February 2021 - Arctic polar night
Photo by Michael O. Snyder
The Arctic polar night remains one of the last undisturbed dark environments on the planet. But as the climate changes and human activities increase in the Arctic, natural light sources—such as the moon, the stars and the aurora borealis—are being masked by much stronger illumination from artificial light.
University of Delaware Professor Jonathan Cohen has co-written a new study that looks at how artificial light during the polar night disrupts Arctic fish and zooplankton behavior down to 200 meters in depth. The disruption of species behavior so far down in the water column could introduce biases on stock assessments of commercial and non-commercial fish species.
“In the paper, we demonstrated that there’s a sphere of light around the vessel that causes an influence, and we see it easily through the upper 200 meters of the water column,” said Cohen. “So the effect of artificial light isn’t just limited to the surface. It goes down quite deep in terms of an avoidance of the organisms.”
Cohen and the other researchers are hoping that these findings will help fishery managers think twice about how they are reporting fish populations in the ocean when they are using artificial light in the Arctic polar night, and elsewhere during the nighttime.
To learn more about the study, see this recent article on UDaily.
Notable Dates in February
February 2 — World Wetlands Day aims to raise global awareness about the vital role of wetlands in our environment. Wetlands are land areas that are saturated or flooded with water either permanently or seasonally. Delaware has many different kinds of wetlands, including coastal salt marshes and seasonal forest ponds. For more information, visit the official World Wetlands Day webpage, or learn more about Delaware wetlands at DNREC.
February 3 — For World Read Aloud Day, join Delaware Sea Grant Education Specialist David Christopher and Danielle Dixson, associate professor at the University of Delaware’s School of Marine Science and Policy and children’s book author. Kicking off the series Sea Story Time: Marine Science Through Storybooks, Dixson will read her book “A Butterflyfish's Journey to Find Delicious Food.” Click here to learn more and to register.
February 19 — Deadline for the John A. Knauss Marine Policy Fellowship. Sponsored by NOAA’s National Sea Grant College Program, the Knauss Fellowship provides a unique educational experience in the policies and processes of the federal government to graduate students who have an interest in ocean, coastal and Great Lakes resources and in the national policy decisions affecting these resources. Click here to learn more and apply.
February 27 — The Chesapeake Bay Bowl is a regional competition of the National Ocean Sciences Bowl (NOSB), featuring teams of high school students from Maryland, Delaware, southeastern Pennsylvania, Northern Virginia and Washington D.C. To learn more about the competition, visit the Chesapeake Bay Bowl’s official page.