2018 - Extreme Environments - Barrow, Alaska by Ellena Mart https://padlet.com/geogalot/qppe3q5cp5qr Adapting to climate change en-us 2018-02-19 17:50:46 UTC 2018-02-20 09:22:06 UTC hello@padlet.com Barrow! https://padlet.com/geogalot/qppe3q5cp5qr/wish/233150298 330 miles above the artic circle
Ice is getting thinner every year, barely being able to support much weight.
Sea ice is shrinking.
Barrow will sometimes still have open water in the winter (rather than water which has been frozen over), which never used to happen before
Key industry: whaling
All food has to be imported by plane
Sea ice is melting, changing the migratory patterns of whales
CO2 levels in the atmosphere are increasing very quickly: rate of increase and level of CO2 in the atmosphere is higher than ever.
Coastal erosion due to decreased amount of ice. (ice is a natural defence against the water/waves)
The mayor of Barrow wants to move the entire town inwards in order to protect the town against coastal erosion - but Barrow has $1 billion of infrastructure: houses, schools, underground heated tunnel which prevents pipes from freezing.


]]> 2018-02-20 07:50:38 UTC https://padlet.com/geogalot/qppe3q5cp5qr/wish/233150298 Barrow https://padlet.com/geogalot/qppe3q5cp5qr/wish/233150368 The ice  that forms on the coast of barrow has sustained the local population with wales for decades due to its availability, however climate change has lead to changes in formation of  ice and therefore the channels   and thickness of ice has dramatically decreased. 

Now experiencing an abrupt change in levels of CO2 . This has lead to even more melting of ice each year.  

The ice is also a natural defence against waves and costal erosion. The more ice melt the more erosion. Less ice between the city and the ocean . If this continues they may have to move an entire town inland. 

Barrow has $1 billion dollars of infrastructure  with underground heating. This makes its very expensive to move. 

The reliance on the local ecosystem to provide for the inhabitants is dying out. With the isolation of this area they rely on the local ecosystem and what it provides.

The Yupik, an indigenous people of western Alaska, have dozens of words for the vagaries of sea ice. However due to the rapid melting of ice never seen before   words such as such as “tagneghneq” (thick, dark, weathered ice), are becoming obsolete.

The region’s 2016 temperature has been 3.5 degrees warmer than a century ago.  

 The decline on the long-term average of sea ice extent for that day was 888,000 sq miles (2.3m sq km) – an area 10 times larger than the UK. This has impacted local economies that survive of the local environment. 

The window of opportunity for hunting continues to shrink. 

Managed to catch just a third of the walruses they normally do. Last year, Gambell , the largest settlement, snared  just 36 – down from the 600 it could expect just a few years ago.

Due to these fluctuation, ecosystems cannot provided in the same ways as the past and therefore locals rely on stores with prices to reflect their journey – $20 for a pizza, $15 for a gallon of milk. 

The there is the choice of flight or fight; move or stay?


The regrowth of sea ice as Alaska enters winter has been so painfully slow that many communities will be left without a buffer to storms next year. Should a large storm hit, it could prove disastrous.


However moving is not cheap in any sense. The cost of relocating a village of just a few hundred people is around $200m – a bill that neither the federal nor Alaskan government is keen to pick up.

However then there is the investment possibilities that lay in natural resources such as oil.  There is difficulties due to the remoteness of the region, and a lack of basic infrastructure means the Arctic is simply not wired into the rest of the global trade system. 

However some investors are looking to upgrade national, industrial and social systems. Others are smaller scale and meant to connect remote places into larger patterns of trade. Taken together, they would require as much as $1 trillion in investments.
 
So far, Russia's oil-and-gas money has underwritten a lot of the work, giving President Vladimir Putin a leg up as changing conditions grant access to new riches.

Mining, road-building, renewable energy and service businesses make up the greatest number of individual projects in the infrastructure inventory by sector, at least in part because most of those are smaller-scale items that all communities need.


Oil and gas production projects require the biggest overall potential investment—as much as $200 billion—or more than the next three categories combined (mining, renewable energy and railroads). 


