For UAF professors Rolf Gradinger, Bodil Bluhm, and Russ Hopcroft, excitement usually comes in the form of small animals living in ice, the waters of the Arctic, or expensive scientific machinery breaking down. But this month the trio are excited over something else: they happen to be featured in the January issue of National Geographic.

The article, titled "Northern Exposure," details an expedition by the three UAF professors and other scientists through the Canada Basin, a 2.3-mile-deep depression in the Arctic Ocean. The 2002 voyage lasted 24 days and was sponsored by the Ocean Exploration Program of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Japan Marine Science and Technology Center, and Fisheries and Oceans Canada.

The UAF scientists featured in the article are still getting used to the public attention the article has brought. Gradinger noted how strange it was to be featured in the globally-distributed periodical. A native of Germany, along with his wife and colleague Bluhm, Gradinger said he has been getting e-mails from his German friends.

"It's been a little bit frightening."

The article also made for good laughs amongst colleagues. Gradinger said that most work of scientists is usually written in strict technical terms. In contrast, one line from the article written by Jennifer Steinberg Holland describes Gradinger as "antsy," a term the professor would never allow to sneak into his papers.

Using various techniques on the expedition, UAF scientists studied the Canada Basin's animal life. Observation was made difficult because many of the animals live deep in the ocean or within the ice. Several divers dove beneath the ice to collect samples.

In one of the article's photos a diver used a plastic tube and funnel to collect the creatures. Bluhm joked that despite all the expensive equipment, sometimes the best samples are collected using items from Fred Meyer.

More sophisticated techniques were used to determine the population within the ice. To retrieve samples of the animals within the ice, the group used "ice cores," fiberglass tubes with cutting edges at the bottom powered by electric drill. According to Gradinger, the ice samples contained 12,000 animals per square meter on average.

Some animals and flora cannot easily be studied. Smaller animals living at the sea floor can be collected with "box cores," metal boxes with weights on top and lids on the bottom that close when triggered. However, fish are too mobile to be captured with the box cores, and cannot be caught with nets because of the ice. Bluhm said they usually had to rely on video shot by the Global Explorer, the group's remotely operated vehicle, or ROV. Although the ROV did provide good images, Bluhm says that it is impossible to properly determine the species the fish and invertebrates from only video and photos. The ROV experienced some technological problems and on several days was not able to be used due to the bad weather or ice conditions.

Video cameras operated by divers were able to capture one amazing discovery – Arctic cod, which had never before been studied offshore. When the fish were discovered, a diver just casually mentioned what he had seen "as if it were something normal," said Gradinger. Everyone else, though, became immediately enthusiastic.

The data and findings collected during the voyage will be a great contribution to global warming research.  The Arctic is expected "to be more vulnerable" to warming trends, said Hopcroft, and as a result, it is seen as a good source of data for global warming research.

Gradinger said the amount of ice in the area is shrinking at a rate of three-percent per decade. As the ice thins and the amount of ice decreases, the animal habitats will change, as fewer animals will be able to live in the ice and birds will have an easier time getting fish. Data collection is an important key to researching arctic trends and will allow scientists in the future to discover what changes occurred over the previous decades.

The National Geographic article also included several photographs taken by Paul Nicklen. The photos are one of Gradinger's favorite parts.

"They capture a lot of the unique beauty of the Arctic."

Bluhm felt the article did a "pretty good job" of "capturing the atmosphere, goals, and tensions" of their expedition. She was a little disappointed, though, that a large portion of the article, which she had been told about, had been edited out. The section was supposed to deal with the arctic sea floor.

Other UAF staff members and graduate students who were on the expedition included professors Gerald Plumley and Terry Whitledge and graduate students Casey Debenham and Sang Lee. UAF Professors Katrin Iken and Mark Johnson were also part of the team, but they did not go on the voyage. 

Overall the university scientists are enjoying the press coverage. The article was definitely good press for the university and the School of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences said Hopcroft. The greatest benefit, according to Gradinger, will be having people outside the scientific community become interested in their work.

            With symposia and scientific journals, it "is easy for us to inform our colleagues about our work," said Gradinger. But because scientific journals are not usually read by the masses it is hard to communicate to the general public what research is being done.

"It is important that this disconnect is overcome," he said. "And the way the writer of National Geographic presents our science in the paper makes it easy to approach and understand."

Photo by Stephanie Taylor / Sun Star
School of Fisheries and Ocean Science professors Bodil Bluhm, Rolf Gradinger, and Russ Hopcroft were featured in an article in National Geographic. The professors were involved in a research expedition.

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