Slow Reveal
Notice, Wonder, Connect
Headlines suggested by students: “Ecosystem Changes in Alaska,” “The Arrows of Climate Change,” “The Ups and Downs of Alaska’s Animals,” “The Alaskan Marine Life Population Change,” and “The Population of Alaska’s Animals.”
This graphic shows how different aspects of the ecosystem in the Eastern Bering Sea – from temperature to salinity to birds to fish – fared in 2022, relative to ongoing trends (not fashion trends!) Environmental conditions, like ocean temperature, affect plants and animals in different ways. The Bering Sea has been warming and this graphic shows how the impact of such climate change can result in “winners” and “losers”. In addition to a long-term warming trend, the Bering Sea recently experienced a “pulse event” of a near complete lack of sea ice during the winters of 2017/18 and 2018/19. In 2022, there were some clear ecosystem responses to these environmental changes, such as increases in pollock and herring and decreases in several crab stocks and multiple salmon runs in Western Alaska. This graphic (and accompanying report) is created annually by NOAA Fisheries (part of the Department of Commerce) in order to provide a contextual summary of what’s happening in the ecosystem so fisheries managers can then make decisions about how many fish or crab can sustainably be harvested.
The graphic was designed to encourage “big picture” understanding – quite literally. There are no numbers, only directional arrows, and no words, only icons. (There is, of course, corresponding text in the report that describes the arrows and icons in ever increasing detail.) What are the advantages and disadvantages of excluding numbers and words?
NOAA Fisheries creates graphics in this style for each of its Large Marine Ecosystems (e.g., Eastern Bering Sea, Aleutian Islands, Gulf of Alaska) and has been doing so since 2018. They have produced longer text reports since the 1990s. (The graphic and summary report are not prepared for the Arctic Region because there are no commercial fisheries there.) This graphic is from the “2022 Eastern Bering Sea Ecosystem Status Report: In Brief” produced by Elizabeth Siddon (based in Juneau) with the Alaska Fisheries Science Center, NOAA Fisheries. The complete In Brief is available here. The concept of these graphics was developed by Elizabeth Siddon and the other two leads for the Ecosystem Reports, all of whom worked very closely with the NOAA Communications Program. Since then, the report style has been imitated by other NOAA centers in other parts of the country. The reception of the 4-page In Brief(s) has always been very positive, in part because, prior to the Briefs, the only option was to read a 200+ page report. These In Brief documents are the only ones printed in color for distribution by NOAA, e.g., at fisheries management meetings, or for mailing to rural communities where bandwidth might prevent people from being able to download the reports.
NOAA’s goal in these graphics is to provide an accurate, but general summary of how things are changing in the ecosystem, and not to overwhelm readers with too much information. If people are interested in more details, they can read the full Ecosystem Status Report (here). Creating one graphic that summarizes 200 pages of dense data is a complex, collaborative and nuanced process. Among the many considerations that the authors make concerning the data are:
- Deciding which pieces of data from the full Report get an icon and make it into this graphic is complex. There is no set formula for that process.
- Similar icons are used across the management areas (i.e., you’ll see thermometer icons in all regions, but the trend arrow is based on data collected within each region).
- All arrows are the same size. This is because each icon and arrow is based on a unique dataset; the report authors don’t compare across datasets (that would be like comparing apples to oranges) to be able to indicate whether one increase is larger than another. In general, arrows refer to long-term trends, not short-term, temporary changes.
- Determining trends is difficult and not necessarily consistent from one graph to another. Similarly, quantifying “typical” is essential, and yet not clearcut. Sometimes a line of regression is used. Sometimes it’s a +/- 1 Standard Deviation. Differentiating year-to-year variability from longer-term trends is also important. (See the examples below about surface air temperature and salinity.)
- Up arrows indicate an increase. Sometimes that increase is a good thing for the ecosystem as a whole; sometimes it is not.
- Some icons are specific to a place and are represented with a pin (e.g., auklets) and other icons represent data collected across a wide area. Every attempt is made to place icons as close to the geographical place of significance, but, occasionally, certain icons are placed in less relevant spots simply because there was space available on the graphic.
