ACCAP Alaska Climate Webinar Series: Assessing the Vulnerability of Alaska Villages

Event Type: Webinars and Virtual Events

When: 27 March 2018

Where: Online or at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, 10:00-11:00am AKDT, 2:00-3:00pm EDT

Summary

Communities in Alaska’s Arctic and Subarctic regions are at risk from environmental threats including flooding, erosion, and thawing permafrost. However, the character and relative magnitude of those risks can vary from community to community, and it is not always clear which environmental threats pose the greatest amount of risk. This presentation describes an ongoing project being conducted by the University of Alaska Fairbanks, the USACE Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory, and the US Army Corps of Engineers Alaska District. The project is sponsored by the Denali Commission. The purpose of the project is to use existing data to better characterize the threats to Alaska’s communities associated with flooding, erosion, and permafrost thaw, and develop a system by which stakeholders can evaluate the combined threat. The presentation will focus primarily upon consideration of the threats imposed by permafrost thaw, as that is the main focus of the UAF/CRREL component of the project.

Available in-person at: Room 407 in the Akasofu Building on the UAF Campus in Fairbanks.