Funding: Total NPRB Funding Requested: $_______________ Total Matching Funds Used: $_______________ Legally Binding Authorizing Signature and Affiliation:

• Main Authors: Nearshore Circulation, In The, Bering Sea, Towards Community
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Subjects: Arctic; Arctic Ocean; Bering Sea; Pacific; Nunivak; Nunivak Island; Alaska
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.581.5328; http://doc.nprb.org/web/npmri/npmriweingartner.pdf

We propose a pilot study with two goals: 1. Investigate the poorly understood circulation in the nearshore (inshore of ~20 m isobath) Bering Sea shelf. 2. Conduct this work cooperatively with citizens from western Alaska. This region is important habitat for birds, marine mammals, and fish, particularly for juvenile salmon migrating from the rivers of western Alaska into the ocean. It is therefore an important component of the Bering Sea ecosystem. The mean circulation might be a pathway by which ocean-borne contaminants from the North Pacific reach western Alaska and the Arctic Ocean. We will use satellite-tracked drifters to investigate the circulation during summer and fall 2002 with residents of Mekoryuk (Nunivak Island) deploying the drifters from their vessels. We will establish an Internet site that will show updated drifter trajectories daily, include regional satellite imagery, and provide information on the regional oceanography and traditional knowledge (provided by the residents of western Alaska) of this nearshore ecosystem. Our outreach effort will include a visit to Mekoryuk to present the results, explain aspects of the analysis and results, and to obtain local perspectives of this ecosystem. The drifter data will be analyzed using standard analyses to characterize the spatial and temporal variability of the circulation