Gulf Watch Alaska: Monitoring the Pulse of the Gulf of Alaska's Changing Ecosystems

Gulf Watch Alaska, the long-term ecosystem monitoring program of the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill Trustee Council, provides a forum for collaboration and integration of 15 field monitoring projects within the northern Gulf of Alaska region from Katmai National Park and Preserve to the Copper River Delta.  Over 40 scientists participate in collection and archiving of data, from physical ocean conditions to species distributions and metrics of health across the Gulf of Alaska.  The program fosters collaboration across research specialties with a focus on research questions that integrate physical and biological information.  The program also uses conceptual modeling to guide monitoring priorities and identify data gaps and sources of variability.  With several data sets extending across decades, this information has been used by researchers to focus process studies, examine effects of large-scale perturbations and our changing climate, and identify potential drivers of ecosystem change now and into the future.  This poster highlights the recent status of several of the monitoring projects and discusses integrated findings and research within the program.  We also highlight program resources such as publicly available data sets, visualization tools, and recent publications.