OngoingstudiesESSFY2003

MMS Alaska Environmental Studies Program
Ongoing Studies
FY 2004

Program Lead	Title	2003	2004	2005	2006
PLANNED NEW STARTS (FY 2004)
MMS	Review and Monitoring Ambient Artificial Light Intensity in the OCS and the Potential for Effects on Resident Fauna	x	x
MMS	Improvements in the Fault Tree Approach to Oil Spill Occurrence Estimators for the Beaufort and Chukchi Seas		x
MMS	Empirical Weathering Properties of Oil in Snow and Ice		x	x	x
MMS	Surface Circulation Radar Mapping in Alaskan Coastal Waters: Field Study Beaufort Sea and Cook Inlet		x	x	x
MMS	Aerial Photography of Bowhead Whales to Estimate the Size of the Western Arctic Population		x
MMS	Workshop on Bird Hazing/Deterrent Techniques: Phase I		x
MMS	Passive Acoustic Monitoring of Whales in Lower Cook Inlet		x	x
MMS	Survey of Steller's Eiders Wintering in Lower Cook Inlet		x	x
MMS	Movements and Habitat Use of Harbor Seals in Cook Inlet		x	x	x
MMS	Researching Technical Dialogue with Alaskan Coastal Communities: Analysis of the Social, Cultural, Linguistic, and Institutional Parameters of Public/Agency Communication Patterns		x	x
ONGOING STUDIES
*Protected Species*
MMS	Monitoring the Distribution of Arctic Whales	x	x
MMS	Analysis of Covariance of Human Activities and Sea Ice in Relation to Fall Migrations of Bowhead Whales	x
MMS	Protocol to Deflect Migrating Bowhead Whales Away from an Oil Spill	x
MMS	Distribution and Abundance of Harbor Seals	x	x	x
MMS/BRD	Development of Remote Sensing Survey Techniques for Arctic Marine Mammals: Pacific Walrus	x	x
MMS/BRD	Polar Bear Den Survey: Workshop
MMS/BRD	Simulation Modeling of Effects of Oil Spills on Polar Bear Population Dynamics
MMS/CMI	Satellite Tracking of Eastern Chukchi Sea Beluga Whales in the Beaufort Sea and Arctic Ocean
MMS/CMI	King and Common Eider Migrations Past Point Barrow	x
MMS/CMI	Population Structure of Common Eiders Nesting on Coastal Barrier Islands in the Beaufort Sea
MMS/CMI	Breeding Biology and Habitat Use of King Eiders on the Coastal Plain of Northern Alaska
MMS/CMI	Importance of the Alaskan Beaufort Sea to King Eiders		x
MMS/CMI	Correction Factor for Ringed Seal Surveys in Northern Alaska
MMS/CMI	Timing and Reinterpretation of Ringed Seal Surveys
MMS/CMI	Satellite Tracking of Bowhead Whales: The Planning Phase		x	x
MMS/FWS	Polar Bear Population Monitoring Workshop
MMS/FWS	Demography and Behavior of Polar Bears Feeding on Stranded Marine Mammal Carcasses
MMS/NMFS	Development of Remote Sensing Survey Techniques for marine Mammals and Birds in the Arctic: Harbor Sea Haulout Patterns	x	x	x
Biology
MMS	Analysis of Variation in Abundance of Arctic Cisco in the Colville River	x	x
MMS	Locating Overwintering Fish Habitat, Colville River/Beaufort Sea	x	x
MMS/BRD	Modeling Recovery Rates for Avian Populations
MMS/CMI	Premigratory Movements and Physiology of Shorebirds Staging on the Alaska North Slope	x	x
MMS/CMI	Role of Grazers on the Recolonization of Hard Bottom Communities in the Alaska Beaufort
MMS/CMI	Susceptibility of Sea Ice Biota to Disturbances in the Shallow Beaufort Sea
MMS/CMI	Foraging Ecology of Common Ravens on Alaska's Coastal Plain and Relationship to O&G Development	x
