and common eiders;

·         Measuring the distribution and health of fish populations; and,

·         Examining the changed in surface currents with changing ice conditions using high frequency radar. Ongoing MMS supported North Slope-wide studies are examining the changes to weather patterns and ground conditions in addition to region-wide Arctic modeling of ocean currents and patterns.

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