- This graphic is based on the most recent data available, which generally means data from 2022, but in some cases means data from 2021. Real-time (2022) information is much preferred by the fisheries managers. When the author started the Eastern Bering Sea Report in 2016, about 50% of contributions were based on the previous year’s data and about 50% were based on current year data. Since then, more and more contributors are working as hard as they can to turn data around FAST after summer field surveys in order to provide it to the reports. As a result, in 2022, ~95% of the Bering Sea report was 2022 data!
- Fish are labeled by the year they were born. So, for instance, the 2017 year class of pollock were age-0 in 2017 and were age-5 in 2022.
- The circled icons are multi-species groupings (e.g., the chlorophyll circle is a measure of phytoplankton, of which there are a bunch of different species). The copepod circle includes multiple species of copepods grouped together. The salmon circle includes Chinook, chum, and coho salmon.
- Slide 3 asks the question of HOW you develop a synthetic “story” from disparate data pieces. How do you connect the dots between sea ice and sea birds? And what do sea birds tell us about the health of the ecosystem for the fish and crab stocks that NOAA manages? Each year, the report editors strive to take dozens of individual data and create a “story” about what is happening in the ecosystem that people can understand. But the final “story” each year doesn’t necessarily include ALL the data pieces. Some pieces don’t “fit” the story; how do the editors determine that “fit”?
This graph depicts the year-to-year variability (spikes) of Surface Air Temperature (SAT) Anomalies at St. Paul Island (Pribilof Islands) overlaid on the long-term trend (increasing line). From it, one can see that, while in the short-term, 2022 cooled and the yearly average of temperatures was “normal”, over the last 40 years, there has been a steady increase of temperature of 0.5C/decade.
TERMS frequently used:
Bering Sea Shelf – the Continental shelf extends under the eastern half of the Bering Sea. (The lighter blue in slide 3).
Shelf break – where the Continental Shelf ends and the deep sea begins. The depth increases quickly from 200m to >1000m.
Anomaly/anomalies – the deviation or difference from past “normal”. In a graph, typically, “normal” is 0 and anomalies are above or below.
Trend – the general direction over time
ICONS and ARROWS
The author chose icons for the WGOITAG slides that were representative of different aspects of the physical environment and food chain as well as those that represented some of the different data considerations noted above. Icons are listed in order from the physical environment (temperature, sea ice, salinity), to primary production (chlorophyll, coccolithophores), to secondary production (zooplankton), forage fish (herring), groundfish (pollock), salmon, crabs, and seabirds.
Physical Environment
Temperature
Content: The extended warm phase (2014-2021) is largely over. Temperatures have returned to pre-warm phase averages.
Data Consideration(s): The “warm phase” is clear to see in the accompanying graphs. It’s not so clear how to define the beginning and end of that warm phase, though. The horizontal dashed lines are +/- 1 Standard Deviation. Specifically, is 2014 warm enough to be considered warm? 2014 is within 1 SD of average in the Northern Bering Sea, but above 1 SD in the Southeastern Bering Sea. The author of this report, with a great deal of collaboration with other experts and oceanographers, decided yes; someone else might have decided no.
The y-axis here is surprising – 500?! The y-axis is the cumulative annual SST (sum of daily temperatures) anomalies – so “0” is the long-term average. In the graph, the scientists chose to show the cumulative SST because cumulative warming may represent important conditions for the ecology of the systems as total thermal exposure for organisms was higher than historical conditions. For example, for a juvenile fish, it’s not just that it was warm for 1 day (maybe they could deal with that), but that it was warm day after day after day (cumulative) which is more stressful and harder to tolerate.
Sea Ice
Content: Sea ice is by far one of the most important drivers of the ecosystem in the Bering Sea (and unique to the Bering; there is no sea ice in the Aleutians or Gulf of Alaska). Sea-ice extent remained above-average for most of winter 2021-22. However, the ice was thinner almost everywhere than the previous winter and, as a result, melted more quickly in the spring of 2022.
Data Consideration(s): Because of the complexity of the content, the full Report has a variety of different data graphs to understand how sea ice is changing over time. This is an example of where the icon arrow cannot reflect both +/- simultaneously and the scientists have to make decisions. Here, the up arrow reflects the increase in areal extent of sea ice, but does not capture the reduction in ice thickness. Researchers in the Bering Sea have a better understanding of the impact of ice extent and what it means for the ecosystem. For that reason, the author chose to go with the “up” arrow. Ice thickness is a newer metric of sea ice and there is less known about what changes in thickness “mean” to the system.
