Seminars

Climate Impacts at Barrow, Alaska: Quantifying Coastal Erosion and Flooding

William Manley, Scott Peckham, James P.M. Syvitski, M. Dyurgerov, INSTAAR, Univ. of Colorado, Boulder

Presentation abstract for the ARCSS meeting, Seattle, WA, February 2002.

A variety of empirical and modeling approaches are being taken to assess the history and risk of erosion and flooding along the Chukchi Sea coast near Barrow, Alaska. Part of a broad assessment of climate impacts for the North Slope, this study utilizes field measurements, digital imagery, GIS, and numerical modeling to quantify past processes and rates, aswell as possible future scenarios of variable conditions and changing environment.

Download as PDF File.

High Wind Events for Barrow, Alaska

Poster presented at the ARCSS meeting, Seattle, WA, February 2002.

Melinda Koslow, Amanda Lynch, Mat Rothstein, Liz Cassano, Ron Brunner, Jim Maslanik

Abstract: Surface wind observations from Barrow, Alaska, are used to construct a climatology of high wind events from 1945 to the present. High wind events appear to be increasing over the past 20 years, after a lapse in the late 1960ıs to the early 1980ıs. Two of these events are chosen for further study. One of these is a storm that occurred on August 10, 2000 and was reported by the NWS as having record wind gusts of over 33 ms-1. The storm eroded the beach to within 100 meters of a main location of Barrowıs underground utilities, sank the dredge barge, washed out a boat ramp, and removed roofs from 40 buildings. The second case study is a storm that occurred October 3-5, 1963 that also caused high winds, possibly record flooding and considerable damage. Unconfirmed reports suggest a maximum wind speed of 33 ms-1 was observed. Though a large number of high wind events occur in the winter, summer and autumn events can cause greater damage, due to the sea ice edge being situated far from the coast, increasing likelihood of large waves and storm surges.

Poster forthcoming.

Presentation in Potsdam, 2002.

Download PowerPoint presentation. (Note: Requires PowerPoint 2000 or 2001 to view.)

PAOS Seminar: Towards An Integrated Assessment of the Impacts of Extreme Events on Barrow, Alaska

Abstract: Prompted by predictions of an amplified response of the Arctic to enhanced greenhouse forcing, analyses of observations have presented a reasonably coherent picture of high-latitude warming. An anthropogenic effect is suggested from interpretation of the paleoclimate record, which indicates that the 20th century Arctic is the warmest of the past 400 years. Further, a statistically significant increase in high-latitude cyclone frequency and storm intensity has been observed. Increasing amounts of open water in the arctic seas combined with rising sea level and thawing permafrost will contribute to increased harshness of the impacts of meteorological events. Impacts on the North Slope of Alaska, in the context of the coastal geography and the rapid pace of development, will include damage to coastal communities and the natural environment.

The storm of August 10, 2000 originated over northern Siberia, and tracked east over the Chukchi Sea toward Barrow. With no surface meteorological instruments in the path of the storm, National Weather Service personnel were taken by surprise by the record winds that resulted. The strong winds added waves to the storm surge, causing flooding and eosion of the coastline.

This talk describes a project that is underway to understand, support and enhance the local decision-making process on the North Slope of Alaska in the face of increasing climate variability. An analysis of the storm of August 2000 will be placed in the context of the storm climatology, the history of environmental impacts of storms, and the community responses to these events.

Barrow, August 2001

Below are the posters presented in Barrow, August 2001.