Climate Change in Alaska and the Arctic
Related ACCAP Webinars (Please see the archive page for a complete list)
TUTORIAL: USING WEB-BASED AND GOOGLE EARTH MAPS OF PROJECTED CLIMATE CHANGE IN ALASKA
Nancy Fresco, Network Coordinator for Scenarios Network for Alaska Planning and Katie Kennedy, Education and Outreach Coordinator for the University of Alaska Geography Program
The University of Alaska, Scenarios Network for Alaska Planning (SNAP) provides quick and easy access to a wide range of climate projections for the state of Alaska at a 2km resolution. Data and maps are available for download in web-based and Google Earth formats. These maps show projected changes in temperature, precipitation, growing season length, freeze-up date and thaw date, and include documentation of uncertainties. Learn how to view, interpret and download available data and maps and discuss upcoming SNAP products.
Participants will need to download Google Earth to access the SNAP Google Earth maps. Click here to download Google Earth.
Listen to the Podcast of the tutorial
Presentation/Slides: Using web-based and Google Earth maps of projected climate change in Alaska
OUTCOMES OF THE ARCTIC COUNCIL'S ARCTIC MARINE SHIPPING ASSESSMENT
Lawson Brigham, Distinguished Professor of Geography & Arctic Policy, UAF and Chair, Arctic Marine Shipping Assessment of the Arctic Council
In response to unprecedented changes occurring in the circumpolar Arctic, in 2004 the Arctic Council called for the Council’s Protection of the Arctic Marine Environment (PAME) working group to conduct a comprehensive assessment of Arctic marine shipping. The Arctic Marine Shipping Assessment (AMSA) 2009 Final Report represents the results of this four year study. Findings and recommendations were negotiated and approved by the Ministers of the Arctic States on April 29, 2009 and take into consideration Arctic marine geography, changes in sea ice and climate, history of marine transport, governance of Arctic marine shipping, current marine use in the Arctic, Arctic marine infrastructure, human and environmental considerations and impacts, and Arctic marine shipping futures scenarios to 2020. This presentation is an overview of the AMSA findings, presented by Dr. Lawson Brigham.
Listen to the webinar Podcast
Presentation/Slides: Outcomes of the Arctic Council's Arctic Marine Shipping Assessment
Read the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner's story
Read The New York Times Green Inc. Blog story
Read the Nome Nugget story
Read the UAF School of Natural Resources & Agricultural Sciences story
The 2009 final report of the Arctic Council's Arctic Marine Shipping Assessment (AMSA) is now available.
Click here to download a copy of the report (26M PDF)
Click on a chapter title to download individual chapters (PDF): Front and Back Covers; Table of Contents; Executive Summary and Recommendations; Introduction; Arctic Marine Geography, Climate, and Sea Ice; History of Marine Arctic Transport; Governance of Arctic Shipping; Current Marine Use and the AMSA Shipping Database; Scenarios, Futures, and Regional Futures to 2020; Human Dimensions; Environmental Considerations and Impacts; Arctic Marine Infrastructure.
ALASKA CLIMATE VARIABILITY IN THE MODERN ERA
Rick Thoman, National Weather Service
What is the difference between climate and weather? How does the extent and limitation of instrument records in Alaska influence climate
observations? What is the Pacific Decadal Oscillation and how does it
influence climate variability in Alaska? This webinar addressed these questions and a lively discussion followed.
Listen to the webinar Podcast
Presentation/Slides:Alaska Climate Variability in the Modern Era
Webinar Summary: Alaska Climate Variability in the Modern Era
This webinar received state-wide media coverage:
Listen to the Alaska Public Radio Network's coverage
Read the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner's story
GOOGLE EARTH MAPS OF PROJECTED CLIMATE CHANGE IN ALASKA,
Now Available from the Scenarios Network for Alaska Planning
Michael Sfraga, T. Scott Rupp, Katie Kennedy, University of Alaska
The Scenario Network for Alaska Planning (SNAP), housed within the University of Alaska Geography Program, now has Alaska climate change projections available for download in Google Earth Format. These maps show projected changes in temperature, precipitation, growing season length, freeze-up date and thaw date, and include documentation of uncertainties.
