Welcome to Notes from the NGA -
the inaugural NGA LTER newsletter Photo credit: Nicole Webster
DEI Update
In response to concerns raised during the December All Hands Meeting about communication issues and power dynamics, we have liaised with the UAF Department of Equity and Compliance to brainstorm on ways to best facilitate internal dialogue among NGA participants. We are excited to let you know we have begun planning two facilitated sessions - one for NGA LTER students, another for the broader NGA LTER community. Keep your eyes open for doodle polls and upcoming information about these sessions.
Activities and Accomplishments
Thesis Defense
Congratulations to Megan O’Hara! Megan successfully defended her master’s thesis on Jan 10, and was advised by Suzanne Strom at Western Washington University.
Click here for the Zoom link to Megan’s thesis.
Passcode: FGAxJE!9
Funding
A new LTER synthesis proposal has been funded: Interannual Variability and Long-Term Change in Pelagic Community Structure Across a Latitudinal Gradient, awarded to Russell Hopcroft, Mark Ohman, Heidi Sosik, Oscar Schofield. This will connect research being done in the NGA, the California Current (CCE), the U.S. Northeast Shelf (NES), and the Antarctic Peninsula (PAL).
Congratulations to Sierra Lloyd! Sierra secured funding from URSA (Undergraduate Research and Scholarly Activity) at UAF for spring 2023 to work with Ana Aguilar-Islas. She plans to determine aluminum and manganese concentrations in the NGA LTER domain, and add to the work that Annie Kandel tackled in her master’s thesis.
Frankie Lopez, summer 2022 NGA cruise participant from the WWU REU program, has been chosen to attend the summer 2023 ASLO Aquatic Sciences Meeting in Palma de Mallorca, Spain. Frankie will be part of the long-running ASLO Multicultural Program under the mentorship of Ben Cuker. If you’ll be attending the meeting, be sure to stop in and see Frankie’s presentation about her NGA research on phytoplankton photoinhibition.
Congratulations Sierra (left), Frankie and Megan (center right)!
Education and Outreach Corner
Teacher at Sea
NOAA Teacher At Sea is back for 2023 with a long list of teachers who were selected to sail for 2020 and still haven't gotten the chance. The NGA LTER has offered one berth each during the spring and fall cruises, and we hope to be matched with teachers soon. We have also offered an additional berth to an educator from the Alaska SeaLife Center for the spring cruise.
A priority for this year is making sure that the educators are better equipped to balance the demands of field work with their own needs and interests related to the experience - please get in touch with Katie (katieg@akcoastalstudies.org) if you have any suggestions for this. And check out this piece in the Homer News from Emilie Springer about her at-sea experience in summer 2022.
Emilie Springer (far right) with DPI team members Dr. Russ Hopcroft, Hannah Kepner and Emily Stidham. Photo credit: Nicole Webster
Virtual Field Trip
The NGA LTER is excited to announce a NEW Virtual Field Trip focused on food webs. Created with 5th-9th grade classes and homeschool groups in mind, the virtual field trip uses a fast-paced video, captivating video game, and beautiful art to immerse learners in the Gulf of Alaska ecosystem and explore the topics of food webs, environmental variability, and marine ecology. A lesson plan with 6 activities is available to teachers. The activities are aligned with Next Generation Science Standards plus Alaska Cultural, Reading, and Writing Standards!
2023 Summer Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU)
We are currently accepting applications for our summer 2023 REU program. We will be offering both our Ocean Sciences and Alaska Native REU opportunities this summer, with berths available for students aboard the R/V Kilo Moana. For more information, see our website.
Upcoming Events
Github Announcement
Chris Turner is planning a short webinar to introduce people to github. If you're interested in attending, please reply to Chris (Chris@axiomdatascience.com) to let him know. This should be useful for anyone with processing or analysis scripts that could be shared. The best week to host this lesson is the week of February 13-17. When Chris has heard back from folks who are interested, he'll send out another email with a scheduling poll to help us find a time that works for both the Axiom team, and for as many of you as possible.
Science Talks
We’d like to resume NGA science talks in March – one suggestion was working together to share science as themes, rather than as individual laboratories. Contact Kerri if you’d like to share your science during monthly zoom meetings.
Alaska Marine Sciences Symposium – NGA LTER Participation
AMSS is being held January 23-27, 2023. There will be 3 oral presentations from NGA LTER team members on Tuesday, Jan 24th:
8:15 - 8:30 Twenty-five years of observations reveal strong influence of climate indices along the Seward Line, Russ Hopcroft
8:45 - 9:00 Molecular characterization of the deep-sea zooplankton community from the Gulf of Alaska Seamount Province, Jennifer Questel
9:00 - 9:15 Shifts in microbial community composition during the 2019-2020 Pacific marine heatwave in the northern Gulf of Alaska, Jacob Cohen
The AMSS Gulf of Alaska poster sessions will be Monday night from 6-9 pm.
Join Tom Kelly and the SEAS The Change project for a workshop Monday morning (9-12am) on the future of Arctic data and biogeochemical research perspectives. All are welcome; free food!
ASLO 2023 Aquatic Sciences Meeting
The ASLO 2023 ASM will be held June 4-9 in Palma de Majorca, Spain. Abstract submission and registration is now open, and closes in February.
2023 NGA LTER Cruise Dates
Spring:
Ship: R/V Sikuliaq
Chief Scientist:
Dr. Aguilar-Islas
Cruise ID: SKQ202307S
Mobilization: April 20-21
Start Date: April 22 depart
End Date: May 8th arrival
Demobilization: May 9
Summer:
Ship: R/V Kilo Moana
Chief Scientist: TBD
Cruise ID: TBD
Mobilization: June 27-28
Start Date: June 29 depart
End Date: July 15
Demobilization: July 16
Fall:
Ship: R/V Tiglax
Chief Scientist: Dr. Hopcroft
Cruise ID: TGX2023-09
Mobilization: Sept 9-10
Start Date: Evening of Sept 10 or morning of Sept 11
End Date: Sept 18
Demobilization: Sept 19
In three short months it will be time to start loading and setting up!
NGA LTER Executive Committee Lead PI – Russ Hopcroft
Co-PIs – Ana Aguilar-Islas, Seth Danielson, Jerome Fiechter, Suzanne Strom
Collaborator – Gwenn Hennon
DEI Committee Chair – Ana Aguilar-Islas
E&O – Katie Gavenus
Graduate Student Representative – Emily Ortega
Post-Doctoral Representative – Tom Kelly
Project Manager – Kerri Fredrickson
Newsletter questions, comments, additions?
Contact Kerri at frederk@wwu.edu
Want to share something with the entire NGA LTER Group? Email: all_ngalter@googlegroups.com Please make sure to add this email address to your safe senders list.