Salinity
Content: Salinity has been increasing steadily since 2014 (perhaps as the result of loss of sea ice), which corresponds with the warm phase from 2014-2021. In 2022, though, the salinity decreased.
Data Considerations(s): The purpose of this report is to report on trends. For that reason, while there were a few data points in 2022 that showed decreased salinity, the authors of the report chose an up arrow because the longer-term increasing trend was thought to have more of an impact on the overall ecosystem. They noted the one year of lower temperatures in the text.
Primary Production
Chlorophyll-a
Content: Chlorophyll-a has been decreasing since 2014. This may have serious consequences for the rest of the ecosystem because it’s the base of the food chain.
Data Consideration(s): This data is from satellites. There are several advantages of satellite data, including high spatial and temporal coverage. However, these products are also limited to measurements within the surface layer of the ocean and also have missing data due to ice and cloud cover. Chlorophyll-a biomass does not directly provide information of primary productivity. Biomass is a balance between production and losses, therefore lower biomass levels could mean less production, or they could mean more of the production was eaten by grazers or sunk deeper in the water column than the satellite can “see”.
Coccolithophores
Content: The coccolithophore bloom was among the highest ever observed. However, because the bloom turns the water a milky aquamarine color, it can make it more difficult for some species to see and, therefore, successfully forage for food.
Data Consideration(s): Here is an example of when “up” is not thought to be a “good” thing. Coccolithophores may be a less desirable food source for microzooplankton and they cause a milky aquamarine color in the water during a coccolithophore bloom that can reduce foraging success for visual predators, such as surface-feeding seabirds and fish.
Secondary Production
Euphausiids
Content: Euphausiids increased in number in both the northern and southern areas.
Data Consideration(s): This is a situation where sampling bias needs to be accounted for. These data are from a sampling net called a bongo net. It’s fairly well known that larger euphausiids can actually swim and escape the bongo net, so these data are generally used to look at relative trends, but not absolute abundance values. That said, this year there was a separate euphausiid index that was derived from acoustics, and that also showed an increase. And, there was evidence that plankton-eating seabirds did well this year, so all of those factors suggest euphausiids were abundant. (Also, look at speaker notes for euphausiids slide to learn how NOAA is juggling using real time data with data that takes 2-3 years to process.)
Forage Fish
Togiak herring
Content: In 2021, the herring in the specific area of Togiak (which was the 2017 year class) was significantly greater in number than previous years.
Data Consideration(s): This is a place-based example specific to herring that spawn near Togiak.
Groundfish
Pollock
Content: Age-4 pollock in 2022 (the 2018 year class) was well above average. Various warm and cool temperatures at crucial times in their early life cycle, as well as abundant euphausiids in 2018 and reduced predation in 2019-21, coalesced to increase their survival rate.
Data Consideration(s): Pollock is the biggest commercial fishery in the US (by weight), so there is a lot of research and work on pollock. Both fisheries managers and the fishing industry are interested in recruitment (how many young fish will survive to the age/size that can be caught in the fishery). The Temperature Change Index used in the icon slide is an example of one of the considerations involved in that estimation. Juvenile abundance does not always align with adult abundance a few years later. Juvenile fish go through lots of ‘bottlenecks’, so it can be difficult to predict future adults based only on the number of juveniles. The In Brief text explains some of those potential bottlenecks.
Adult Sockeye Salmon
Content: Sockeye salmon runs continued to increase – in record numbers – in Bristol Bay.
Data considerations: This data is from a well-established sampling program. What is fascinating is that these sockeye are doing SO well while so many other salmon runs are doing poorly; why is that? (i.e., we know it’s not a problem with the data!).
Crabs
Snow Crab and Bristol Red King Crab
Content: Because of the unprecedented warm phase of 2014-2021, and the accompanying near-absence of sea ice, crab stocks have shifted northwestward and decreased.
Data Consideration(s): These icons are not place-based (if anything they might be placed further north to show their northward migration.) This is an example of placing the icons more generally…and frankly, where there was space after placing all icons that needed to be linked with a specific place.
