1. Dock/Land side SBE Instrument sits at 3-4 meters depth ? ! Ca tube in water Pribilof Islands Community-Based Ocean Monitoring Pribilof Islands, Alaska Phillip A. Zavadil 1, Antonio Jenkins 2, Margaret Sullivan 2, Bruce W. Robson 3, Max Malvansky, Jr. 4 1 Aleut Community of St. Paul Island-Tribal Government-Ecosystem Conservation Office 2 NOAA/EcoFOCI and University of Washington JISAO 3 Community & Ecology Resources 4 Traditional Council of St. George-Kayamita-Eco Office 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 Amgi}naa (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. 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 (<2mA 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…). Acknowledgement s We 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. The PICBOMP systems were deployed at the mouth of the harbor on St. Paul (57.07°N, 170.16°W) and St. George Islands (56.34°N, 169.39°W). 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 (56.88°N, 164.06°W) and M4 (57.85°N, 168.87°W) 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. George’s 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. 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 9.98°C in early September, 2008 and a minimum of -1.70°C in early March, 2008. The more northerly M4 had a maximum of 8.67°C in mid-August, 2008 and a minimum of -1.75°C 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. 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