A trip to the Arctic has changed the lives of four students at CSU Channel Islands.
Melvin Kim, Nikolas VanKeersbilck, Korenna Estes and Triston Millstone were chosen to go on the Northwest Passage Project, an 18-day expedition to the Arctic to study the effects of climate change.
They said the project, which ended Aug. 4, changed their mindset about the future.
Biology Professor Amy L. Denton coordinated all the work for students to go on the project with the University of Rhode Island. She said the Canadian Arctic archipelago has been icebound for most of human history.
Denton said the University of Rhode Island’s graduate school for oceanography came up with the proposal to take students from CSUCI and other universities to the Arctic to work alongside research scientists. Their research focused on sea bird diversity, changing ocean chemistry and microbiological diversity.
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“I wanted to get students up to see it and to have their views communicated back to their classmates and other people down here in the lower 48,” Denton said.
The trip broadened the students’ interests and academic options.
“During the course of this project, I have become much more interested in oceanography, which was a research area that I was not previously considering,” said VanKeersbilck, who is double-majoring in biology and chemistry.
Kim, who is majoring in environmental science and resource management, said before his time in the Arctic, he hadn’t considered graduate school. But now he’s weighing his options.
“I learned a lot about team dynamics and leadership and communication, which are all super important when it comes to academia,” he said.
Estes voiced a similar thought.
“I learned that I love being in the laboratory, and I want to pursue a career in STEM,” she said, referring to science, technology, engineering and math. “ I also feel I have built more determination.”
Students detailed their trip in different ways.
Estes said that during the expedition, she searched for birds unique to the Arctic and helped collect data that is being sent to NASA.
“I know how to identify several birds in the Arctic,” she said.
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Students and researchers on the trip collected water samples and used information from them.
“The data we gathered is going to be extremely important for polar researchers who rely on datasets like ours to make accurate climate prediction models,” VanKeersbilck said.
Kim also said he learned about microscopic communities of plankton and various lab techniques and methods.
Estes, too, spent a lot of time in the laboratory filtering and extracting data from chlorophyll, the pigment that makes plants and algae green.
Microscopic creatures play a critical role in the ecosystem.
“About 30% of the oxygen that you and I breathe comes from oxygen that was produced by plankton and phytoplankton that are within our oceans,” Kim said.
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Plankton includes plants and animals that float with tides and currents.
VanKeersbilck aired his concern about what’s happening in the Arctic.
“Microplastics were found in many water samples and all ice core samples that we took in the Arctic,” he said. “This is a rather alarming thing to think about that even in the most remote and isolated places on Earth, there is microplastics everywhere.”
Kim said he also learned that phytoplankton and other algae deplete the water of oxygen.
“It creates these dead zones where other fish can’t really live because there’s nothing for them to breathe,” Kim said.
VanKeersbilck also said people should be concerned about what’s happening in the Arctic.
“Shrinking sea ice, in particular, will be devastating to polar bears who rely on this ice as a hunting platform to catch seals,” he said.
“Sea ice is forming later and melting earlier, leaving polar bears less time to hunt,” VanKeersbilck said. “So polar bears are likely to be forced south in order to look for food. It will cause an increase in the frequency of polar bear and grizzly hybrids.”
Kim added that the Earth is very resilient in spite of climate change and the loss of Arctic ice.
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“The environment is changing and different poles get warmer. It allows other animals and organisms to fill in places of the original animals,” he said.
At the end of their trip, students came back aspiring to do more good in life.
Being the first generation in her family to go to college, Estes said she hopes to inspire younger generations of learners and share her research experience.
VanKeersbilck and Estes also shared their concerns about carbon emissions and encouraged others to reduce their role in producing harmful materials.
“This could start from your own home by cutting down on your electricity, recycling and composting so there is less waste going to landfills,” Estes said. “Lastly, carpool or reduce your drive time.”
Mo Jazi is a breaking news reporter with The Star. Reach him at mo.najafianJazi@vcstar.com or 805-437-0236.
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