SEANET is the Ocean Scientists and Educators in Alaska Network and has the goal of promoting Alaska ocean and climate change literacy.

The group is open to everyone with an interest in communicating about research and traditional knowledge about Alaska's seas - scientists, educators, outreach, communication, and media specialists; students of all ages, and community members.

Network site additions are moderated by COSEE-Alaska. Please share news articles, educational resources, photos, and videos relevant to the network purpose and focus on the Alaska ocean and climate change. COSEE-Alaska will post news articles on the blog based on their relevance, timeliness, and inclusion of scientific information based on peer-reviewed scientific literature or made available through government agency or research institution websites or press releases. COSEE-Alaska does not review scientific information as to its accuracy.

Please share your ideas in the network forums and make connections with other people through the groups.More information about SEANET and its governance can be found on the COSEE-Alaska website. For more information about participating in SEANET, contact Marilyn Sigman, msigman@alaska.edu, or Nora Deans, nora.deans@nprb.org.

The Future of Ocean Biogeochemistry in a High CO2 World The December 2009 issue of Oceanography magazine is a special issue on ocean acidification: . The open-access articles are posted online.

The Good, the Bad, and the Arctic. NOAA Explorer lesson on evidence of Arctic Ocean climate change and impacts on indigenous peoples and their traditional knowledge. Featured on Smithsonian Ocean Hall portal website.

Climate Change and Arctic Sustainable Development: scientific, social, cultural and educational challenges.The results of an international expert meeting convened by UNESCO in Monaco in March, 2009, with objectives of: 1) providing a broad overview of changes due to global warming that are anticipated across the circumpolar North and to investigating ways that they be monitored; and 2) assessing the scientific, social, cultural and educational challenges that must be met to ensure the region’s sustainable development within a global context.
Abstracts, presentations, and the report and recommendations

To What Degree? What Science is Telling Us about Climate Change. NSF Special Report in the form of an interactive website. Fifty-five scientific experts are featured in short videos answering questions related to climate science. Four topics are currently covered: 1) How Do We Know? 2) The Water Cycle, 3) Earth’s Heat Balance, and 4) The Carbon Cycle. More are in development.

NASA Resource Reel. A showcase of free downloadable and copyright-free videos, data visualizations, animations, and still images (downloadable in a variety of formats) that illustrate key climate change concepts and discoveries. A quick-access list of the ten most popular climate change visualizations and imagery is featured on the webpage. The reel is divided into key topics such as ocean, atmosphere, and the sun and includes a search function that offers access to NASA’s larger multimedia archive. Scientific Visualization Studio

World Ocean Census: a global survey of marine life. A new book with stunning photographs and fascinating discoveries made by CoML scientists. The book offers a view into the ocean depths, enabling readers to go behind-the-scenes of the landmark study’s findings and adventures. Preview and order from Firefly Books

Sustainability - it's in our hands Online interactive Ray Troll poster on the National Marine Fisheries Service website. The poster graphics show inter-relationships in marine ecosystems. Selecting any object on the poster depicts its identification and offers further information.

Virtual Urchin Interactive tutorials for use with labs involving the development of sea urchins. An acid acidification experiment and background has bee added to other units on predator-prey interactions with sea otters and use of the microscopes. Website

The Copenhagen Diagnosis, 2009: updating the world on the latest climate science Download Executive Summary
Download Full Report, Figures, PowerPoint
Allison, et. al. The University of New South Wales Climate Change Research Centre (CCRC), Sydney, Australia.
The report synthesizes policy-relevant climate science on the ocean, the carbon cycle, the atmosphere, all the major components of the cryosphere (sea ice, glaciers and ice caps, ice sheets, and permafrost), sea level, and tipping points published since the close-off of material for the last Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report in time for the Copenhagen Climate Conference in December 2009, and any national or international climate change policy negotiations that follow.

The Little Fox and The Little Seal written and illustrated by Ram Papish. Alaska adventure stories for kids about an Arctic fox and a northern fur seal in the Bering Sea written and illustrated by a field biologist with many years of experience in Alaska. Proceeds from the sale of these books support the Pribilof Islands Stewardship Program summer youth camp.
More information and ordering

The Ocean and Climate Change: tools and guidelines for action by Dorothée Herr and Grantly R. Galland, IUCN Global Marine Programme.
An overview of the interactions between the ocean and climate and description of the impacts of climate change on the marine ecosystems and the goods and services they provide human society followed by a set of recommend-dations for marine-related mitigation and adaptation policy and implementation actions. The first part “People, Ocean, and Climate Change” is excellent background for the theme of COSEE-Alaska. Executive Summary download
Full Report download

The Psychology of Climate Change Communication: a guide for scientists, journalists, educators, political aides, and the interested public by the Center for Research on Environmental Decisions at Columbia University. User-friendly guide with tips for communicating about climate change based on social research. The research findings are summarized and boiled down into eight major points illustrated by cartoons and examples. For an overview of the main points (and the cartoons), see the grist blog
Full report can be downloaded from the CRED website.