Listen to the webinar Podcast
Presentation/Slides:
Google Earth Maps of Projected Climate Change in Alaska, University of Alaska SNAP Program
Instructions for downloading the SNAP maps:
SNAP Google Earth Download Tutorial
Fairbanks Daily News Miner story:
Mapping 21st Century Climate Change in Alaska
CLIMATE CHANGE IMPACTS IN ALASKA: THE WEATHER PERSPECTIVE
James Partain, National Weather Service
This webinar will highlight many of the impacts from climate change on Alaska's weather. These impacts span the range of National Weather Service program areas from Aviation to Volcanic Ash and everything in between. The presentation and discussion period provides information to develop a shared understanding about links between climate change and weather and how these links drive the services, decision-support, research & development, and policy of the National Weather Service.
Listen to the webinar Podcast
Presentation/Slides: Climate Change Impacts in Alaska: The Weather Perspective
Webinar Summary: Climate Change Impacts in Alaska: The Weather Perspective Webinar Summary (pdf)
Listen to radio coverage:
Alaska Public Radio Network, Climate change affecting forecasting models.
National Public Radio, KSTK, Wrangell, Expert says Southeast climate is uncertain, constantly changing.
Related ACCAP Research Projects
ACCAP Sea Ice Project
Alaska has 6,640 miles of coastline, more than that in the rest of the U.S. Alaska is also the only state in which large portions of the coastline are affected by sea ice. Sea ice is present along or close to the northern coast for 8-10 months of the year, and it affects much of the western coastline for at least several months of most years. The presence of sea ice is a major factor in the lives of many western and northern Alaskan coastal communities, for whom a stable ice cover is essential as a buffer against coastal storms, as a platform for offshore activity, and as a marine environmental feature essential for the survival of animals such as walrus, polar bears and seals. Coastal flooding and erosion, exacerbated in recent years by the retreat of sea ice, has been highlighted in the Arctic Climate Impact Assessment. In addition, information on present and forecasted sea ice conditions is vital for several of Alaska’s major industries: fishing, marine transportation and offshore resource extraction. These needs point to the importance of a synthesis of information on Alaskan sea ice conditions to serve the climate services and operational forecasting sectors, and, ultimately, stakeholders affected by sea ice.
ACCAP Tundra Lakes Project
This research provides an assessment of the physical, biological and chemical implications of mid-winter pumping of tundra ponds. The oil industry and support services withdraw water from freshwater lakes and ponds to build ice roads and pads in the Arctic for increased access to remote sites. This technique allows oil field development or maintenance while avoiding the environmental disturbance associated with construction of gravel roads and pads. British Petroleum Exploration, Conoco-Phillips Alaska Inc., the Nature Conservancy, and the Northern Alaska Environmental Center have joined this investigation as committed and active partners and the projects is funded by the Department of Energy. Scientists from the State of Alaska Department of Natural Resources and Bureau of Land Management work with ACCAP to see the project through completion.
Cross-Regional Dialogue: Climate Change, Water Impacts and Indigenous People.
With global temperatures on the rise, the impact of drought on
water supplies and ecosystems can only be expected to increase in
the coming years. Being prepared by better understanding drought
planning innovations and the array of monitoring and forecasting
resources may help reduce vulnerabilities and avert disasters.
This project, supported by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration (NOAA), aims to use modern communication technologies
to open a dialogue among tribal and indigenous decisionmakers
and resource managers from Alaska, the US Southwest, and
the Pacific Islands as well as climate scientists from these regions.
Improving Seasonal Fire Predictions and Information Services in Alaska for Regional and National Fire Resource Planning
Predictive capacity for Alaska fire falls behind what is available in the lower 48 states. Increases in wildfire frequency, severity, duration, and total area burned are among the most significant expected ecological effects of climate warming. Two of the three most extensive wildfire seasons in Alaska’s 50-year record occurred in 2004 and 2005 and 60% of the largest fire years have occurred since 1990 (Kasischke et al. 2006). Designed in close collaboration with fire managers from a range of state and federal agencies participating in the Alaska WildlandFire Coordination Group, this project takes advantage of the strong weather/fire link in Alaska to produce estimates for the severity of the 2009 and 2010 fire seasons. In collaboration with CLIMAS, we are presently utilizing these results to draft a web-based decision-support tool that will help Alaska fire mangers adapt to a changing climate in their suppression and natural resource planning.
