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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