Coring practice on board the R/V Sikuliaq. UAF/GI photo by JR Ancheta
Coring practice on board the R/V Sikuliaq. UAF/GI photo by JR Ancheta
An aerial view of the R/V Sikuliaq at sea. The Sikuliaq will carry researchers through the Bering Sea during the Bering Land Bridge project. UAF/GI photo by Chris Maio
An aerial view of the R/V Sikuliaq at sea. The Sikuliaq will carry researchers through the Bering Sea during the Bering Land Bridge project. UAF/GI photo by Chris Maio

Bering Land Bridge research project underway

August 07, 2023

UAF researchers aboard the R/V Sikuliaq during August are reconstructing the environment of the Bering Land Bridge prior to it being covered by rising sea water.

The NSF-funded project will collect marine sediments and microfossils deposited in lakes, ponds or bogs that were above sea level during the last ice age. The researchers will employ a gravity corer — a weighted tube that falls through the water and uses gravity to push it into the sediment — to bring samples to the surface for study. In a few places, they will also employ a vibracorer, which uses high-frequency vibration to drive the sampling device into the sediment about 10 meters below the seafloor.

By examining these cores, they hope to reconstruct the vegetation and climate of the Bering Land Bridge when it was above sea level. Results will also shed light on the resources available to human inhabitants and the challenges they faced during and after the last ice age as sea level rose and the land bridge was submerged.

The team consists of team leader Sarah Fowell, Nancy Bigalow, Mat Wooller, Chris Maio (CNSM/GI), David Scholl (former Chapman Chair), Beth Caissie (USGS) and Jenna Hill (USGS). Rounding out the team are graduate students Josh Barna, Sara Datson and Ryan Oeste, and undergraduates Sarah Andreanoff, Jim Costigan, Wil Kleiner and Xochitl Muñoz and postdoc, Sambit Ghosh. Geophysical Institute Chief Storyteller JR Ancheta is also aboard as media liaison and photographer/videographer.

The public is invited to follow along via several digital and social media channels.

Facebook

Instagram

Other platforms

There will also be a ship-to-shore live broadcast from Sikuliaq on Aug. 24 at noon as part of the National Science Foundation’s “Live from the Arctic” series. The event is geared toward elementary and middle school students, but everyone is invited to join.

More information about the Bering Land Bridge research project is available through Bering Land Bridge National Preserve.

More information about the students aboard: UAF geoscience students take to the Bering Sea

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Since it was established by an Act of Congress in 1946, scientists at the Geophysical Institute have studied geophysical processes from the center of the Earth to the surface of the sun and beyond, turning data and observations into information useful for state, Arctic and national priorities.

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