Alaska Arctic communities are the “first responders” to experience and detect changes in the environment given their deep connections to place and integral reliance on traditional resources. Here’s how we are working together to track changes: a story we provided to ARCUS for the Witness Community Highlights series.

Quyanaqpak and Taikuu to our authors: Donna D.W. Hauser (UAF); Joshua Jones (UAF); Robert (Bobby) Puya Schaeffer, AAOKH Observer, Kotzebue, Alaska; Billy Adams, AAOKH Observer, Utqiaġvik, Alaska; Matthew L. Druckenmiller (University of Colorado Boulder); Roberta Tuurraq Glenn (graduate student in Geography at UAF); Elena Bautista Sparrow (UAF); and Hajo Eicken (UAF). Read full story

We were thrilled to have a full room at our Alaska Forum on the Environment 2020 presentation! A copy of our presentation can be downloaded here (sorry the videos and animations don’t play in this version – contact us for copies).

It was a pleasure and privilege to share observations and information about AAOKH. Taikuu and quyanaqpak!! Graduate student Roberta Glenn made the room stop with her Iñupiaq introduction and then told us about her upcoming coastal erosion monitoring research, Kotzebue Observer Bobby Schaeffer made clear the “unheard of” ice and ocean conditions in his region during 2019, UAF climatologist Read full story

Tomorrow Dec 3, at 10 am, join AAOKH Science Lead Donna Hauser, Sea Grant’s Gay Sheffield, and UAF’s Rick Thoman for a summary of 2019’s notable observations and conditions from the Bering and Chukchi Sea regions. Key observations and measurements by AAOKH observers will be featured in this webinar.

Click here for more details on how to join by phone or computer. A full recording should be available by checking back at the link at a later date. Read full story

Check out our latest installment of AAOKH News online, right here! This e-newsletter is an electronic version of the paper newsletter that will be sent in the coming weeks to mailbox holders in Wales, Kotzebue, Point Hope, Point Lay, Wainwright, Utqiaġvik, and Kaktovik. AAOKH News is intended to improve visibility, further engage community members, and highlight recent activities and updates.
Please enjoy! Also let us know if you have any questions or feedback to improve our communications, suggestions for other recipients of the e-newsletter, or ideas for information you think would be a good addition to future newsletters.
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AAOKH will be presenting community-based observations of Arctic Change today at the Arctic Futures 2050 meeting, which has a goal to bring together “Arctic scientists, Indigenous Peoples, and policy makers jointly exploring the knowledge needed to inform decisions concerning the Arctic in coming decades.” Although it’s on East Coast time (4 hr earlier than AK), you can live stream or watch recordings of the sessions later at this link: https://www.searcharcticscience.org/…/conference-2019/stream. Read full story