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Partner Projects


Collaborative relationships are essential to the BLE LTER program. We currently have ties with over 40 individuals and organizations that support shared research, education, and outreach objectives. These include independently funded projects that leverage the BLE LTER framework to facilitate shorter-term objectives as well as institutional partnerships that have been established to facilitate longer-term objectives. Among these institutional partnerships, strong relationships with the US Fish and Wildlife Service (Arctic National Wildlife Refuge), North Slope Borough School District, the Ukpeagvik Inupiat Corporation, City of Kaktovik, and Hilcorp are particularly important for long-term sustainability of the BLE LTER project.

We always welcome ideas or proposals regarding potential collaborations with BLE LTER. Feel free to contact the relevant BLE team member, or our project leads Ken Dunton and James McClelland.



Featured Partner Projects



Hilcorp Energy Company

A Texas-based company with strong relationships to The University of Texas at Austin, where BLE LTER is based, Hilcorp has greatly facilitated our researchers' work and access to multiple locations in the Greater Prudhoe Bay area. Their generous support has provided crucial logistic assistance, as well as lab space, food, fuel, and a safety net for BLE scientists.

Hilcorp logo

Alaska Ocean Observing System

In fall 2020, BLE LTER began a partnership with the Alaska Ocean Observing System (AOOS) as an affiliate in AOOS's next 5-year Integrated Ocean Observing System plan. This partnership is of key importance in maintaining and expanding our network of moorings across the Beaufort Sea coast. Funding from AOOS goes to instruments recording time series observations of key ecosystems measurements such as pH, temperature, photosynthetically active radiation, and more. See BLE's time series pH data featured on AOOS's website.

AOOS logo

Coastal and Offshore Permafrost RRA

BLE investigator Craig Tweedie contributed information from the Utqiaġvik area to a Rapid Response Assessment (RRA) in collaboration with the United Nations describing coastal and offshore permafrost in the Arctic. The Coastal and Offshore Permafrost in a Changing Arctic website includes interactive maps that guide the reader through the story of this phenomenon.


ACCES-ARCTIC

An international collaboration funded under the Belmont Forum/Biodiversa initiative, with sites in the US, Canada, Greenland, and Norway (Svalbard), the goal of the ACCES project is to better understand how loss of sea ice in Arctic coastal regions will influence coastal biodiversity and ecosystem function. The project covers different coastscapes (fjords, lagoons, shelf, etc.) under different sea ice cover regimes and aims to synthesize information across these gradients. BLE LTER is leading one of the synthesis efforts on a pan-arctic metanalysis of trophic structure of key taxa, using stable isotope analysis. BLE investigators Ken Dunton and Katrin Iken along with project manager Nathan McTigue are leading the analysis of BLE data, along with ACCES collaborators.



More Partner Projects



Collaborators BLE Contact Objective
Alaska Fisheries Science Center (Mark Zimmermann)Kasper, TweedieResearch collaboration; data exchange
Alaska Ocean Observing System (Sheyna Wisdom; Carol Janzen)Dunton, KasperBLE LTER mooring and sensor network; Data exchange
Amanda Kelley (University of Alaska-Fairbanks)DuntonData exchange; Training
Amanda Poste (The Arctic University of Norway)Dunton, McClellandInternational Research collaboration
Antonio Mannino (NASA- pre COLORS)McClellandResearch collaboration
ARCUS (Janet Warburton)Dunton, Lougheed, TweedieEducation & Outreach
Bayani Cardenas, Matt Charette (UT-Geosciences, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute)McClellandResearch collaboration
Ben Abbott (Brigham Young University)McClellandData exchange; Sampling support
Blane De St Croix (Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art)TweedieOutreach
BOEM (Catherine Coon)DuntonK-12 Education & Outreach at Kaktovik
City of Kaktovik (Mayor Amanda Kaleak)DuntonLogistic support; Outreach
Claire Griffin, Howie Epstein (University of Virginia)Lougheed, Tweedie, McClellandResearch collaboration
Claudine Hauri (University of Alaska Fairbanks)McClellandData exchange; Model development
Department of Homeland Security – Arctic Domain Awareness Center – Long Range Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (Randy Kee, Anna Kukulya)TweedieResearch collaboration
Department of Homeland Security – Arctic Domain Awareness Center – Arctic Summer Internship Program (Randy Kee)TweedieResearch collaboration
Diana Bull (Sandia National Laboratories)McClelland, KasperResearch collaboration; Graduate education
Ed Rastetter (Marine Biological Laboratory)Crump, McClellandResearch collaboration
Friends of Cooper Island (George Divoky)TweedieResearch collaboration
Hilcorp (Samantha Beaman)DuntonLogistic support (Prudhoe Bay node)
International Tundra Experiment (Robert Hollister)TweedieResearch collaboration
Janne Søreide (The University Centre in Svalbard, UNIS)Dunton, IkenInternational Research collaboration
Karl Huemmrich (NASA- ABoVE)Tweedie, RawlinsResearch collaboration
Li Erikson, Ann Gibbs (USGS)Tweedie, KasperResearch collaboration
Maria Tzortziou (NASA- pre COLORS)McClelland, TweedieResearch collaboration
Market Road Films (Tony Gerber)TweedieOutreach
Matthew Burtner (Coastal Futures Conservancy)DuntonResearch collaboration; Outreach
National Coastal Mapping Program (Jennifer Wozencraft)KasperLogistic support; Data exchange
NOAA Center for Earth System Sciences and Remote Sensing Technologies (Reza Khanbilvardi)TweedieEducation & Outreach; Research collaboration
Nora Jane Burns/Carla SimsKayotuk (Village of Kaktovik)Dunton, IkenCitizen Scientists
North Slope Borough School District (Todd Washburn)DuntonEducation & Outreach
North Slope Borough Wildlife (Todd Sformo)Tweedie, IkenData exchange
Paul Morin (NSF Polar Geospatial Center)TweedieProvision of imagery; Training
Permafrost Coastal Systems Network (Ben Jones)Tweedie, McClellandData exchange
Scott Dallimore (United Nations Environment Program)TweedieResearch collaboration
Sergio Vargas (University of Texas at El Paso)TweedieResearch collaboration, Data exchange
Tom Douglas (US Army Corps of Engineers – Cold Regions Research and Engineering Lab)KasperResearch collaboration
Ukpeagvik Inupiat Corporation Science (Nagruk Harcharek)Lougheed, TweedieEducation & Outreach
University NAVSTAR Consortium (Joe Petit)TweedieProvision of equipment; Training
USFWS (Joanna Fox, Allyssa Morris)DuntonLogistic support; Outreach; Education (Kaktovik Oceanography Program)
USGS (Vanessa von Biela)DuntonResearch collaboration; Education & Outreach at Kaktovik
Wesley Moses (Naval Research Laboratory)McClellandResearch collaboration