My Half-Century with an Arctic Seabird Why our continued research and unique half-century data set will become
even more important as the Arctic, and the planet, continue to warm. Watch the 2024 Video Update! "The ice might be gone in my lifetime." Download lesson plans and sample data sets to use in classroom activities. View Resources SECOND GRADER NOTE During a presentation by George Divoky at UCDS This Arctic Ice Won't Last Forever... We're losing the Arctic ice pack at a staggering 13% a decade. Only another Global Ice Age can replace it. Access the Research Explore the biological, atmospheric and emotional impacts of climate change. Expeditionary Art inspired by a visit to Cooper Island in 2019. Explore the Art of Cooper Island Fifty Summers in the Arctic Stories of Change, Science & Hope Watch the 2023 Video Update! Climate Change: Don't Look North! If you want to ignore how fast the climate is changing. Watch the 2022 Video Update

Latest from Cooper Island

Black Guillemot Breeding Pairs

Fifty Summers in the Arctic

Stories of Change, Science & Hope

This is the 2022 Cooper Island Annual Update from March 7, 2023 at Town Hall, Seattle. In addition to providing an update on the status of George’s seabird study colony and the melting Arctic, George shares stories (some funny, some sad) about the joy and heartbreak of maintaining a remote field camp for five decades.

Arctic Sea Ice Concentration

0% 1975
0% 1985
0% 1995
0% 2005 Onwards

Sea ice concentration = ratio of sea ice to water

<30% sea ice concentration = ships can travel here.
>90% = solid ice.

Arctic Cod is a high protein food source that Black Guillemots feed their chicks. Arctic cod only live under sea ice packs.

In September 2020, the US National Snow and Ice Data Center reported that the Arctic sea ice in 2020 had melted to an area of 3.74 million km2, its second-smallest area since records began in 1979.

How It’s All Connected

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