Morning in the Bering Sea

During the International Polar year (2007-2009), biologist Carin Ashjian led a cruise to Bering Sea with a research team studying how climate change is affecting the Arctic’s ocean ecosystem, from tiny plankton to whales. The cruise, part of a multi-institution resesarch effort about the Bering Sea, was on the Web as a Polar Discovery expedition, featuring daily dispatches and photographs from the six-week trip. Photographer Chris Linder captured this picture of a fin whale at the sea surface one calm early morning.(Photo by Chris Linder, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)