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Bear Glacier Lagoon lies at the head of Resurrection Bay in southwest Alaska.
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Along this rugged coastline, nutrient rich waters give rate to towering ice fields.
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Yeah, like, Can you believe what we're looking at now?
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This is absolutely breathtaking.
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This frigid landscape is home to sea otters, sea lions, whales, harbor seals, and countless sea birds.
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I'm here with our special guest, Dylan Dreyer, NBC News meteorologist and Co host of the third hour of Today.
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We're exploring this special place the best way I know how, by kayak, listening to the fresh, frigid waves lap against the hull as we weave our way through the mini icebergs.
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Does it get me better than this?
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I don't think so.
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For Dylan, this was her first glimpse of Alaska's ancient rivers of ice.
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Look at the size of this glacier.
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Yeah, it's incredible.
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We're looking at a glacier that's been here for like, over 10,000 years.
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Wow.
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But that seems to be changing now.
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Alaska's oceans are warming.
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Researchers estimate the state's glaciers are losing 75 billion tons of ice every year.
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It's it's scary when you think about how much of the glacier is melting each summer and not being replenished by the snowfall in the winter, the water temperature increasing 1 to 2°C.
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It doesn't sound like much, but it can have a huge impact.
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It influences the food source, it influences the entire environment, salinity of the water.
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It just impacts everything around it.
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It's really a slow catastrophe for a lot of the marine mammals, especially stellar sea lions and sea otters.
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In some parts of Alaska, sea Otter numbers have plummeted by more than 90%.
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Western stellar sea lions have also endured decades of population decline.
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But Alaska's marine mammals aren't facing these challenges alone.
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Just across Resurrection Bay in the port town of Seward, the Alaska Sea Life Center combines wildlife rescue and rehabilitation with research aimed at protecting marine wildlife.
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And one very big resident is introducing us to that mission.
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Well welcome Dylan and Peter to our stellar sea lion exhibit.
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And our 16 year old male pilot is going to be hanging out with us today.
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Pilot is close to 2000 lbs and full grown for this species is 2500, so he's still a growing boy.
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How long will he stay underwater at a time?
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He'll hang out for typically about 10 to 15 minutes.
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Sea lions aren't huge long breath holders like other seal species.
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By studying Pilot, scientists are learning how wild sea lions may respond to a changing ocean.
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When the center was built and we brought in stellar sea lions to do some really crucial research, they were in an 80% population decline in the wild since the 1970s.
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We wanted to bring them into the Center for a little more up close and personal work so I have a lot of access to the animal so we can learn a lot more.
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Pilot provides valuable insights up close.
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But to study stellar sea lions in the wild, the Sea Life Center relies on another set of eyes.
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This is sea lion Mission Control.
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Well, Dylan, this is our remote video monitoring room.
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We're looking at Chiswell Island about 35 miles South of Seward out in the Gulf of Alaska, populated by a small Rookery of cellar sea lions.
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They're endangered.
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A Rookery is a coastal breeding site where animals gather to mate and raise their young.
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These are live cameras right now.
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Live cameras right now day after day, year round and and for more than 25 years now we've been watching these animals and we've got histories on and some of these animals that span decades we set up this camera system to try to get an idea of why they've been declining looking at changes in behavior over time, changes in their survival rates, their reproductive rates.
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Of the world's six sea lion species, only one lives in Alaska, the largest of them all.
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The stellar breeding season turns these giants into fierce rivals.
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This is footage that was taken back on June 3rd.
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What we're watching here is this is a group of territorial males.
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This male right here in the middle, he dropped down into this tide pool and he's challenging all these males that are around him.
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This is like a soap opera playing out on a live Cam, right?
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That's incredible.
4:39
This live stream is a vital research tool, but as can happen with technology exposed to the elements, one of the Rookeries 3 cameras has stopped working.
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Doctor Maniscalco will have to head into the windswept Gulf of Alaska to bring it back online, and Peter and I are along for the ride.
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We're here at the Chiswell Islands where the sea lions are right there, and all we have to do next is come up with a burn the boat, time up with the top of a wave and jump onto the island.
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Sounds easy.
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Getting the broken camera up and running means going ashore.
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But this rugged coastline was made for sea lions, not people.
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Unlike seals, sea lions can turn their hind flippers forward, letting these 1000 LB animals move remarkably well across slippery rocks.
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OK, so this is going to be the most dangerous thing we're doing today, so we got to be very careful.
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Listen carefully.
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When you're ready to jump, commit to it.
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Go for it.
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Once you're on shore, keep moving up a step or two because if you don't, a big swell could come by and and knock you right back in the water.
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OK, Are you ready?
5:49
I'm ready.
5:51
John waited for just the right moment and made it look easy.
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Oh, crazy keg.
5:57
Oh, yeah.
5:59
A strong current swept us back out to open water before we can make the attempt.
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All right.
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Am I standing in the right spot?
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A little higher.
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You can stand a little higher.
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OK, but wait.
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OK, now.
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Yay.
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I did it.
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I did it.
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Last but not least, Peter took the leap as well.
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Like a pro.
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Yay.
6:25
Nice job.
