the BREAKWATER 
A newsletter from the Prince William Sound Science Center
March 2014
Greetings!

 

Katrina Hoffman is away for this issue, while she cares for the newest addition to the Science Center family: Teague Webber, who joined us in early February. In the meantime, I'm minding the fort as Acting President.

 

Although the boss is away, the rest of us don't have time to play; fieldwork has continued apace this winter, with regular surveys to follow how young herring spend the winter, and a long cruise to capture cod for a tagging study. It will only get busier this summer: there will be continuing herring studies, several crews heading out to study the interactions between wild and hatchery salmon, and continued oceanographic monitoring (which this year adds on water sampling to test for Fukushima radioisotopes).

 

Beyond all those research activities, we're gearing up for our 15th Copper River Nouveau, which is just around the corner, on June 7th.  I hope to see you all there!

 

Happy Spring,

 

Rob Campbell, Ph.D.

Acting President/CEO

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Lights! Camera! ROVs?!

On April 11, from 1:30-2:30 at the Bob Korn Memorial Pool, Cordova's sixth graders will have a chance to test our their hand-constructed ROVs. New to this year's challenge are underwater lights and cameras attached to the ROVs for real-time viewing.
 

CLICK HERE to learn more

Science Center to collect seawater for radioactive monitoring program

Starting this April, we will be collecting samples for a program called "How Radioactive is our Ocean." Based out of Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute in Woods Hole, Massachusetts, this is a citizen science campaign that is open for the public to get involved.

 

CLICK HERE to learn more

Conductivity Sensor at the Cordova Tide Station

Many of the tide stations in PWS provide long-term records of water temperature and meteorological variables. A salinity sensor has recently been added to the Cordova tide station to help understand the impacts of freshwater input into the ocean.

 
CLICK HERE to learn more.

Cordova students compete at the Alaska NOSB Competition

Seven Cordova students traveled to Seward at the end of February for the Tsunami Bowl. They also volunteered their time for the ROV Challenge, sponsored by the PWSSC and the PWS RCAC
 

CLICK HERE to learn more

ROVs and Herring Observations

To find herring that congregate under ice, two new techniques were employed to observe the fish. With the use of an ROV (with lights and camera attached) and DIDSON imaging sonar, we were able to determine the size of schools, the size of the fish, and which species were being observed.

 

CLICK HERE to learn more.

Save the Date - June 7, 2014

Sen. Lisa Murkowski is honorary host for our 15th annual Copper River Nouveau! Chef Shane Moore of Spenard Roadhouse will be our guest chef. And joining us on stage for the auction will be April Powers of Anchorage's Magic 98.9 FM.

 

Tickets go on sale April 1. Contact Signe Fritsch, Event Coordinator: sfritsch@pwssc.org or 907-424-5800 ext 232. 

  

CLICK HERE for more details. 

Staff and Board transitions
The past several months at the Science Center have been marked by a number of staff and board changes. These include the retirement of RJ Kopchak (one of the Science Center's co-founders), the departure of long-time educator Lindsay Butters and two Board Members. We also welcomed four new staff members to our team.
 
CLICK HERE to learn more.
The Science Center is committed to understanding how one place on earth can maintain a reliable economy and natural environment for the long-term. 
 
We invite you - donors, researchers, partners, funders, elected officials, citizens - to join us in better understanding one of the world's last, great natural regions, home of the world's richest waters.
The Science Center is committed to understanding how one place on earth can maintain a reliable economy and natural environment for the long-term. 
 
We invite you - donors, researchers, partners, funders, elected officials, citizens - to join us in better understanding one of the world's last, great natural regions, home of the world's richest waters.
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