 Between 1979 and 2012 the region experienced small growth in sea ice extent, standing in contrast to the substantial loss of summer sea ice in the Arctic Ocean to the north.The film "Harbinger Down", which was released on August 7, 2015, was about a group of grad students have booked passage on the crabbing boat Harbinger to study the effects of global warming on a pod of beluga whales in the Bering Sea.One of the central characters in the 1949 film "Down to the Sea in Ships" has the given name "Bering" due to having been born in a ship crossing the Bering Sea.