Seabirds
Auklets (St. Lawrence Island)
Content: Zooplankton-eating seabirds, like auklets, increased both further south in the Pribilof Islands and further north on St. Lawrence Island.
Data considerations: The auklets are place-based (with their own place marker) because the censuses are from discrete breeding colonies on these islands, BUT the birds are foraging over much larger areas and the researchers use them as indicators of prey available for the juvenile fish. How would you show this data? Place-based (because that’s what the data are) or general (because that’s how their data is used)?
Kittiwakes (St. Lawrence Island)
Content: Kittiwakes and other fish-eating seabirds did well at the Pribilof Islands to the south, but there were more reproductive failures on St. Lawrence Island, in the northern part of the Bering Sea. That pattern is consistent with the greater availability of forage fish in the south, and lesser in the north.
Data considerations: The graph used as supporting evidence is itself distinctive – a separate example of using icons (this time with varying degrees of smiley faces in eggs, instead of arrows).
Additional Resources:
- Full Eastern Bering Sea Ecosystem Report
Citation: Siddon, E. 2022. Ecosystem Status Report 2022: Eastern Bering Sea, Stock Assessment and Fishery Evaluation Report, North Pacific Fishery Management Council, 1007 West 3rd Ave., Suite 400, Anchorage, Alaska 99501 Contact: elizabeth.siddon@noaa.gov
Links to other full Alaska Ecosystem Reports are available here.
Links to all (across the US) Ecosystem Status Reports are available here.
A real-time marine heatwave tracker for the Bering Sea, Aleutian Islands, and Gulf of Alaska available here.
Text by Elizabeth Siddon, NOAA (elizabeth.siddon@noaa.gov) and Brenda Taylor, Juneau STEM Coalition.
Visualization Type: Infograph
Data Source: Full Eastern Bering Sea Ecosystem Report
Visualization Source: Full Eastern Bering Sea Ecosystem Report
I wonder why in the graphic that the two purple birds that seem to be female (the one with eggs) and the male are so out of balance. I noticed that the temperature had two arrows pointing side to side.
i wonder how many of crabs there are on the gulf of alaska and not gonna lie these Alaska graphs never cease to amaze me I think a interesting headline for this one could be “Alaska Aquatic Life”
In this graph, I notice that there are way more things growing than shrinking. I wonder why there are two arrows on one animal. This relates to my community by showing where and what fish/animals I am most likely to catch if I wanted to go there. A catchy title for this graph is, “The Growth and Shrinkage of the Eastern Bering Sea”.
I notice that the graph can be easily read by anyone.
Thanks, Cash!
That’s definitely our hope with this graphic – that a wide audience of people interested in Alaska’s ecosystems and fisheries can read and understand it!
I notest there are many different animal species that are different colors. I wonder why they are different colors. Is it to mark the species or something more complicated. I think a better name for this graph is “animals that dominate the sea”.
Thanks, Kayla!
The colors of the icons match the text in the In Brief (link below) that describes the trend in the data.
https://apps-afsc.fisheries.noaa.gov/REFM/docs/2022/EBS-ESR-Brief.pdf
Elizabeth Siddon
I wonder why the world is going though all these changes and I also notice that there are only a few types of animals on this.
Hi Kolton –
What I think about is the pace of changes we are seeing, especially in Alaska – things are changing quickly and I wonder which animals will be able to adapt/change to keep up with the changes and which might have a harder time.
There are only a few animals in this graphic – that’s because (1) we didn’t want to overwhelm readers with too much information, (2) we highlighted the most important changes that we saw in 2022, and (3) we just ran of space on the map 😉
I noticed that the cold temperatures arrow was going side to side in stead of up or down I wonder if that means that the temperature stayed the same. The amount of information they gave us was a little overwhelming but the content its self was fairly easy to understand. I found the graph a little tricky to understand at first. Part of this graph were relatable because I could see the Salmon numbers were going up and my family fishes a lot so that was good. A catchy title might be ‘The Arrows of Climate Change’.
Thanks, Ali!
Good eye on the temperature arrow. We chose a side-to-side arrow for this icon because the temperatures in 2022 returned to within normal limits. Temperatures had been above-average since about 2014, so being cooler and closer to normal was notable for 2022.
