In this series of video stories, On Thin Ice in the Bering Sea, explore the past and future of the fast-changing Bering Sea region, its culture and people, and the new polar science that is emerging from an expedition on board the Coast Guard cutter Healy. On Thin Ice in the Bering Sea is a production of Florentine Films/Hott Productions, Inc. in association with the Clark Science Center at Smith College. Produced by Lawrence R. Hott and Tom Litwin. For full credits, go to pbs.org/nova/extremeice/credits.html Copyright 2009 Florentine Films/Hott Productions, Inc. www.florentinefilms.org

In this series of video stories, On Thin Ice in the Bering Sea, explore the past and future of the fast-changing Bering Sea region, its culture and people, and the new polar science that is emerging from an expedition on board the Coast Guard cutter Healy. On Thin Ice in the Bering Sea is a production of Florentine Films/Hott Productions, Inc. in association with the Clark Science Center at Smith College. Produced by Lawrence R. Hott and Tom Litwin. For full credits, go to pbs.org/nova/extremeice/credits.html Copyright 2009 Florentine Films/Hott Productions, Inc. www.florentinefilms.org

In this series of video stories, On Thin Ice in the Bering Sea, explore the past and future of the fast-changing Bering Sea region, its culture and people, and the new polar science that is emerging from an expedition on board the Coast Guard cutter Healy. On Thin Ice in the Bering Sea is a production of Florentine Films/Hott Productions, Inc. in association with the Clark Science Center at Smith College. Produced by Lawrence R. Hott and Tom Litwin. For full credits, go to pbs.org/nova/extremeice/credits.html Copyright 2009 Florentine Films/Hott Productions, Inc. www.florentinefilms.org

In this series of video stories, On Thin Ice in the Bering Sea, explore the past and future of the fast-changing Bering Sea region, its culture and people, and the new polar science that is emerging from an expedition on board the Coast Guard cutter Healy. On Thin Ice in the Bering Sea is a production of Florentine Films/Hott Productions, Inc. in association with the Clark Science Center at Smith College. Produced by Lawrence R. Hott and Tom Litwin. For full credits, go to pbs.org/nova/extremeice/credits.html Copyright 2009 Florentine Films/Hott Productions, Inc. www.florentinefilms.org

The 2007 University of Washington Applied Physics Lab. Life Styles of the Cold and Bold.

The University of Washington Applied Physics Lab ice camp 200 miles north of Prudhoe Bay on the Beaufort Sea.

Welcome aboard the US Coast Guard Cutter HEALY, and take a guided tour led by Captain Ted Lindstrom, crew members and researchers. Travel the newest and most technologically advanced polar icebreaker in the USCG fleet from stem to stern, bridge to engine room to galley. See what it takes to support cutting-edge science in some of the most extreme conditions on Earth, on board a vessel able to voyage around the planet without stopping, and winter over in the Arctic, if required.

One of the research groups on board the Healy, was the seal team from the National Marine Mammals Laboratory, based in Seattle. Seals, like other ocean creatures are being affected by climate change and the shrinking sea ice. The team hopes to put transmitters on the animals. That data will be relayed via satellite to distant computers, contributing to the understanding of the Northern Bering Sea ecosystem. But first the seals need to be caught...

This short video features Perry Pungowiyi from the Native Village of Savoonga on St. Lawrence Island, Alaska. It's his second time on board the HEALY where he was invited by Chief Scientist, Jackie Grebmeier, to observe and participate in some of the research that was being done during the cruise, including the NOAA/National Marine Mammal Laboratory study of Arctic ice seals and observations of spectacled eiders. He wants viewers to appreciate that he is speaking here as an individual, and that his comments should not be taken as the views and opinions of the people of St. Lawrence Island.

For nearly 35 years George Divoky has been returning to Cooper Island, a small, low strip of desolate land close to Barrow, AK. Initially he went there simply to study Black Guillemots, but as - over the decades - he tracked the dates of their arrival and the new chicks hatching, he realized he was documenting how climate change was affecting both an organism and an ecosystem. As summer ice retreated, food for the chicks was harder and harder to find - and polar bears began to roam the beach.