Dangerous Ice: Human perspectives on changing winter conditions in Alaska

该奖项是根据2009年美国复苏和再投资法案（公法111-5）资助的。高纬度生态系统气候变暖的加剧给北极人民带来了各种各样的挑战。在阿拉斯加和北极其他地区，气候变化与生存机会的减少和预测环境条件的困难增加有关，而环境条件对这些地区居民的生计至关重要。特别是，积雪和冰分布的变化一般对旅行和生存活动产生负面影响。这个研究小组寻求在科学学科（社会科学和自然科学）和具有长期环境观察传统的土著人民之间建立伙伴关系。一个多学科的项目计划检查人类的观点河冰条件在冬季从冻结到破碎在阿拉斯加内陆。该项目的目标是记录整个冬季的危险冰情，并制作录像和口头记录当地长期河流旅行者和物理科学家的观察结果。文件包括口头描述和对情况的录像。这些作为分析身体状况和参与者要求经验和训练的方式的参考，以构建他们的描述和评估条件。第二个目标是在现有的联机数据库上记录观测结果，以扩大影响冬季旅行者安全的有危险冰的地点的纵向记录。在促进学术学科（社会科学和自然科学）之间的伙伴关系中，研究人员寻求获得一个更广泛的框架来解释自然现象和人类对这些现象的解释。研究人员希望在这里收集的信息以及研究人员和当地人之间的合作将影响整个北极地区的其他观测工作。

This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5).The magnification of climate warming in high-latitude ecosystems poses a variety of challenges to arctic peoples. In Alaska and elsewhere in the Arctic, climate change have been linked to reduced subsistence opportunities and increased difficulties of predicting environmental conditions that are critical for the livelihood of residents of these regions. In particular, changes in snow cover and ice distribution has generally had a negative impact on travel and subsistence activities. This research team seeks to build a partnership among scientific disciplines (social and natural science) and indigenous peoples with a long tradition of environmental observations. A multi- disciplinary project is planned to examine human perspectives on river ice conditions during the winter season from freeze-up through break-up in interior Alaska. The objectives of the project are to document dangerous ice conditions throughout the winter and to produce videography and oral records of observations made by long-term local river travelers and physical scientists. The documentation consists of oral descriptions and video recordings of conditions. These serve as a reference for analyzing both the physical conditions and the way participants call upon experience and training to frame their descriptions and evaluate conditions. A second objective is to record the observations on an existing on-line data base to extend the longitudinal record of locations with dangerous ice that affect the safety of winter travelers. In fostering a partnership between academic disciplines (social and natural science) the investigators seek to obtain a broader framework for interpreting both natural phenomena and human interpretations of these phenomena. The researchers hope that the information gathered here and the collaborations between researchers and local people will influence other observation efforts across the Arctic.