I think that a very catchy headline/title for this graph could be “The ups & downs of Alaskas animals.” This title fits really well because it explains exactly what’s going on in the graph in a short summary.
Charles,
I agree that your title describes the animals going up and down. Did you notice that there are other arrows for things that aren’t animals – ice, temperature, plant bloom? How could you include those in your title as well?
Brenda
I noticed that the graph only included a couple species of animals. I wondered why it only had a couple when their are many more in the ocean. Is it because those species did not have population changes? Or was there not enough information gathered on them to decide? Or were they considered unimportant? I think that a catchy title for this graph would be The Alaskan Marine Life Population Change.
Payton,
Those are important observations. There are answers to some of your questions in the text up above. The graph is produced by NOAA, which is part of the US Dept of Commerce. NOAA’s job is report on how many fish and crab are in the sea and to make predictions about the future numbers for those animals. They study those animals specifically because they’re industries that many people work within and depend upon. NOAA intensely studies the factors that have an impact on the fish and crab – the amount of ice, salt, temperature, zooplankton, etc. – and they show those in the graphic. AND, yes, the question of what to include is NOT simple or obvious. The authors do a lot of deliberating about which factors to include in the graphic and which not – which are most important, which is there enough space for, etc.
I noticed that there are all different types of animals and that they are different colors. also in one of the graphs I was wondering why there was a red building and there was no other buildings any where else in any of the graphs.
Good eye, Aurora – you saw that red building icon in the graphic for the Aleutian Islands and it’s actually a red SCHOOL building! School enrollment in the eastern Aleutians declined in 2020-2021 and stayed low in 2021-2022. The decrease in school enrollment was driven by a large decline at Unalaska Elementary.
Why do you think enrollment has declined at Unalaska Elementary?
And why do you think that might be important to fisheries managers?
Something that I noticed about the NOAA map was that there are location markers that show where certain things are rising or falling. I wonder how many places NOAA make maps for. This map affects my community by showing what is happening to our ecosystem. I think that it should be called what goes up and falls down.
Thanks, George!
We produce maps like this for 3 areas within Alaska: the eastern Bering Sea, the Aleutian Islands, and the Gulf of Alaska. We produce separate reports within these areas because most of the fisheries are managed by these areas, as well.
There is one fish species that is managed by NOAA as an Alaska-wide stock…can you guess what it is? (hint: it’s not salmon – those are managed by the State of Alaska).
You can see all the reports at this website:
https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/alaska/ecosystems/ecosystem-status-reports-gulf-alaska-bering-sea-and-aleutian-islands
Something that I noticed about this map is that there are not just animals on there. There is also a thermometer and a glacier. Something that I wonder about this map is why there aren’t any numbers or words. This map relates to my community because we eat the fish that gets caught at these places. I cannot think of a catchy title.
Amelia,
Pretty different, isn’t it? A graphic without words and numbers! The creators of the graphic wanted to find a way to take lots and lots and lots of words and numbers (more than 200 pages!!) and simplify them so that people could quickly and easily get a sense of “what’s going on” in the Eastern Bering Sea. They study how lots of factors influence each other – including how the temperature affects the amount of ice which affects the plants and animals.
I notice that the orange fish with the circle around it is going both up and down. I wonder why that is.
Arianna,
I noticed that as well! When I look carefully at that orange circle, I notice that there are actually two different colors of orange – and two different types of animals, small and large that match those two different colors. I went to the link (in the text above) to read more about the orange in the “In Brief” that accompanies the graphic. The text says that the orange are copopods (small crustaceans) and that the two shades of orange show two different sizes of copopods which had different trends this past year.
Something that I notice is that the orange fish with the circle around it is going both up and down. I wonder why that is. This graph is related to me and my community because it is the Bearing Sea which is near Alaska. I think a catchy title for this graph would be “Alaskan Animals and Where They’re Headed.”
Hi Kerris –
Yep – see Brenda’s reply above to Arianna. In 2022, there was a lower abundance of large copepod species (“down” arrow) and a higher abundance of small copepod species (“up” arrow).
