Two decades of coastal ice and ocean change in northern Alaska: Evolving research partnerships and observing approaches
Abstract
Alaska's Arctic coastal regions have been experiencing drastic changes, with the transition from perennial to seasonal ice cover in the Pacific Arctic sector foremost among them. Changing coastal ocean and ice environments in turn restructure the benefits and hazards associated with uses of these environments by coastal communities and other stakeholders. Drawing on two decades of data and findings from a coastal ice and ocean observatory at Utqiaġvik (formerly Barrow) in Alaska, we illustrate how observations of coastal Arctic environments at a time of rapid Arctic change require new strategies and partnerships in order to improve understanding of key drivers and their impacts, and inform responses from the local to the regional level. In northern Alaska, a combination of community-based observations and satellite remote sensing has shown that since 1979, the length of the ice season has been reduced by more than two weeks per decade. At the same time, coastal landfast ice, which is used intensely as a platform for a range of activities by coastal communities and industry, and serves important functions in marine ecosystems, has thinned by roughly one third in the past two decades and become much less stable. Over the course of two decades, the nature of the information collected through emerging partnerships between Indigenous and local experts, research collaborators from different nations, and government agencies has been transformed substantially. What started as scientist-driven observations of key sea-ice and ocean processes, evolved into a collaborative, co-managed observatory that provides information relevant to planners and decision-makers at the local and regional level. Most recently, frameworks to help assess shared societal benefits from such observations have helped further hone the observing strategy.
- Publication:
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AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- December 2019
- Bibcode:
- 2019AGUFMOS43C1726E
- Keywords:
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- 4299 General or miscellaneous;
- OCEANOGRAPHY: GENERAL;
- 6620 Science policy;
- POLICY SCIENCES & PUBLIC ISSUES