U.S. Department of Commerce / NOAA / OAR / ERL / PMEL / FOCI
	Fisheries-Oceanography Coordinated Investigations

Chris Baier (rapporteur), Ric Brodeur, Ned Cokelet, Carrie Hadden, Steve Hammond (via teleconference), Al Hermann, Art Kendall, Mark Koehn, Allen Macklin, Jeff Napp, Jim Overland, Ron Reed, Phyllis Stabeno, Beth Sinclair

The North Pacific Marine Science Initiative's Steering Committee soon will recommend proposals for funding.  An announcement is expected about July 1.

• Ned Cokelet compared wind computations from the Miller Freeman's Scientific Computer System (SCS) with his own calculations based on SCS input data.  Wind speeds computed by both methods were similar, as were wind directions when the ship was moving.  However, the SCS wind direction went awry when the ship stopped.  He attributes the problem to the difference between the ship’s heading and course-over-ground.  This may have caused erroneous wind reports from  all NOAA vessels during the last eight years, but probably not consistently, as many ship’s personnel use their own calculations rather than the SCS.  SCS personnel have been advised of Ned's findings.

• Phyllis Stabeno noted that sea ice is still reported to be in the vicinity of Nunivak Island.  Scientists aboard the Alpha Helix, now working near Cape Newenham, found the water column over the shelf was very cold and well mixed.  Seabirds and marine mammals were scarce there, while along the Alaska Peninsula they were highly abundant. These observations contrasted with those of the past two years.

• Near the end of May, five clear days over the Bering Sea provided the first opportunity this season to obtain SEAWIFS photos with possible observations of the coccolithophore bloom.  Phyllis Stabeno has put in a request for this data.

• Unscheduled cruise time may be available in August if the Miller Freeman is unable to get permission to enter Russian waters for the hydroacoustic survey.  Art Kendall has tentatively planned to use this time (August 15-26) for work on young-of-the-year pollock in the Gulf of Alaska.  The final decision will be made next week.

• Phyllis Stabeno, Jeff Napp, and Bill Parker have discussed simplifying field logistics by ending MF99-10 in Dutch Harbor instead of the Pribilofs.

• Draft instructions for fall cruises are due.  Planning for the FY 2000 field season will commence this summer.  See "Field Operations" on the FOCI web site (http://www.pmel.noaa.gov/foci/) for details.

• Auke Bay OCC will conduct a cruise into the Bering Sea from July 12-26.  The primary purpose is to sample juvenile salmon, but there will be room on the cruise for a FOCI scientist to conduct other observations.  The cruise will sample along the north side of the Alaska Peninsula from Unimak Pass into Bristol Bay.

• A joint meeting of scientists from SEBSCC and NSF's Inner Front Study is being considered for Seattle this fall.  Tentative dates are November 8-10.  The agenda would include separate SEBSCC and Inner Front annual meetings, joint presentations on the status of the eastern Bering Sea, and time to plan a special journal issue for which draft manuscripts would be due next summer.

• Satellite-tracked drifters - Phyllis Stabeno discussed the purchase, deployment, and drift patterns of this season's satellite-tracked drifters.  Ten drifters have been deployed during the past two months.  Trajectories to date (see figure below) show that there has been virtually no flow through Unimak Pass onto the shelf, where flow typically is weak but persistent, but that the Bering Slope Current has been very strong, moving drifters toward the Pribilofs faster than usual.  These flow patterns are similar to those seen in 1997.

 
• Greenbelt cruise (MF99-07) -  Beth Sinclair reported on a very successful mid-water ecology cruise supporting the Arctic Research Initiative and Southeast Bering Sea Carrying Capacity.   An objective of the cruise was to sample myctophids, squid, and other midwater prey of apex predators. This was an important study, as there is little information on this portion of the food web for the eastern Bering Sea.  Three depth layers (maximum depths 250, 500, and 1000 m) were sampled at two locations - near Unimak Pass and south of Bogoslof Island - during a total of 15 day and night trawls.  Newly designed trawl equipment performed well. Differences in the midwater species composition between the Unimak (predominantly fish) and Bogoslof (squid) sites corresponded to differences in the diets of marine mammals foraging in these areas.   Species were found that had been seen only in gut contents from the area previously.  In conjunction with this sampling, CTDs and bongo nets were deployed.  Flow data from satellite-tracked drifters will be incorporated into the study.

 
•  Shelikof late larval survey (MF99-08 and W9905D) - Art Kendall discussed the survey, for which the Miller Freeman and Wecoma worked in tandem.  These cruises had two objectives: to conduct the annual late larval abundance survey in the Gulf of Alaska and to improve the sampling methods.  An adaptive sampling regime was employed to improve abundance estimates and better define small-scale variability or patchiness.  When larval densities above a threshold were encountered, a fine-scale grid was sampled around that site.  In additions, the use of two ships allowed for a much larger sampling area than in previous years.  Finally, nearshore sampling, in areas too shallow or dangerous for the ships to enter, was accomplished from the Miller Freeman’s workboat, rigged for bongo operations.   Preliminary results suggest that larvae were concentrated in the usual areas but abundances were unusually low this year.

The next FOCI PI meeting will be held at 10 a.m., July 8, 1999,  in the AFSC Director's Conference Room (4/2143). Please submit to Allen Macklin, no later than the day before the meeting, agenda items and fax-ready copies of figures or handouts that you intend to present at the next meeting.  Alternately, presentation materials may be posted on the WWW or e-mailed to remote participants before the meeting.

Mail corrections and addenda to the FOCI Coordinator.