Alaska Sea Grant ASJ Arctic Newcomer

Arctic Science Journeys
Radio Script
1996

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Arctic Newcomer
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STORY: The black guillemot is a seabird common in places like Maine, where it feeds on fish and shellfish along the coast. But in Alaska's high Arctic--near the remote Inupiat Eskimo town of Barrow--black guillemots are newcomers. Here, they've adapted to feed at the edge of the ice pack where cod and plankton congregate. Despite the long odds, black guillemots have carved a niche for themselves at the top of the world. Scientist George Divoky says guillemots owe their success to a warming Arctic climate.

"Prior to my study, snow melt in Barrow was taking place so late that there wasn't a big enough window for guillemots to breed there successfully. So that only in the past 30 years have conditions in Barrow even been something that guillemots could use for breeding."

Divoky is a graduate student at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. He's studied black guillemots since the 1970s when a small number of the seabirds took up residence in artificial nest sites near Barrow, Alaska. Divoky says a global climate shift has warmed the Arctic about five degrees on average, a trend that has caused black guillemots to lay eggs and hatch chicks earlier.

"Over my 20-year period, guillemots have advanced their date of laying by 9 to 10 days, and this is due to the fact that snow is melting roughly 9 to 10 days earlier at Barrow, ten days earlier than it did when I first started my study in 1975."

A warmer climate has given Alaska's guillemot chicks more time to learn to fly and forage on their own. As a result, their population has soared. But climate warming is proving both a blessing and curse. Divoky explains:

"One of the impacts of global warming is that ice break up and snow melt is occurring earlier and this is putting more moisture up into the air so that in September snowfall is much heavier now than it ever has been in Barrow. Snowfall is taking place and actually has trapped chicks in the colony."

Divoky says global warming's flip side is taking a severe toll on guillemots. He says overwinter survival has dropped from a high of about 90 percent to just over 75 percent in recent years.

Another downside may be the loss of Arctic sea ice. Scientists have noticed less sea ice in the North Atlantic Ocean, and they wonder not if, but when sea ice will recede in the high Arctic. If sea ice recedes too far from nesting sites on land, young guillemots may be unable to find food. Ironically, Divoky says, while global warming has given black guillemots a short-term helping hand, it may also be their undoing.

Reporting from Fairbanks, this is Debra Damron for Arctic Science Journeys.

Arctic Science Journeys is a radio service highlighting science, culture, and the environment of the circumpolar north. Produced by the Alaska Sea Grant College Program and the University of Alaska Fairbanks.

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