The BOSS Project is the Bering-Okhotsk Seal Survey, and for the past month, they’ve been flying planes with specialized cameras over the Bering Sea. An international collaboration between NOAA Fisheries and their Russian counterparts, BOSS is using digital cameras alongside heat-sensing thermal cameras to take a population survey of ribboned, spotted, ringed, and bearded seals.

John Jansen, a biologist who works for NOAA Fisheries out of Seattle, has been in Nome since April, flying over remote parts of the Bering and helping complete the survey.

Hear this Profile.