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Alaska Center for Climate Assessment & Policy
3352 College Road
phone: (907) 474-7812
fax: (907) 474-7151
email: accap@uaf.edu

 
Alaska Center for Climate Assessment & Policy
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Fish house photo courtesy of Dan White (left), Attendees at an ACCAP, Alaska Sea Grant, and Cooperative Extension sponsored adaptation workshop (center), Cabin photo courtesy of Craig Gerlach (right).

Adapting to a Changing Climate in Alaska and the Arctic

 

Related ACCAP Webinars (Please see the archive page for a complete archive of ACCAP webinars)

Thursday, November 17, 2011
A HUMAN HEALTH PERSPECTIVE ON CLIMATE CHANGE: PROMOTING COMMUNITY-BASED ADAPTATION PLANNING FOR CLIMATE CHANGE IN ALASKA
Tenaya Sunbury and David Driscoll, Institute for Circumpolar Health Studies, University of Alaska Anchorage
Increasing average temperatures in Arctic regions are affecting human health through multiple pathways, such as changes to the frequency and intensity of extreme weather events and changes in the geographic range and occurrence of infectious and chronic diseases. Following several reports of current and potential human health impacts from climate change, the Institute of Circumpolar Health Studies (ICHS) developed and implemented a monitoring system to capture baseline human health and ecosystem data from three ecologically distinct regions of Alaska. In this presentation, Drs. Driscoll and Sunbury describe the monitoring system and the information it provides for improving public-health decision making.

View the webinar video (52 MB MP4)
 Listen to the webinar podcast
Presentation/Slides: A Human Health Perspective on Climate Change

Tuesday, October 25, 2011
ALASKA AND THE NATIONAL CLIMATE ASSESSMENT: WHO, WHAT, WHERE, WHEN, WHY AND HOW YOU CAN BE INVOLVED
Sarah Trainor, Alaska Center for Climate Assessment and Policy and Carl Markon, US Geological Survey
ACCAP, the USGS, and other groups state-wide are collaborating to create a technical report of the state of knowledge about climate change impacts and response in Alaska that will be used in writing the Alaska Regional Chapter of the 2013 National Climate Assessment. Join this webinar to learn more about who is involved, the subject and content areas of the report, our process, time-line, and how you can provide input.

View the webinar video (52 MB MP4)
 Listen to the webinar podcast
Presentation/Slides: Alaska and the National Climate Assessment
Download the 2000 Alaska Regional report
Download the 2009 Alaska Regional report
Learn more about ACCAP's role in the 2013 NCA

Wednesday, October 20, 2010
WAYS TO HELP AND HINDER: CLIMATE, POLICY, AND ADAPTABILITY
Philip Loring, Alaska Center for Climate Assessment and Policy, University of Alaska Fairbanks
 Dr. Loring will present a component of his dissertation research that compares case-studies from Interior Alaska (subsistence hunting) and the Bering Sea (Commercial Fishing) to explore how policy helps or hinders people's ability to respond effectively to climatic variability and change. The lessons speak both to community needs and to how natural resource policy might be better structured to support sustainability and community livelihoods.

View the webinar video (42 MB MP4)
 Listen to the webinar podcast
Presentation/Slides: Ways to help and hinder: Climate, policy, and adaptability

Tuesday, September 21, 2010
U.S. AND ALASKA PLANNING FOR CLIMATE CHANGE ADAPTATION
 Terry Chapin, University of Alaska Fairbanks
Ongoing rapid climate change requires planning that makes choices appropriate to future rather than past conditions. From his perspective as a member of climate adaptation task forces for Alaska, the United States, and the European Union, Dr. Terry Chapin will summarize the major recommendations for policy makers and the factors that explain why a few climate-change adaptation planning efforts have been so much more successful than others.