I notice how there are many different animals in the three main graphs. I wonder why the population in these animals are changing. Some populations are shrinking and some are growing. Things relates to my community because it shows the wildlife near and around us. A catchy title for these graphs could be “The populations of Alaskan animals.”
Thanks, Emma!
Those are great questions – why do some species seem to be doing well and others seems to be doing poorly? And even within salmon – some species are doing well (like Bristol Bay sockeye salmon) while others are doing poorly (like Western Alaska Chinook, chum, and coho salmon). These are the kinds of questions that researchers at NOAA are tackling to better understand how the ecosystem is changing (and will change in the future).
I noticed that there were not just animals on the graph. I wonder why one of the purple birds has eggs and one doesn’t. I think that it relates to me because the chart is based off of the coast of Alaska’s oceans and we live in Alaska.
Catchy Headline: “Colorful Fishies!”
Hi Alex –
You might have also noticed that the purple seabird with eggs has an “up” arrow next to it, but the purple seabird without eggs has a “down” arrow. The eggs represent reproductive success of the seabirds – so seabirds at the Pribilof Islands had good reproductive success in 2022 while the seabirds at St. Lawrence Island had reproductive failures.
I noticed there was a white circle with shell designs in it and an arrow pointing up, it was really pretty. A cool name for this graph is Alaskan Nature on a Graph.
Hi Aliyah!
That icon represents coccolithophores (and I agree it’s a really pretty icon!!). The shell design in the icon represents the calcareous plates that encase the cell. Coccolithophore blooms can cause a milky aquamarine color of the water and, while also a pretty color from above, can reduce foraging success for species including juvenile fish and different seabirds who have a harder time seeing and capturing food.
I notice that some of the pictures have multiple arrows, I wonder why they have multiple arrows? This relates to me because it shows me a lot of things about the animals in the area I live in. a catchy title for this is regional animal economy.
Hi Jacob –
Good eye – there are two examples were multiple arrows were used.
1) For the orange circle of copepods, that is because in 2022 there was a lower abundance of large copepod species and a higher abundance of small copepod species.
2) For the purple seabird icons, the purple seabird with eggs at the Pribilof Islands has an “up” arrow next to it, but the purple seabird without eggs at St. Lawrence Island has a “down” arrow. The eggs represent reproductive success of the seabirds – so seabirds at the Pribilof Islands had good reproductive success in 2022 while the seabirds at St. Lawrence Island had reproductive failures.
what did the arrows mean? why was there a thermometer? why were the animals circled? one of my classmates noticed that one of the birds had eggs and the other didn’t why was that they had different arrows one was pointing up and the other down.
Hi Addie –
1) the arrows indicate whether the trend in that particular thing (like fish or sea ice) is going up or down. So, for example, the abundance of Western Alaska salmon has been declining in recent years, so that got a “down” arrow.
2) the thermometer represents the ocean temperature and is colored purple with a side-to-side arrow because temperatures in 2022 returned to more average conditions (temperatures had been above average since about 2014).
3) some of the animal icons are circled because there are multiple species within the icon. For example, multiple species of phytoplankton in the green icon.
4) For the purple seabird icons, the purple seabird with eggs at the Pribilof Islands has an “up” arrow next to it, but the purple seabird without eggs at St. Lawrence Island has a “down” arrow. The eggs represent reproductive success of the seabirds – so seabirds at the Pribilof Islands had good reproductive success in 2022 while the seabirds at St. Lawrence Island had reproductive failures.
Something I noticed about this graph is that there are multiple of the same animal. I wonder what the location marks mean, is it the common location of those animals? This relates to me because if I decide to go fishing I would want to know the population of fish so I can decide if it is worth it to fish there. A catchy title for this would be, “Ecosystem Changes in Alaska”.
Hi Kaylee –
Yes, there are a few examples where we used the same icons multiple times.
For the purple seabird icons, that is because the trends in the different places were opposite. The purple seabird with eggs at the Pribilof Islands has an “up” arrow next to it, but the purple seabird without eggs at St. Lawrence Island has a “down” arrow. The eggs represent reproductive success of the seabirds – so seabirds at the Pribilof Islands had good reproductive success in 2022 while the seabirds at St. Lawrence Island had reproductive failures.
