Join us on this session with Dr. Ajit Subramaniam on Co-Production of Knowledge on an Emerging Threat of CyanoHABs in the Arctic The Arctic is warming at more than twice the rate as the rest of the planet with subsequent changes to the microbial population. The coastal community of Kotzebue is located just north of the Arctic Circle on the northwest coast of Alaska. Kotzebue Sound is commercially and culturally important to the local community, which harvests on average 230,000 chum salmon, and the fish and marine mammals from the Sound provide up to 70% of their annual food harvest by weight. A weekly journal maintained by Alex Whiting, Environmental Program Director for the Native Village of Kotzebue (NVOK) first noted the incidence of cyanobacterial blooms off Kotzebue in 2008 that was subsequently identified as cyanotoxin containing species of Aphanizomenon sp., Nodularia sp., and Dolichospermum sp. I will report about our ongoing work in collaboration with the Native Village of Kotzebue to investigate the changes to phytoplankton populations in these waters.

Speaker

Dr. Ajit Subramaniam
Research Professor, Lamont Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University

Dr. Ajit Subramaniam is a Lamont Research Professor at the Lamont Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University and is an oceanographer with expertise in biogeochemical cycles, remote sensing, bio-optics, and phytoplankton physiology. He is interested in advancing our ability to observe the ocean and expand our understanding how the marine ecosystem works and can be managed. Ajit earned his Ph.D. in Coastal Oceanography and M.S. in Marine Environmental Science from SUNY, Stony Brook. He has a Bachelors degree in Physics from The American College in India.
The Arctic is warming at more than twice the rate as the rest of the planet with subsequent changes to the microbial population. The coastal community of Kotzebue is located just north of the Arctic Circle on the northwest coast of Alaska. Kotzebue Sound is commercially and culturally important to the local community, which harvests on average 230,000 chum salmon, and the fish and marine mammals from the Sound provide up to 70% of their annual food harvest by weight. A weekly journal maintained by Alex Whiting, Environmental Program Director for the Native Village of Kotzebue (NVOK) first noted the incidence of cyanobacterial blooms off Kotzebue in 2008 that was subsequently identified as cyanotoxin containing species of Aphanizomenon sp., Nodularia sp., and Dolichospermum sp. I will report about our ongoing work in collaboration with the Native Village of Kotzebue to investigate the changes to phytoplankton populations in these waters.