Here's a brief, semi-annual update! Research in the Bering Sea Canyons, especially Pribilof and Zhemchug Canyon, is ongoing and underway now! These are only two of several canyons cut into the North American Continental Margin, aka the Beringian Margin. Zhemchug is the largest undersea canyon in the world, and Pribilof Canyon is an interconnected component of the Pribilof Domain -- an oceanic province, or system, that supports an extraordinary diversity of marine life in the Pribilof Island vicinity.
The multbeam survey of Pribilof Canyon was completed in June by Terrasond-Mt.Mitchell, using NOAA funds. The survey covered depths from about 200 to about 2,200 meters. Immediately following the canyon survey, we headed north and spent two long days surveying areas within king crab essential fish habitat (EFH). Both areas covered also had documented seabed features important for larval king crab -- the feature is called "Shellhash", and is basically piles of bivalve and gastropod shells. The multibeam system onboard the Mt. Mitchell for covering this depth range was the Kongsberg EM 710. We collected and archived both bathymetric and "backscatter" components of the acoustical data. Awesome seafloor maps and other results of these surveys will be posted online soon.
More results from the 2007 submarine expedition are also forthcoming, and will be online here and elsewhere very soon. Specimens were sent to labs globally, and some were worked on in Alaska. The extended "team" has identified species in the canyons -- some of which are new to science, and many are range extensions -- species found in places never reported previously. I have been working on various aspects of the canyon project, including examining stable carbon and nitrogen isotopes of selected species to explore foodwebs of the benthos, species identifications, biogeographical mapping of specimens within the canyon geological setting, and examining microfossils to explore paleoecology of this portion of the Bering Sea shelf edge, also known as the Beringian Margin.
Much more is ongoing, and I shall endeavour to post results from various investigators in the near future. Meanwhile, I have been sharing highlights of some of our work through dozens of presentations at Alaskan schools from Barrow to Juneau, as well as public presentations from Point Barrow to Boston Aquarium. Discussions with students on St. Paul Island, in Seward, Anchorage, Juneau, and elsewhere have been inspirational, and generated new ideas on how to examine these canyons from a scientific and technological perspective.
To those of you that have been emailing me, apologies for slogging on the blogging. Will post more here and on www.alaskadeepocean.org very soon.
The University of Alaska posted an evening presentation I gave on the canyons last year on utube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CvEGfVtZleE
Some links to other media write ups on the canyons are here and elsewhere on this blog.
http://www.gi.alaska.edu/ScienceForum/ASF18/1880.html
http://www.juneauempire.com/stories/091607/loc_20070916020.shtml, http://www.sciencemetropolis.com/category/lecture-notes/