For the euphausiid (or krill) icon, it was notable that abundances were higher in 2022 for both the southern and northern portions of the Bering Sea, so I added them twice.
The location markers were used for data that comes from a specific place (like St. Paul Island) versus other data that comes from a survey that is conducted over a larger spatial area (like some of the fish icons).
Something I noticed about this graphic is that the animals have arrows going up or down. I also noticed there was more than one of some animals and the arrows went opposite for each sometimes and I wonder why. I think a good name would be East Ecosystem of the Bering Sea.
Hi Elena –
Good eye! For the purple seabird icons (which are kittiwakes), the purple seabird with eggs at the Pribilof Islands has an “up” arrow next to it, but the purple seabird without eggs at St. Lawrence Island has a “down” arrow. The eggs represent reproductive success of the seabirds – so seabirds at the Pribilof Islands had good reproductive success in 2022 while the seabirds at St. Lawrence Island had reproductive failures.
the chart was great but it would help if it had words not just pictures.
Thanks, Clint!
There is text that goes along with the graphic and you can read the whole In Brief at the link below (it’s only 4 pages!):
https://apps-afsc.fisheries.noaa.gov/REFM/docs/2022/EBS-ESR-Brief.pdf
Something I noticed is that some of the animals had a circle around them. I wonder what the arrows are for and what the circles are for. I think the circles might be like male and female but I don’t know. I think a good title would be Animals of Alaska.
I like the way you’re thinking about what the circles might mean!
In this case, the circles were used when the icon represented multiple species. For example, multiple species of phytoplankton in the green icon.
I wonder why the temperature has arrows side to side and not up and down. I wonder why fish are doing better than crabs. I notice that most of the data is about animals. I notice that the number of icebergs is increasing.
Hi Doug –
We chose a side-to-side arrow for the temperature icon because the temperatures in 2022 returned to within normal limits. Temperatures had been above-average since about 2014, so being cooler and closer to normal was notable for 2022.
And such a good question about fish versus crab – but not all fish, right? But some fish are doing really well while others (and crab) are doing poorly. I think about what the similarities are among the species that are doing well, and what the similarities are among the species that are doing poorly.
And – I’ll admit – that icon looks like an iceberg, but it’s supposed to represent sea ice…I might need to think about getting a different icon for that! 🙂
I notice that salmon is going down I wonder why the thermometer has two arrows in opposite directions a catchy headline could be The Change of Animals in Alaska
Hi Owen –
But notice that not ALL the salmon are going down – Bristol Bay sockeye salmon have had above average returns for several years in a row and, in fact, 2022 was a record high! Why is that? How could sockeye salmon in Bristol Bay be doing so well, while multiple species of salmon in Western Alaska (Chinook, chum, and coho salmon) are doing poorly?
We chose a side-to-side arrow for the temperature icon because the temperatures in 2022 returned to within normal limits. Temperatures had been above-average since about 2014, so being cooler and closer to normal was notable for 2022.
I noticed that one bird has eggs and the other one doesn’t.
Hi Anna –
You might have also noticed that the seabirds with and without eggs have opposite arrows with them. The purple seabird (which are kittiwakes) with eggs at the Pribilof Islands has an “up” arrow next to it, but the purple seabird without eggs at St. Lawrence Island has a “down” arrow. The eggs represent reproductive success of the seabirds – so seabirds at the Pribilof Islands had good reproductive success in 2022 while the seabirds at St. Lawrence Island had reproductive failures.
A few things I noticed about the Alaska prompt from today, are that there were arrows on the thermometers that were pointing up and down or side to side and that some animals had circles. Something I wondered was what the arrows mean. Does it mean population? Also, what do the circles mean? And why are they there? I think that a cool title would be “The population of AK”.
Hi Caylin –
For the thermometer icon, we chose a side-to-side arrow because the temperatures in 2022 returned to within normal limits. Temperatures had been above-average since about 2014, so being cooler and closer to normal was notable for 2022.
In general, the arrows represent the trend in data – which could be abundance, warmer or cooler temperatures, or reproductive success, for example.
The circles were used when the icon represented multiple species. For example, multiple species of phytoplankton in the green icon.
I think that this is I super cool map, it really gets you thinking.
Thanks, Gretchen – that’s great to hear! 😉