However despite the Arctic Circle potentially  holding more than a fifth of the world's undiscovered oil and gas, most of it offshore, this comes at a cost of around $60 a barrel, one that may not be worth pursuing.

However this inst stopping russia; the country is rich in natural resources, a disproportionate amount of which lie in the Arctic.  The north makes 20 percent of the Russian gross domestic product, and Russia contributes about two-thirds to the overall Arctic economy. 

Russia is also looking to expand into new areas such as hydrocarbon plants, with many projects already up and running. 
 
However hydrocarbon plants are not universally considered a safe or moral decision, given the treacherous working conditions and the overdetermined dangers of further carbon dioxide pollution. 

Yet there are more new possibilities for renewable energies such as hydropower, wind, geothermal, tidal and solar energy.

]]> 2018-02-20 07:50:57 UTC https://padlet.com/geogalot/qppe3q5cp5qr/wish/233150368 Barrow, Alaska https://padlet.com/geogalot/qppe3q5cp5qr/wish/233150370 - Thinning of Ice. 
- 330 miles above the Arctic circle.
- Food that cannot be grown locally, has to be flown in, casing for basic essential goods to be extremely expenssive. 
- Sea ice is shrinking making it dangerous for people to go out to sea. 
- Ice used a natural defense, due to the melting of the ice, the crashing of the water onto the shore, causes coastal erosion. 
- Mayor wants to move the city inland and move away from the coast, which is an issue due to the underground infrastructure and all the money that has been invested in housing, schools, medical departments...etc.  
- indigenous species found in the area are at risk. ]]> 2018-02-20 07:50:58 UTC https://padlet.com/geogalot/qppe3q5cp5qr/wish/233150370 Barrow, Alaska (Gigi) https://padlet.com/geogalot/qppe3q5cp5qr/wish/233150425 - northern most American city
- "epicenter of climate change"
- ice thickness has thinned every year
- Now only 1-2m deep, but used to be 10-12m deep
- water no longer freezes over during the winter
- key industry: whaling
- any food has to be imported, so whaling is important for food
- changes in sea ice impacts the migration patterns of the whales
- now a whale can no longer be brought up on the ice as it is not thick enough to support the weight
- sea ice is disappearing due to carbon dioxide and greenhouse gases 
- carbon dioxide levels has increased in the air in Barrow
- this accelerates global warming and sea ice melting
- rate of increase of carbon dioxide increase is higher than it has ever been in the last 800 years
- sea ice is thinner and covers less surface area
- water temperatures are warming
- coastal erosion occurs as a result of the ice no longer naturally preventing waves from crashing against the coast
- no coastal management as it is a remote location
- ocean is eating away at the coast line
- Mayor of Barrow would like to move the town inland to protect it from coastal erosion
- Barrow has lots of infrastructure, and it would be very difficult to continue moving inwards]]> 2018-02-20 07:51:13 UTC https://padlet.com/geogalot/qppe3q5cp5qr/wish/233150425 Climate Change in Barrow (Hannah) https://padlet.com/geogalot/qppe3q5cp5qr/wish/233150469 Barrow is 330 miles above the Arctic Circle. The ice is getting much thinner every year, which makes it much less stable. There is now open water (that isn't covered by ice) much later into the year, which never used to happen. The people rely on the ice to survive and to earn a living because they use it for whaling. They stand on the edge then row out in search of whales, then put the whales on the ice. Any food that cannot be hunted locally has to be flown in, so the sea ice is extremely important. There is much more CO2 in the air now, and this is the most abrupt change in history. The rate of increase and the level of CO2 is the highest it has ever been. Coastal erosion is also happening because ice isn't there as a buffer or natural defence against the waves. The mayor wants to move the entire town inland to avoid the effects of climate change. Because of all the infrastructure, moving the town would be very expensive.  