View the webinar video (42 MB MP4)
 Listen to the webinar podcast
Presentation/Slides: U.S and Alaska Planning for Climate Change Adaptation
Listen to the Alaska Public Radio Network story: Professor Excited About ‘Knowledge Network’ to Promote Information Sharing
Listen to the KUAC FM Radio story: Newscast Wednesday 9/22/10

June 15, 2010
WEATHER FORECASTS AND SEA ICE INFORMATION FOR BERING STRAITS COMMUNITIES: THE SEA ICE FOR WALRUS OUTLOOK PROJECT
 Hajo Eicken, Geophysical Institute, University of Alaska Fairbanks; Gary Hufford, National Weather Service, Alaska Region; Vera Metcalf, Eskimo Walrus Commission, Kawerak, Inc.
The Sea Ice for Walrus Outlook (SIWO), an activity of the SEARCH Sea Ice Outlook, is a new resource for Alaska Native subsistence hunters, coastal communities, and others interested in sea ice and walrus. The SIWO is updated weekly with information on sea ice conditions relevant to walrus in the Northern Bering Sea and southern Chukchi Sea regions of Alaska. SIWO reports include: an assessment of current ice conditions relevant to distribution and access of walrus; a 10-day outlook of wind conditions; up-to-date satellite imagery for the Bering Strait and St. Lawrence Island; written observations of ice development from Alaska Native hunters, sea-ice experts, or NOAA and university researchers; and additional comments provided by local experts and other contributors. Please join us to learn how the SIWO is created, how to contribute to the outlook, and for discussion about how it can serve your sea ice information needs and be most useful to you.


View the webinar video (47 MB MP4)
 Listen to the webinar Podcast
To access the outlook, link to the SIWO website here
Presentation/Slides: Sea Ice Outlook for Walrus Project

January 26, 2010
DECISION-MAKING FOR AT-RISK COMMUNITIES IN A CHANGING CLIMATE
 Dan White, Alaska Center for Climate Assessment and Policy
Many communities in Alaska are faced with multiple threats to infrastructure and quality of life due, in part, to projected changes in precipitation, temperature, and related incidences of flooding and erosion. Decision-makers must determine how best to manage their community's vulnerability with the knowledge that future environmental change is uncertain. This webinar will discuss a newly released report "Decision-making for at-risk communities in a changing climate" prepared by the Alaska Center for Climate Assessment and Policy. The report is intended to inform decision-makers relating to climate change and uncertainty, risk management, and relocation planning. Issues addressed regarding the planning process for relocation focus on the steps from planning through execution, perspectives on community engagement, partial relocation, site development costs, and timing. Sustainability recommendations focus on defining sustainability, future energy planning, planning for a changing cost of living, and available transportation corridors. Join this webinar to learn more about decision-making for at-risk communities in a changing climate.

Listen to the webinar Podcast
Presentation/Slides: Decision-making for at-risk communities in a changing climate
Download the Report: Decision-making for at-risk communities in a changing climate

August 11, 2009
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
Read the Stories: Media Coverage of SNAP Community Charts Tool
Site forecasts climate change in Alaska backyards
SNAP tracks climate change for Alaska towns
UAF science prediction calls for higher Fairbanks temperatures

November 5, 2008
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

Related ACCAP Research Projects

Assessing Climate Change Impacts on Forested Ecosystems of Alaska
ACCAP and the Scenarios Network for Alaska Planning have partnered with the Pacific Northwest Research Station to assess the climate change impacts on forested ecosystems in all regions of Alaska. Stakeholder involvement is a significant component of this project. This assessment will include identifying historical long-term datasets, determining key current patterns and processes that are important to stakeholders, and projecting those key patterns and processes into the future under various climate change scenarios. Specific components are to review and synthesize existing knowledge, provide a baseline and scenarios of change, and identify data gaps and uncertainties.

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 decision-makers and resource managers from Alaska, the US Southwest, and the Pacific Islands as well as climate scientists from these regions.