PowerPoint presentations on Alaskan Climate Change Impacts
Presentations made on 11/16/09 to Alaska Marine Advisory and Cooperative Extension agents by Alaskan scientists will be posted online by 11/30/09. Topics include 1) an overview of climate change in Alaska, 2) storms, erosion, flooding issues for communities; 3) implications of climate change on community infrastructure; 4) climate change impacts on fisheries, 5) climate change impacts on fish in watershed ecosystems, 6) ocean acidification and its impacts on Alaska fish, shellfish and ecosystems; and 7) public health issues related to climate change. The presentations are being posted on the Alaska Seagrant website. Please provide credit for any images used in other presentations.

Transitions and Tipping Points in Complex Environmental Systems by the National Science Foundation Advisory Committee for Environmental Research and Education. The challenges presented by the complex environmental challenges we are facing at a global scale, a call for action, and priorities and recommendations for research, environmental literacy, and engagement of "citizen scientists" in environmental research. Beginning with the example of Shismaref, Alaska, the report details steps forward from the statement "We are at a crossroads. The global footprint of humans is such that we are stressing natural and social systems beyond their capacities."Download report.
Download report

Climate Change: Picturing the Science by Gavin Schmidt, with photography by Joshua Wolfe. 2009. W.W. Norton.
“Photographic spreads show us retreating glaciers, sinking villages in Alaska’s tundra, drying lakes. . . Marshalling data spanning centuries and continents, the book affirms the headlines with cutting-edge research and visual records, including contributions from experts on atmospheric science, oceanography, paleoclimatology, technology, politics, and the polar regions.” Review

Our Changing Planet: The View from Space. Michael D. King, Claire L. Parkinson, Kim C. Partington, and Robin G. Williams, editors. 2007. Cambridge University Press. “superb summary of the present state of Earth systems science by some of the planet’s most effective practitioners of remote sensing and analysis. . . rich in explanatory graphics, charts, and superimposed images.” Review

Earth under Fire: How Global Warming Is Changing the World. Photography, research and main text by Gary Braasch Updated Edition. 2009. University of California Press. Based on his photo-documentation World View of Global Warming. "Braasch brings together startling and breathtaking imagery with personal accounts and the best available scientific evidence." —Nature

Don’t Be Such a Scientist: talking substance in an age of style by Randy Olson. 2009. Island Press. “The book could equally well have been titled ‘Confessions of a Recovering Scientist’ . . . He provides some very important lessons on what works and what doesn’t, and they ring true to us in our own experience with public outreach. Review

Field Techniques for Sea-Ice Research. Hajo Eicken, Rolf Gradinger, Maya Salganek, Kunio Shirasawa, Don Perovich, and Matti Leppäranta, editors. 2009. UA Press.

Arc Marine: GIS For a Blue Planet by Dawn J. Wright, Michael J. Blongewicz, Patrick N. Halpin, and Joe Breman. 2007. ESRI Press. “Interesting and useful manual meant to provide the background and context for a set of software that assists marine scientists to carry out GIS (Geographical Information System) analysis of multiple marine data sets.” Review

Field Guide to Squids and Octopods of the Eastern North Pacific and Bering Sea by Elaina M. Jorgensen. 2009. Alaska Sea Grant.

Alaska Clean Boating Guide. 2009. Alaska Sea Grant.

Childrens’ Books

Apun: the Arctic Snow by Matthew Sturm. 2009. UA Press. Geared towards grades 3–4.

Pete’s Wild Ride by Libby Hatton. 2008. For ages 4-8. Alaska Ocean Observing System and Alaska Geographic. Lesson plans on Alaska current patterns, marine food webs, marine debris and climate change are being developed to accompany the story.

How We Know What We Know About Our Changing Climate by Lynne Cherry with photographs by Gary Braasch. 2008. Dawn Publications. Winner of 12 awards including Middle Grades Science Book of the Year by the American Association for the Advancement of Science, Science Book for Young Readers Award by the John Burroughs Assn., and "NSTA Recommends" from National Science Teachers Assn.
Lesson plans available for download