Photo Credit: Emily Raboteau and Maria Tzortziou I was invited by my colleague Dr. Maria Tzortziou to join her on a research trip to the Yukon Delta where her NASA-funded team is studying coastal changes due to the climate crisis. (We are being financed by an interdisciplinary research grant through City University of New York.) As a climate writer interested in environmental justice, I feel excited and fortunate to be partnering with an environmental scientist who can help me understand the larger picture of global warming and its implications for frontline communities such as here in the remote village of Alakanuk, Alaska, by sharing her scientific observations. While Maria’s team continues methodically gathering water samples and taking satellite imagery that over time have a story to tell about environmental change in the most rapidly warming part of the planet, we have come for five days to gather stories from members of the local Yup’ik community – some of them collaborators in the larger research program - about what changes they have observed in their home place, how they are adapting to these changes on sociocultural and spiritual levels, stewardship, and traditional ecological knowledge.
0 Comments
By Kyle Turner Photo Credit: Kyle Turner, Jonathan Sherman We had a long but safe and successful trip to Nome, AK! Jonathan Sherman and I made it to all of our quick layovers leaving from New York City earlier this morning (but the last plane had to hold for us). We met Chelsea Lopez while boarding for Nome at the Anchorage Airport. As we landed in Nome, Scott Freeman picked us up from the airport, and the team loaded all of our supplies and instruments and headed to the ADF&G (Alaska Department of Fish and Game) bunkhouse, where we were staying in town. Our collaborator Jenefer Bell, Arctic Area Research Biologist with ADF&G, has been so helpful and supportive throughout the planning of our coastal Arctic fieldwork this summer! Our plan over the next few days is to have a 3-day trip with Captain Adem Boeckmann and his large fishing vessel Anchor Point to transect south and collect measurements across a strong marine-coastal-estuarine gradient in Norton Sound and near the Yukon River Delta. Saturday looks like our one chance at (some) sunshine, so we plan to spend Friday steaming and collect the majority of data on Saturday.
Meanwhile, we've been enjoying the quaint but small town of Nome. We played pool at the local saloon, Nome's oldest saloon since 1900 with an old "gold rush" facade. At that time, Nome was one of Alaska's largest cities, with people flocking to strike it rich in the golden sands. We walked the beach along Norton Sound and admired a sprawling collection of old rusted machinery from Nome's "golden era". The team assembled the optics package that will be used over the next few days to collect profiles of optical parameters, including absorption and backscattering, critical for linking in-situ measurements to satellite imagery. The weather is slightly chilly, but not too bad! I haven't had to pull out my heavy winter coat yet. |
Archives
June 2023
Categories |