Estimating Future Costs for Alaska Public Infrastructure at Risk to Climate Change
Scientists expect Alaska's climate to get warmer over time—and the changing climate could make it roughly 10% to 20% more expensive to build and maintain public infrastructure in Alaska between now and 2030 and 10% more expensive between now and 2080. These are preliminary estimates of how much climate warming could increase the future costs for roads, harbors, schools, the power grid, sewer systems, and all the other public infrastructure that keeps Alaska functioning. This project provides background about recent climate change in Alaska and provides preliminary estimates of future infrastructure costs, using data from the Geophysical Institute at the University of Alaska Fairbanks.
ACCAP PhD student Eunkyoung Hong's dissertation focuses on the estimation of additional costs caused by climate change in the field of public infrastructure. Also, through the regulatory (mitigation) scenario, this study will anticipate the avoidable costs as well.

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.

2013 National Climate Assessment
ACCAP is partnering with US Geological Survey and others throughout the state as lead contributors to the Alaska regional section of the 2013 NCA. We will host a National Climate Assessment-related workshop at the Alaska Forum on the Environment in February 2012. We are committed to receiving input from throughout the state and welcome participation from everyone.

Sea Ice Project
Alaska has approximately 44,000 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. The 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.

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.

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.

Resources


Case Studies

  • AKSIK—Stories about Adaptation and Subsistence: Native Voices from the Frontlines of Climate Change This site serves as a video library of two native villages in Alaska—Savoonga and Shaktoolik—on the front line of climate change. It documents the impacts they are witnessing, describes their adaptation strategies, and provides alerts about their needs and their advice for our leaders.

  • Alaska Sea Grant Adapting to Climate Change in Coastal Alaska Resources Adaption tools, fact sheets and videos. This Alaska Sea Grant Marine Advisory Program (MAP) project brings a marine-dependent community perspective to climate change adaptation issues.

  • Climate Adaptation Case Studies (CASES) Database A user-driven, searchable database that provides basic information on state and local level adaptation planning efforts. Users can search the database by any other combination of search options. Users are encouraged to submit case studies to the database. Created to support climate change adaptation efforts at the state, regional, and local level.

  • CASES Adaptation Library Provides links to papers, reports, fact sheets, websites, and other general sources of information on adapting to climate change. The library includes: general information on adapting to climate change, adaptation guidance documents, comparative assessments of adaptation efforts, information on communicating climate change, adaptation in the private sector, and web resources.

  • Climate Adaptation Knowledge Exchange (CAKE) CAKE is a joint project of Island Press and EcoAdapt. The Case Study Database profiles on the ground adaptation projects and links to complete project information.

  • Initiative on Climate Adaptation Research and Understanding through the Social Sciences (ICARUS) ICARUS is an effort to bring together scholars, researchers, students, decision makers, and activists working on adaptation to climate variability and change. The website features a growing adaptation case study library with a global focus.

  • NOAA Coastal Climate Adaptation Website: Learn what others are doing, share strategies, get basic information.

  • Promoting Generations of Self-Reliance: Stories and Examples of Tribal Adaptation to Change The document suggests three components for communities to consider when planning for, implementing, and evaluating long-term climate change adaptation goals.


    Data and Information (for a more complete list of climate change data resources, see the Data Resources Page)

  • Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium Center for Climate and Health The mission of the ANTHC Center for Climate and Health (CCH) is to help the Alaska Tribal System adapt to the new and emerging risks associated with climate change. The CCH works closely with governments at the local and regional level, academic institutions and public and private organizations to understand local changes and to develop strategies that encourage wellness, resilience and sustainability.

