Allison Fong is a National Geographic Explorer and field-going microbial oceanographer and sea ice ecologist. With more than 20 years of work experience in oceanography, she has conducted research from the tropical oceanic waters of the North and Pacific Oceans around Polynesian islands to the sea-ice laden polar waters of the Arctic and Southern Oceans. Her research focuses on the expansive roles microbes play in shaping ecosystems and catalyzing essential biological processes.

 

As one of the lead scientists on the Perpetual Planet Ocean Expedition in the Southern Ocean focuses on the effects of climate change and shifting sea-ice landscapes on the primary productivity of polar microbes that underpin the Southern Ocean’s food web. As the lead scientist on the Perpetual Planet Ocean Expedition in the Central Arctic Ocean, Fong’s research focused on sea-ice ecosystems that exist at the interface of the atmosphere and the ocean and their influence on ecosystem functions.

 

She served as lead co-coordinator of Team Ecosystem of the international Arctic climate system project, MOSAiC (Multidisciplinary drifting Observatory for the Study of Arctic Climate), in which year-long measurements were collected from an icebreaker frozen into the sea ice of the Central Arctic Ocean. She is a long-standing member of the Education and Engagement Committee of the Association for the Sciences of Limnology and Oceanography, serves on the Navigating the New Arctic Community Office Advisory Board, and consults the Ocean Conservancy’s Arctic Office on Arctic ecosystem science driving the development of policy.

 

Her newest works are at the intersections of science, art, and storytelling with a burgeoning collaborative called FeelThink Studio. FeelThink aims to center curiosity and invite participatory exploration of complex climate-human relationships. Fong was featured as an expert in the National Geographic documentary series Pole to Pole with Will Smith on Disney+.