*Physical Oceanography*
MMS	Surface Circulation Radar Mapping in Alaskan Coastal Waters: Planning/Feasibility Study
MMS	Synthesis and Collection of Meteorological Data in the Nearshore Beaufort Sea	x	x
MMS	Beaufort Nearshore Currents	x	x
MMS	Mapping and Characterization of Recurring Spring Leads and Landfast Ice in the Beaufort Sea	x
MMS/CMI	Alaska Sea Ice Atlas
MMS/CMI	Workshop for Hydrological Model for Freshwater Discharge		x
MMS/CMI	Water and Ice Dynamics in Cook Inlet	x	x
MMS/CMI	Measurements of Temperature, Salinity, and Circulation Hydrography in Central Cook Inlet, Alaska
MMS/CMI	The Circulation, Thermohaline Structure, and Cross Shelf Transport in Alaskan Beaufort Sea
MMS/CMI	CODAR in Alaska	x
MMS/CMI	Sea-Ice-Ocean-Oilspill Modeling for Nearshore Beaufort and Chukchi Seas: Improvement and Parameterization	x	x
MMS/CMI	High-Resolution Numerical Modeling of Near-Surface Weather Conditions: Cook Inlet/Shelikof	x
MMS/CRREL	Simulation of Landfast Sea Ice Along the Alaska Coast		x
MMS/NASA	Sea Ice Modeling for Nearshore Beaufort and Chukchi Seas	x	x	x
*Fate and Effects*
MMS	Persistence of Crude Oil Spills on Open Water	x
MMS	Oil Spill Occurrence Estimators for Beaufort/Chukchi Sea OCS
MMS	Revision of the OCS Oil Weathering Model: Phases II & III
MMS/CMI	A Nowcast/Forecast Model for the Beaufort Sea Ice-Ocean-Oil Spill System
MMS/CMI	Petroleum Hydrocarbon Degrading Microbial Communities in Beaufort Sea Sediments
MMS/CMI	Trace Metals and Hydrocarbons in Sediments of Beaufort Lagoon Northeast Arctic Alaska	x
	*Social and Economic*
MMS	Quantitative Description of Potential Impacts of OCS Activities on Bowhead Whale Hunting/Subsistence
MMS	Subsistence Mapping of Nuiqsut, Kaktovik and Barrow: Past and Present Comparison	x
MMS	Collection of Traditional Knowledge of the Alaskan North Slope
MMS	Synthesis/Book of Information on the Socioeconomic Effects of O&G Industry Activity, AK OCS
MMS	North Slope Borough Economy, 1965 to Present	x
MMS	Social and Economic Assessment of major Oil Spill Litigation		x	x
*Multidisciplinary*
MMS	Arctic Nearshore Impact Monitoring in Development Area (ANIMIDA)	x	x
MMS	Continuation of Arctic Nearshore Impact Monitoring in Development Area (ANIMIDA)		x	x
MMS	Update of Environmental Information for Cook Inlet, Chukchi/Hope Basin and Norton Basin Planning Areas		x
MMS/CMI	MMS - University of Alaska Fairbanks - State of Alaska Coastal Marine Institute Management	x	x
Other
MMS	Beaufort Sea and North Slope Pipeline GIS Database	x	x
MMS	Determining Archaeological Potential of Buried Terrestrial Land forms in the Beaufort Sea: Phase I		x
MMS	Conference Management and Reports on MMS Results	x	x	x
MMS	Management, Logistics, and Warehouse Storage of Oceanographic Equipment	x	x
MMS = Minerals Management Service BRD = Biological Resources Division (US Geological Survey) CMI = Coastal Marine Institute (University of Alaska, Fairbanks) CRREL = Cold Regions Research & Engineering Laboratory (U.S. Army Corps of Engineers) NMFS = National Marine Fisheries Service (National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration) FWS = Fish & Wildlife Service ( U.S. Dept of the Interior)