Navigating the New Arctic Projects

Project Abstract

The well-being of Alaskan Indigenous communities depends on access to safe drinking water. However, water pollution has remained a reality for many of these communities due to naturally occurring and anthropogenic pollutants. As the climate warms, environmental changes will likely exacerbate water contamination problems by releasing entombed microorganisms, ancient organic carbon, nutrients, and metals through thawing of permafrost and melting of glaciers. While Alaskan communities are highly vulnerable to such changes, they also hold valuable Indigenous Knowledge about their water resources. This project aims to merge Western scientific knowledge with Indigenous Knowledge of water to better understand...

Project Abstract

Alaska experiences thousands of earthquakes every year, including historical major events that have disrupted and severely damaged infrastructure and lifeline networks. Given the accelerating environmental, ecological, and social changes as the Arctic climate warms, including changes in soil properties, it is critical to understand how infrastructure and society respond to seismic events. Seismic assessments of infrastructure, post-earthquake recovery, and future planning must simultaneously consider natural environment, built infrastructure, and social systems. This project addresses an urgent need for Arctic residents to develop strategies to respond to seismic events. Resilient infrastructure linked with social systems is crucial to...

Project Abstract

This project is advancing understanding of convergent challenges in the Arctic and Subarctic by systematically analyzing the impacts of the rapidly growing regional tourism industry. While there may be economic benefits to the destinations visited including seasonal employment, private sector investments, and increased tax revenue, more tourism may also bring other outcomes. These include air, water, and noise pollution, environmental degradation, and cultural effects such as the overcrowding of ports and adjacent areas and a sense of being overwhelmed by tourists among local populations. The overarching goals of the project are to: 1) systematically document, compare and...

Project Abstract

Even when it exists, formal water infrastructure in rural Alaska often fails to provide an adequate level of service to Alaskan households and communities. Operating water infrastructure in the Arctic is particularly difficult due to the unique coupling between the engineered systems and the unusually extreme challenges from social and natural systems. The small and remote nature of communities present unusual logistical, financial, and workforce challenges, while an extreme and changing climate further complicates the technical work needed to operate and maintain the systems. Accordingly, this project integrates knowledge of the water service challenges, data needs, and...

Project Abstract

Alaskan communities and their built environment are affected by permafrost thaw, coastal and river erosion, flooding, and other natural processes altered or accelerated by environmental changes. Arctic coastal communities in particular face compound threats from riverbank erosion, permafrost thaw, and increasing coastal storm impacts. As data collection campaigns in the Arctic are costly and often limited to periods of the year when weather affords access to sites of interest, significant gaps in data and information can result. This NNA planning grant employs workshops designed to discover gaps in knowledge and develop associated research questions and hypotheses to...

Project Abstract

Groundwater is a key drinking water source in Alaska. However, groundwater in Alaska is commonly contaminated with naturally occurring metals including iron, manganese, and arsenic. When these contaminants are present in drinking water, they pose a serious health threat. Water treatment systems in many rural communities are not always able to remove these contaminants. This situation endangers the well-being of the community, diminishes trust in the treatment system, and reduces use of the treated water. The goal of this project is to address challenges involved with treatment, delivery, and use of drinking water in rural communities, with...

Project Abstract

As the Arctic warms, social and environmental changes threaten the Arctic, its inhabitants, and their ways of life. Mitigating the effects of these changes must include educating young people about the complex interactions involved since their generation will experience the growing impacts over time. Many science concepts, such as rising temperatures and carbon dioxide levels, are challenging to teach and understand because they are literally invisible, while their effects, such as salmon killed by the heat stress of warming water, are all too visible. This project is exploring effective ways to teach challenging issues of social and...

Project Abstract

Arctic communities are experiencing unprecedented transformation due to environmental changes and expanding and intensifying economic development. For example, as the climate warms, sea ice becomes thinner and less extensive, which enables the expansion of global trade and more shipping traffic with larger ships. This project is investigating the impacts of rapidly changing sea ice conditions on Arctic communities, how these changes interact with social and economic threats, and how the socio-economic and other contexts of the communities affect their vulnerabilities to both. The perspective and concerns of Artic peoples are at the core of this project, which...

Project Abstract

The Arctic contains the largest amount of stored carbon of any habitat type. It is also the most rapidly warming global region. Warming temperatures, along with increasing fire frequency and extent, may amplify global climate change by increasing carbon-based greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from Arctic soils. Current abilities to predict future arctic carbon storage and release dynamics remain limited due, in part, to a lack of on-site soil GHG sensors that can operate over Arctic winters. To advance knowledge of the processes regulating arctic soil carbon storage and release, this collaboration between California Polytechnic State University, Oakland...