Sikuliaq underway on unique Alaska coastal research voyage

A 2,500-mile, 16-day research cruise that began Thursday in Seward and concludes in Nome aims to advance environmental research in coastal Alaska through a novel addition: public tours of the research vessel when it makes port calls.

The Convergence Research Cruise on the research vessel Sikuliaq is a part of the four-year ACTION project, a $13.9 million program funded in 2023 by the National Science Foundation and led by the University of Alaska Fairbanks. The project helps multiple communities respond to coastal erosion, flooding, permafrost thaw and other hazards attributed to environmental change.

“The idea of the cruise is that we would have one grand activity that embodies all of the pillars of the ACTION project,” said Chris Maio, director of the UAF Alaska Coastal Cooperative.

Maio is also director of the UAF Geophysical Institute’s Arctic Coastal Geoscience Lab and a professor with the UAF College of Natural Science and Mathematics.

ACTION, the Alaska Coastal Cooperative for Co-producing Transformative Ideas and Opportunities in the North, seeks to enhance communication among communities, universities and government agencies; advance applied science to address local priorities and data gaps; and develop local workforces.

“We’re going to do it all on this one ship over 16 days,” Maio said. “It’s like taking the mission of the project to sea.”

The UAF College of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences operates the Sikuliaq, which is owned by the National Science Foundation. It is the only ice-capable vessel in the U.S. academic research fleet.

Cruise participants include nearly a dozen Indigenous scientists, researchers and students in the physical and social sciences from four universities, a program evaluator and a filmmaker.

Assistant professor Kay McMonigal of the UAF College of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences said the cruise will be eye-opening for many people onboard.

“A lot of the people coming with us have never been on a research vessel before,” he said. “Seeing how science happens on a big ship and the capabilities of the ship will be really helpful to people.”

The science

The science team will conduct research during its Chignik Bay, Atka and Gambell port calls and will do offshore research at St. Paul, Hooper Bay and Nome. Public tours of the Sikuliaq will occur at Chignik Bay, Atka and Gambell. 

The work will fill data gaps in support of coastal hazard assessments and storm forecasting and response. 

“Getting data where there isn’t much data is a big motivation,” McMonigal said. “The northern Bering Sea is one of those areas. There aren’t a lot of moorings or buoys to show what”s going on.”

The team will deploy wave buoys on the surface and wave-measuring moorings on the seafloor to monitor the role of wave action on Chignik Bay, Atka, Hooper Bay and Gambell. Instruments will measure waves, pressure, temperature, salinity and ocean currents with data hosted by the Alaska Ocean Observing System.

“Filling those information gaps will help our understanding of how the Arctic is changing but also can inform people about what the condition of the ocean is on a certain day,” McMonigal said. “What do the waves look like? Is it safe to go out?”

Team members will map the seafloor to improve storm modeling for all communities on the cruise route and will collect marine sediment cores. They will use a drone to map Chignik Bay, Atka and Gambell and their infrastructure.

The team will also monitor harmful algal blooms, which occur in warmer water and can lead to fatal paralytic shellfish poisoning.

“Most algal blooms aren’t harmful,” McMonigal said. “But several of our partner communities have brought up harmful algal blooms as a big concern."

Maio said community-to-community communication has proved to be some of the most powerful interactions in past ACTION activities. He sees that continuing on the current cruise.

“By bringing community members to the different places we’re visiting, they can ask questions: ‘What’s it like here?’ ‘What are the hunting practices here?” ‘What do we catch?’ ‘What are the science priorities in my village compared to your village?’” Maio said.

About ACTION

ACTION is led by the Alaska Coastal Cooperative at UAF. Collaborators include rural coastal communities, Arizona State University, the University of Northern Iowa and the University of Texas El Paso.

Participating Alaska communities include Point Lay, Gambell, Hooper Bay, St. Paul Island, Nelson Lagoon, Atka and the Chignik Intertribal Coalition, which includes Chignik Lake, Chignik Lagoon, Chignik Bay, Ivanof Bay and Perryville. The project also includes the community of Tuktoyaktuk in Canada.