Loss of Sea Ice Takes Its Toll on Seabirds

The positive signs of colony size and breeding effort of the Black Guillemots on Cooper Island in June were too good to last.

After very high hatching success, the decreased ice and increased water temperatures took their toll as parents were unable to find prey in the warm, ice-free waters. Rapidly shifting ocean temperatures provided some days of good growth, but currently only one third of chicks are still alive. As the mortality was unfolding, we shared it with a reporter from the Washington Post for an article describing the impacts of climate change in Alaska in 2019.

The authors note that, “The early retreat of sea ice from the Bering and Chukchi seas has led to a jump in sea surface temperatures, altering weather patterns and upending the lives of residents who typically depend on the ice cover for hunting and fishing. It’s also affecting native species, including seals and seabirds.” In the article I describe the high rate of chick mortality from the loss of sea ice, which limits guillemots’ access to their preferred prey, Arctic cod.

Helping to monitor the changes that are rapidly occurring this summer are a Seattle science teacher, an expeditionary artist, and a French demographer. Pierre-Loup Jan, is a population dynamics modeler from the Centre d’étude biologique de Chizé, a local branch of the French National Centre for Scientific Research, analyzing the Cooper Island database as part of the Sentinels of Sea Ice (SENSEI) project lead by Christophe Barbraud and Yan Ropert-Coudert.

On the island for the second time is Katie Morrison, board president for Friends of Cooper Island and an elementary school science educator in Seattle, WA. Maria Coryell-Martin, an expeditionary artist from Port Townsend, WA, is exploring the landscape and research of Cooper Island through watercolor sketches. Together, Katie and Maria are working on an interdisciplinary exhibit and educational materials.

Even in their short time on the island, they have witnessed dramatic changes and the impact of a rapidly melting Arctic.  

This field report is part of an ongoing series titled Arctic Change centered around George Divoky’s 45th field season studying Black Guillemots, sea ice, and climate change on a remote Arctic island off the coast of Alaska. To donate and support Divoky’s work on Cooper Island, visit the Friends of Cooper Island website.

Read more

Alaska’s sweltering summer is ‘basically off the charts’ by Matthew Cappucci, Juliet Eilperin, Andrew Freedman, and Brady Dennis

SENSEI: 8 Animal Species to Understand Global Warming by BNP Paribas

Europe’s Heat Wave Moves North by National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC)

Satellite Observations of Arctic Change Overview by NSIDC