  • National Research Council reports on climate choices Three new (May 2010) reports examining how the nation can combat the effects of climate change. One focuses on the science that supports human-induced climate change, and the others review options for limiting the magnitude of and adapting to the impacts of climate change. The reports are part of a congressionally requested suite of studies known as America’s Climate Choices.
    Reports include:
    Advancing the Science of Climate Change
    Limiting the Magnitude of Future Climate Change
    Adapting to the Impacts of Climate Change

  • Scenarios Network for Alaska Planning (SNAP) Services and products include tools to assist with adaptation planning: web-based maps and Google Earth maps projecting future temperature, precipitation, freeze, and thaw conditions at a 2K resolution. SNAP has developed a new Community Charts Tool that offers monthly average temperature and precipitation figures from the late-20th century through the present and offer projections for every decade through 2100 for over 350 places in Alaska. Additionally, SNAP provides GIS data, objective interpretations of projected scenarios, including ramifications for management decisions, detailed explanations of the assumptions, models, and methods, and uncertainties associated with projections.

  • NOAA Coastal Climate Adaptation Website: Learn what others are doing, share strategies, get basic information.

  • 2010 White House Progress Report on the Work of the Climate Change Adaptation Task Force Produced by the Interagency Climate Change Adaptation Task Force, the report recommends that the Federal Government implement actions to expand and strengthen the Nation’s capacity to better understand, prepare for, and respond to climate change. The recommendations include making adaptation a standard part of agency planning and ensuring scientific information about the impacts of climate change is easily accessible.

    Planning and Action

  • Alaska State Climate Change Strategy Includes links to the Climate Change Sub-Cabinet's Advisory Groups on Adaptation, Mitigation, Immediate Action, and Research Needs.

  • Interior Issues Council Climate Change Task Force The Preliminary Vulnerability Assessment Report for the Fairbanks North Star Borough will be released and posted on this website in Spring 2010. The Interior Issues Council Climate Change Task Force is a group of citizens and public employees collaborating to establish and build a sustainable climate resilient community through education, public outreach, and borough-wide actions.

  • Northern Climate ExChange (NCE) Climate change programs and services for Yukon and northern Canada. Programs focus on promoting and coordinating research and education on the impacts of, and adaptations to climate change in the North, supporting the development of resource-efficient technologies and practices that can contribute to mitigating climate change and its impacts, and facilitating the exchange of scientific and local information, technology, and expertise on climate change.


    Tools

  • Climate Change Planning Tools for First Nations The Center for Indigenous Environmental Resource's six guidebooks that ‘walk and talk’ a First Nation through the climate change planning process. They contain suggestions of how a First Nation might plan for climate change, how to involve the community, and activities that a First Nation can use to involve members of the community to set priorities and achieve them.

  • Climate Witness Community Toolkit This Climate Witness Toolkit from the World Wildlife Fund is the result of a process undertaken on Kabara, Fiji, to document local impacts of climate change and to devise appropriate adaptation measures that local communities can implement themselves.

  • Decision-Making for At Risk Communities in a Changing ClimateThis planning guide prepared by the Alaska Center for Climate Assessment and Policy informs decision-makers on issues relating to climate change and uncertainty, risk management, and relocation planning.

  • Planning for Climate Change Workshop Materials 2009 Workshop sponsored by the National Esturine Research Reserve System (NERRS). All of the workshop's written materials, PowerPoint presentations, and streaming video are available at this site. Planners with other agencies or institutions are welcome to offer this workshop and use the training materials provided.

  • Preparing for Climate Change: A Guidebook for Local, Regional, and State Governments The purpose of this guidebook is to help decision-makers in local, regional, or state government prepare for climate change with familiar resources and tools.

  • Risk and Vulnerability Assessment Tools from the NOAA Coastal Services Center. This site has information on community and risk vulnerability assessment tools (CVAT), vulnerability assessment techniques and applications, and training, including a customizable, one-day course designed to help coastal managers use CVAT to assess a community's risk and vulnerability to hazards.

  • UK CIP Adaptation Wizard A tool with a 5-step process that will help assess personal or organizational vulnerability to current climate and future climate change, identify options to address key climate risks, and help to develop a climate change adaptation strategy.

  • Ways for Indigenous Peoples' groups to advance adaptation concerns and solutions through international fora , Foundation for International Environmental Law and Development.

     

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