-31 Alaskan towns are at risk because of the melting ice and coastal erosion, many will have to adapt or relocate
-Food is imported and expensive, so if the people can't use the ice to access their source of food, they may go hungry
-In 2013, two communities on St. Lawrence island caught on 2/3 of the walruses they normally catch
-The thinning ice is dangerous for walruses as well, because they need the ice for resting and giving birth, but with the limited space, they can trample each other to death
-Frost melting in the soil is damaging buildings
-The village of Newtok has started to relocate, and many other Alaskan towns are considering it, and holding votes on the matter
-The cost of relocating people is around $200 million
-The US government has no plan to deal with the threat of thinning ice, warming and rising sea levels or displaced people

]]> 2018-02-20 07:51:28 UTC https://padlet.com/geogalot/qppe3q5cp5qr/wish/233150469 Barrow, Alaska https://padlet.com/geogalot/qppe3q5cp5qr/wish/233150492 Thinning of the ice, open water until late fall.
Ice has sustained the population for centuries.
Key industry = Whaling.
Is a vital staple that can be locally found and consumed.
With no sea ice, there is a change in the whale's migration patterns. 
Thinning of sea ice no longer supports population + is shrinking.
AIr samples in Barrow show an increase in CO2, leading to thinning sea ice.
Warming of water temperatures also changes local biodiversities, affecting fishing patterns for the local community.
Lack of glaciers leads to coastal erosion from the sea.
Mayor has considered moving the town further inland, to save community from climate change. Buried infrastructure (heated pipe systems to keep from freezing) makes this difficult.
________________________
Indigenous people
31 Alaskan towns and cities at risk from the melting ice and coastal erosion. Many will have to relocate or somehow adapt.
Warming air, warming sea and changes in the wind pattern have lead to an all time record low of arctic sea ice in November of 2016.
Region's temperature has been 3.5° Celsius warmer.
Prices to import food have risen, and there is less local food (such as walruses) to be found. 
In st. Lawrence, only a third of the usual walrus hunting game was caught. Sea ice is also very thin, making it dangerous for hunters to cross.
The lack in regrowth of sea ice has also left certain towns with no natural barriers against Winter storms.
-GS]]> 2018-02-20 07:51:34 UTC https://padlet.com/geogalot/qppe3q5cp5qr/wish/233150492 https://padlet.com/geogalot/qppe3q5cp5qr/wish/233151303 Now experiencing an abrupt change in levels of CO2 . This has lead to even more melting of ice each year.  ]]> 2018-02-20 07:55:39 UTC https://padlet.com/geogalot/qppe3q5cp5qr/wish/233151303 Guardian Article - Alaska (Gigi) https://padlet.com/geogalot/qppe3q5cp5qr/wish/233153318 Indigenous Alaskans see their culture and language decreasing as a result of climate change. 
- Words in native languages, such as, "tagnegneq", a word to describe thick, dark, weathered ice, is no longer being used as this type of ice is becoming more rare. 
- Hunting culture depends on the ice patterns of the environment. Thus food insecurity has risen in communities in Alaska that hunt whales and walruses, as the ice impacts their migration or reproduction.
- Coastal erosion, due to less sea ice present to protect the coast from crashing waves, threatens many coastal communities as the ocean eats away at the coast. 
- There is a destabilization of the Arctic environment, as the summers are longer and the winters warmer; the ice thinner and covering less surface area.
- Ice also provides a buffer for storms, and many communities are at risk if a large storm hit.
- 230 villages in Alaska affected by seal level rise.]]> 2018-02-20 08:04:46 UTC https://padlet.com/geogalot/qppe3q5cp5qr/wish/233153318 Barrow, Alaska https://padlet.com/geogalot/qppe3q5cp5qr/wish/233153454 - People travel out on ice boats to reach the outside world. Freezing water searching for wales. However, the ice is getting thinner and shrinking day by day which of course impacts the stability of it. 
- Some want to move Barrow to another location due to the climate change. However is this possible? Barrow has a lot of infrastructure. 
In December, Barrow usually has waters covered in ice but right now they've got open water. This melting of ice is a big issue for Barrow.
- In remote Alaskan communities, the stores sell goods that reflect their journey. (20 dollars for a pizza, 15 dollars for a gallon of milk, etc) however, if there is no sea ice to support you then you will be left hungry. 
- The window of hunting opportunities continues to shrink]]> 2018-02-20 08:05:28 UTC https://padlet.com/geogalot/qppe3q5cp5qr/wish/233153454