Researchers crack the ice to study the Arctic marine food web and get clues about how climate change will affect this important ecosystem. Watch the video to see how this research is done.
MILES O'BRIEN: Cases packed - check. Sled loaded - check. Thermal pants on - check. For this team of marine ecologists, It's time to hit the ice. And, that means gunning it. It may be late spring - but it's a frigid ride out onto the sea ice off Barrow, Alaska. Desolate as it looks, the ice is actually teeming with life. With support from the National Science Foundation, Craig Aumack with Columbia University and a team have come here to study algae - microscopic aquatic organisms that form the very base of the marine food web. Some even live in the ice itself - dormant all winter until the spring sunshine kick starts a growth cycle.
CRAIG AUMACK: They start to bloom, which implies that they are multiplying at a great and exponential rate. And, then as the snow completely melts and they start getting lots and lots of light, they migrate down to the bottom of the ice, and then eventually leave the ice into the water column.
MILES O'BRIEN: Algae may not seem as sexy as, say, polar bears. But, without the algae, nothing could live here.
CRAIG AUMACK: We're trying to trace the algae that grow within the ice to the underlying marine systems. So, what organisms are grazing on it? Do they prefer it over algae that grow on the water column? And, then how much do the organisms that live on the sea floor graze the algae once it's there?
MILES O'BRIEN: They drill ice cores to measure algae levels and collect tiny algae-eaters like these from the water and underlying mud. They drop underwater cameras down under the ice. On the day we were there, they netted this jellyfish. They'd seen them before with their cameras, but this is the first one they've hauled up from under the ice.
CRAIG AUMACK: So, it was like, "Wow! Are jellyfish even adapted to swim so close to the bottom and drag their oral tentacles because they're feeding on the algae that collect along the bottom during this time of year?"
MILES O'BRIEN: Back in the lab, they run tests to see what kinds of algae the critters harvested on the ice have been eating. Going forward, the changing climate could mean less snow cover on the ice earlier in the spring, and that could mean disruptions to the food-chain's delicate balance.
ANDY JUHL: If you have a year when there is not very much snow then there will be more light early on, you'll get an early bloom.
MILES O'BRIEN: Marine biologist Andy Juhl has done field-work in Alaska since 2005. He says climate change likely will alter this habitat in ways we can't predict.
ANDY JUHL: Large marine animals, seals and beluga whales and bowhead whales, the polar bears - all of those organisms are here because it is an incredibly productive environment. Typically, there's a long line of connections until you get to big animals. The entire food chain ultimately rests upon the algae.
MILES O'BRIEN: Aumack says the algae could be considered a "canary in the coal mine" for climate change in the Arctic - early sentinels of a changing ecosystem. So buckle up - we might be in for a wild ride! For Science Nation, I'm Miles O'Brien.