Collaborative Research: Community based permafrost and climate monitoring in rural Alaska

该项目的总体目标是帮助上库斯库温地区的部落社区率先评估和应对气候变暖和永久冻土融化带来的环境变化。阿拉斯加吗?美国的土地、水、植物、野生动物和季节都在经历着巨大的动荡，其人民，特别是生活在偏远村庄的部落社区直接受到这些变化的严重影响。该项目将通过培训和教育向各部落提供获取、分析和解释科学数据所需的科学知识和技能，从而帮助各部落建立监测当地气候和永久冻土变化的能力。该项目将建立当地气候和永久冻土观测系统，并绘制上库斯库温地区的土地覆盖和永久冻土图。它还将为该区域制定地质灾害地图，以促进安全的生存和娱乐活动以及土地使用。该项目的具体目标是：1)让上库斯科温地区传统上服务不足的部落社区参与永久冻土和气候变化研究；2)建立社区监测当地气候和永久冻土变化的能力；3)模拟近地表永久冻土的状态和分布；4)绘制地质灾害地图。高分辨率的土地覆盖、永久冻土和地质灾害地图将为社区服务吗？需要识别经历快速变化和可能危险的地点。土地覆盖图将作为基线图，用于探测未来土地覆盖的变化。模拟的当前和未来几十年的永久冻土地图将有助于确定如果气候继续变暖，永久冻土退化可能会严重的地点。该项目将为上库斯科温地区传统上服务不足的部落社区和部落理事会提供参与气候研究的机会。它将为他们提供动力、资源、气候科学知识和技能，以研究气候变化对其部落生活方式和环境的影响。通过该项目获得的数据、知识和技能将有利于部落社区对生存资源进行适应性管理，实施安全的土地使用做法，并规划未来。科学界也将通过提高对永久冻土动力学的理解，获得阿拉斯加这一未被充分研究的偏远地区的实地数据和地图而受益匪浅。此外，该项目还将通过阿拉斯加州费尔班克斯的远程学习中心设施，为尼古拉的社区成员和伊迪塔罗德地区学区的所有学生和教师提供有关气候变化的外展和讲习班。

The overarching goal of this project is to help the tribal communities of Upper Kuskokwim region take the lead in assessing and responding to the environmental changes that are coming with warming climate and thawing permafrost. Alaska?s land, water, plants, wildlife, and seasons are undergoing a great upheaval, and its people, especially the tribal communities living in remote villages are directly and severely impacted by these changes. The project will help build the tribal capacity to monitor changes in local climate and permafrost by providing the Tribes the scientific knowledge and skills necessary to acquire, analyze, and interpret scientific data through training and education. The project will establish local climate and permafrost observation system and map land cover and permafrost in the Upper Kuskokwim region. It will also develop a geo-hazard map for the region to facilitate safe subsistence and recreational practices and land use.The specific objectives of this project are to 1) engage traditionally-underserved tribal communities of the Upper Kuskokwim region in permafrost and climate change research, 2) build community capacity to monitor changes in local climate and permafrost, 3) model the state and distribution of near-surface permafrost, and 4) develop a geo-hazard map. The high-resolution land cover, permafrost, and geo-hazard maps will serve the communities? need to identify sites experiencing rapid changes and could be hazardous. The land cover map will serve as a baseline map to detect future changes in land cover. The modeled permafrost maps of current and future decades will help identify sites where permafrost degradation will likely be severe if the climate continues to warm. The project will offer the traditionally-underserved tribal communities of the Upper Kuskokwim region and the Tribal Council an opportunity to engage in climate research. It will provide them the motivation, resources, climate science knowledge and skills to study the impact of climate change on their tribal way of life and environment. The data, knowledge, and skills gained through this project will benefit the tribal communities in adaptive management of subsistence resources, implementation of safe land use practices, and planning for the future. The scientific community will also benefit hugely by having an improved understanding of permafrost dynamics, access to field data and maps from this understudied remote part of Alaska. In addition, the project will provide outreach and workshops on climate change to the community members in Nikolai and to all students and teachers in Iditarod Areas School District through the Distance Learning Center facility in Fairbanks, Alaska.