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GOMO-Funded Project

Ecosystem Fisheries Oceanography Coordinated Investigations (EcoFOCI)

Arctic Sunrise Photo by Jessica Cross
  • Principal Investigator(s):
  • Project Institution(s): Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory
  • Fiscal Year: 2023
  • Award Period:
    10/01/2021 - 09/30/2022
  • Partners and Affiliations AFSC, Marine Mammal Laboratory, ITAE, PMEL Genetics and Genomics Group, PMEL Nutrients Program, WHOI, DBO
  • Vessels Information:
    R/V Sikuliaq & USCGC Healy

Improving understanding of factors affecting the health and populations of ecologically and commercially important fish and other species, and how ecosystems respond to change.

The unparalleled warming, reduced ice spread, and early sea ice retreat occurring in the Arctic has enormous implications for surrounding ecosystems and Arctic biotic interactions. This project aims to improve understanding of factors affecting the health and populations of ecologically and commercially important fish and other species, and how ecosystems respond to change.

The Ecosystem Fisheries Oceanography Coordinated Investigations (EcoFOCI) project collects time series data of temperature, salinity, chlorophyll fluorescence, oxygen, light and currents at nine mooring sites, along with hydrographic surveys and plankton sampling in the Chukchi Sea and the Distributed Biological Observatory (DBO) Regions 1-5. This project involves Arctic cruise expeditions, which examine physical, chemical (nutrients and oxygen) and biological (chlorophyll, ichthyo-, and zooplankton, and benthic fish and invertebrates) distributions in the northern Bering Sea and the Chukchi Sea. In addition to providing annual time series of physical, chemical and biological variables, the mooring data collected provide estimates of transport of Pacific water and heat exiting the Chukchi shelf through Barrow Canyon.

Project Data

Publications and Reports

  • Full EcoFOCI Publications ListAccess
  • Lee, C.M., M. DeGrandpre, J. Guthrie, V. Hill, R. Kwok, J. Morison, C.J. Cox, H. Singh, T.P. Stanton, and J. Wilkinson. 2022. Emerging technologies and approaches for in situ, autonomous observing in the Arctic. Oceanography 35(3–4):210–221, https://doi.org/10.5670/oceanog.2022.127.Access
  • Crance, J. L., C. L. Berchok, B. M. Kimber, J. M. Harlacher, E. K. Braen, and M. C. Ferguson, 2022. Year-round distribution of bearded seals, Erignathus barbatus, throughout the Alaskan Chukchi and northern Bering Sea. Deep Sea Res. II: 206:105215. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dsr2.2022.105215Access
  • Danielson, S.L., J.M. Grebmeier, K. Iken, C. Berchok, L. Britt, K.H. Dunton, L. Eisner, E.V. Farley, A. Fujiwara, D.D.W. Hauser, M. Itoh, T. Kikuchi, S. Kotwicki, K.J. Kuletz, C.W. Mordy, S. Nishino, C. Peralta-Ferriz, R.S. Pickart, P.J. Stabeno, K.M. Stafford, A.V. Whiting, and R. Woodgate, 2022: Monitoring Alaskan Arctic shelf ecosystems through collaborative observation networks. Oceanography, 35(2), 52, https://doi.org/10.5670/oceanog.2022.119Access
  • Jorgensen, L. L., E. A. Logerwell, N. Strelkova, D. Zakharov, V. Roy, C. Nozeres, B. A. Bluhm, S. Hilma Ólagsdottir, J. M. Burgos, J. Sorensen, O. Zimina and K. Rand, 2022. International megabenthic long-term monitoring of a changing arctic ecosystem: Baseline results. Prog. Oceanog. 200:102712. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pocean.2021.102712Access
  • Lefebvre, K.A., E. Fachon, E.K. Bowers, D.G. Kimmel, J.A. Snyder, R. Stimmelmayr, J.M. Grebmeier, S. Kibler, R. Hardison, D.M. Anderson, D. Kulis, J. Murphy, J.C. Gann, D. Cooper, L.B. Eisner, J.T. Duffy-Anderson, G. Sheffield, R.S. Pickart, A. Mounsey, M.L. Willis, P. Stabeno, and E. Siddon, 2022: Paralytic shellfish toxins in Alaskan Arctic food webs during the anomalously warm ocean conditions of 2019 and estimated toxin doses to Pacific walruses and bowhead whales. Harmful Algae, 114, 102205, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.hal.2022.102205Access
  • Moore S.E., J.T. Clarke, S.R. Okkonen, J.M. Grebmeier, C.L. Berchok, and K.M. Stafford, 2022. Changes in gray whale phenology and distribution related to prey variability and ocean biophysics in the northern Bering and eastern Chukchi seas. PLoS ONE 17(4): e0265934. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0265934Access
  • Muto, M. M., V. T. Helker, B. J. Delean, N. C. Young, J. C. Freed, R. P. Angliss, N. A. Friday, P. L. Boveng, J. M. Breiwick, B. M. Brost, M. F. Cameron, P. J. Clapham, J. L. Crance, S. P. Dahle, M. E. Dahlheim, B. S. Fadley, M. C. Ferguson, L. W. Fritz, K. T. Goetz, R. C. Hobbs,Y. V. Ivashchenko, A. S. Kennedy, J. M. London, S. A. Mizroch, R. R. Ream, E. L. Richmond, K. E. W. Shelden, K. L. Sweeney, R. G. Towell, P. R. Wade, J. M. Waite, and A. N. Zerbini, 2022. Alaska marine mammal stock assessments, 2021. U.S. Dep. Commer., NOAA Tech. Memo. NMFS-AFSC-441, 295 p.Access

  • Publications in Review

    McCabe, R. M., P. J. Stabeno, et al. (in preparation) Estimates of heat transport through the Chukchi Sea to the Beaufort Sea from a decade of in situ observations. Part of the NPRB sponsored AIERP.

    Mordy, C.W., P. Stabeno, H. Hristova (in preparation). Interannual variability of salts and nutrients at the Distributed Biological Observatory Site DBO 1. Part of the NPRB sponsored AIERP.

    Stabeno, P. and R. McCabe (accepted). Flow patterns over the Chukchi continental shelf: 2010-2020: A decade of observations in the Chukchi Sea. Part of the NPRB sponsored AIERP.

    Sullivan, M.E. and Stabeno, P.J. (revised, in review). A decade of measurements of ice draft in the Chukchi Sea. Part of the NPRB sponsored AIERP.

  • Additional Links and Resources

    EcoFOCI Website – Access Link

    Maps – Access Link

    EcoFOCI Cruise Catalog – Access Link

    EcoFOCI Data Management Plan – Access Link