The Synergistic Effects of Climate Change and Land Use in the Upper Yukon River Watershed
There are seven rural communities in the Yukon Flats, with Fort Yukon as the primary hub and service center; all of the villages are home to a large Alaskan Gwich’in and a smaller Koyukon Athabascan population. Partly because of an important historical and cultural connection to hunting and fishing, and partly because of the fact that a large segment of the population now lives below the poverty level as defined by the federal government, rural residents throughout the Yukon Flats depend on subsistence hunting and fishing and country foods (plants and animals) for survival and community well-being. The cumulative and synergistic effects of global climate, land use, and economic changes create scenarios of real and perceived stability and instability in interior rural Alaskan communities, with local stakeholders having relatively little access to and influence over scientific findings, policy development, and decision making about the same by federal and state land managers. An integrated assessment of the consequences of the impacts of climate variability and change and stakeholder needs for weather and climate products will be strategically implemented throughout the five year project. The central partner organization for this project is the Council of Athabascan Tribal Governments (CATG), which represents the tribal chiefs of the seven regional villages on matters of natural resource management and development, as well as about matters of subsistence and health and well-being for all village resource users. The collaboration will include contributions by John Walsh on climate, Terry Chapin on fire ecology and ecosystem issues, and Larry Duffy on contaminants, perceptions of food quality, the impact of contaminants on ecosystem stability and change, and on the relationship between contaminants flows and concentrations and climate change.
State and National Resources
State Resources
Alaska Climate Research Center Conducts research focusing on Alaska and polar regions climatology and archives climatological data for Alaska.
2009 Alaska regional climate change impacts report From the US Global Change Research Programs's report: Global Climate Change Impacts in the United States. The report summarizes the science and the impacts of climate change on the United States, now and in the future. The report is written in plain language with high resolution graphics avavailable for download.
Alaska State Climate Change Strategy Includes links to the Climate Change Sub-Cabinet's Advisory Groups on Adaptation, Mitigation, Immediate Action, and Research Needs.
Arctic Climate Impact Assessment An international project of the Arctic Council and the International Arctic Science Committee to evaluate and synthesize knowledge on climate variability, climate change, and increased ultraviolet radiation and their consequences.
Climate Change in Alaska: Why Should Other States Care? ACCAP White Paper addressing national climate change concerns.
International Arctic Research Center (IARC) Provides the Arctic research community with an opportunity to share knowledge about science in the Arctic, with an emphasis on global climate change research.
National Weather Service Alaska Region Headquarters Current hazards, satellite, radar, surface analysis, warnings & advisories.
Scenarios Network for Alaska Planning (SNAP) Services and products include maps and projections of future conditions, objective interpretations of projected scenarios, including ramifications for management decisions, detailed explanations of the assumptions, models, and methods, and uncertainties associated with projections.
SNAP Preliminary Report to the Governor's Sub-Cabinet on Climate Change
NOAA in Alaska List and description of NOAA's Statewide programs.
National Resources
Arctic Climate Impact Assessment An international project of the Arctic Council and the International Arctic Science Committee to evaluate and synthesize knowledge on climate variability, climate change, and increased ultraviolet radiation and their consequences.
Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Program, 2009 Update on Selected Climate Issues of Concern: Observations, Short-lived Climate Forcers, Arctic Carbon Cycle, Predictive Capacity.
Arctic Report Card 2009 The Arctic Report Card presents concise information on recent observations of environmental conditions in the Arctic. Issued annually, material presented in the Report Card is prepared by an international team of scientists and is peer-reviewed by topical experts of the Climate Experts Group (AMAP) of the Arctic Council.
Climate Literacy: The Essential Principles of Climate Science A guide to understanding climate change from the NOAA Climate Program Office.
2009 Report: Global Climate Change Impacts in the United States, from the United States Global Change Research Program
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Summary for Policy Makers
2009 National Science Foundation Comprehensive Report on Global Impacts of Climate Change
National Weather Service Climate Prediction Center Deliver climate prediction, monitoring, and assessment products for timescales from weeks to years to both the U.S. and international community.
NOAA Arctic Climate Research Information includes climate change related data, graphics, and forecasts, including historical perspectives and in-depth analyses. Also included are a selection of essays by Arctic experts on key issues in the Arctic.
United States Climate Change Science Program: Resources and reports from 21 completed Synthesis and Assessment Products.
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