“It is an exciting time to be involved with making science films.” There is also a large green movement happening around the globe, which coincides with a widened platform for making and distributing documentary film,” said Maria. “Planet Earth was wildly popular and proved to the large networks that the public cares about the natural world and stories related to the natural sciences. The recent unexpected success of the Discovery Channel’s Planet Earth is a big indicator of the kind of programming the general public want to view. Maria believes that audiences enjoy nature documentaries. “It’s not always easy to balance each of these elements, but I work closely with the scientists I document to ensure that they are comfortable with how I portray them and their work.”

“I strive to create films that are entertaining and informative but have scientific integrity,” said Maria. There she filmed the puffin nesting grounds as unobtrusively as possible, valuing truth in her work. She pulled herself up the precarious cliff sides using the old ropes hung by the locals. Island adults recall rescuing the birds in droves in the last three years, puffin reproduction has plummeted, and far fewer birds are venturing out toward sea.įascinated by the people and their connection to the puffin, Maria did as the Icelandic people do. The children of Heimaey have an annual tradition of catching the vulnerable pufflings and releasing them at the water’s edge. The baby birds are often drawn to the town’s lights, and wind up stranded and disoriented. In late summer, baby puffins must make their first flight to sea. Once an important food source for survival, the puffin is now a revered mascot, and images of the birds grace signs, buildings, and busses throughout the town of Heimaey. The people of the Westman Islands have strong ties to puffins as a part of their culture and express concern about the fate of the birds. Some baby puffins, known as pufflings, are dying of starvation - their food source, a fish called the sandeel, is now scarce where it used to be abundant. In the past year, researchers linked the disappearnce of the birds’ missing food source to Earth’s changing climate.

Most marine life depends on phytoplankton, including the fish that sustain Iceland’s Atlantic puffin population. One of the mission’s findings has been evidence that increased sea surface temperatures result in lower amounts of marine phytoplankton. SeaWiFS gathers data on ocean color from space, which enables researchers to understand the oceans' role in the global carbon cycle, as well as other biogeochemical cycles, through a comprehensive research program. As an Earth Science producer at NASA, all of her projects have involved climate change in some way.įor instance, Maria recently produced new science data visualizations from the Sea-viewing Wide Field of view Sensor (SeaWiFS), a unique instrument that observes global levels of phytoplankton. While Maryland and Iceland may be geographically, geologically, and culturally different, Maria felt interconnections between her work in both places. I learned that the birds' food source has shifted due to climate change, and I thought this would make an interesting film.” Maria explained, “Upon my arrival in Iceland, I was introduced to a puffin biologist who had just launched a study to understand why Iceland's Atlantic puffin population, which is the largest in the world, is threatened. Originally, she had planned to produce a film on medieval Icelandic sagas, but her plans changed after hearing the story of the islands’ native bird. On a Fulbright scholarship, Maria took leave from Goddard for July and August 2007 and traveled to the Westman Islands of Iceland to make a documentary on the shrinking population of puffins. Better yet, catch her documentary, “Plight of the Puffins,” on PBS next week to get the scoop. That would be a good question to ask Maria Frostic, an earth science film producer at Goddard. What do puffins - colorful-billed birds looking like miniature penguins - have to do with the work we do at NASA? Maria Frostic films the Jokulsarlon iceberg lagoon in Iceland.

Flight of the puffin