about encounters
Alaska’s acclaimed cultural anthro-pologist and award-winning nature writer Dr. Richard Nelson is the founding host of Encounters.
Each program is recorded live in the field, and for 29 minutes, it’s as though you’re in the midst of a crowded fur seal colony, or kayaking with sea lions, or watching polar bears approach, giving you a sense of place -- without the smell or cold or wind tearing at your face.
With support from the North Pacific Research Board and others, Encounters recently expanded to include more ocean science in traditional radio documentary formats.
Visit Encounters to subscribe to podcasts and to learn more about their radio programs.
Encounters Radio
Suddenly you’re in the midst of a raucous fur seal colony, or perched on a cliff peering down at common murres and kittiwakes.
Encounters: Experiences in the North brings the sounds of the wild to a national weekly radio program on observations, experiences and reflections on the northern world around us. Each program is recorded live in the field, and contains a tight weave of scientific and indigenous perspectives. Visit Encounters to subscribe to podcasts and to learn more about their radio programs.
Eiders and walrus
Jump aboard a U.S. Coast Guard ice breaker with host Elizabeth Arnold. Experience life on board a 400 foot floating laboratory as an array of scientists study eiders and walrus.
Above: two walrus rest on the ice. (Joel Garlich-Miller); right: Spectacled eider. (USGS)
Hear Encounters Radio: Eider and Walrus
Sea ice algae: little plants, big changes
Host Elizabeth Arnold cruised on the USCG icebreaker Healy in spring 2009, and learned that paying attention to what is happening with the small plant life that live below the ice could tell us a great deal about how climate change will impact the rest of the Bering Sea and the rich fisheries that depend on life there. Hear Encounters Radio: Sea Ice Algae
Left: Sea ice algae are revealed on the undersides of broken ice as Healy passes through the ice pack. (Carin Ashjian)
Fur seals and human communities
Host Elizabeth Arnold spent time in summer 2008 on the Pribilof Islands observing northern fur seal colonies and talking with community members and scientists. Hear Encounters Radio: Fur Seals
Left: Elizabeth Arnold listens in on seal conversations. (Carrie Eischens)
Seabirds, marine mammals, and the Bering Sea ecosystem
Head up to the Pribilof Islands and out in the Bering Sea with Elizabeth Arnold as she learns about a comprehensive scientific approach called patch dynamics that aims to help us understand how changing climate might impact this special place. Hear Encounters Radio: Patch Dynamics
Left: Researcher Alexis Wills peers over a cliff at a common murre. (Carrie Eischens)
The BEST-BSIERP Bering Sea Project is a six-year study of the Bering Sea ecosystem,
from the benthos and the atmosphere to human communities, and everything in between.
NORTH PACIFIC RESEARCH BOARD :: NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION
Contact the BEST-BSIERP Program Manager with project-related questions.
Contact the Visual Information Specialist with website-related questions.
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