Collaborative Research: Understanding the Impacts of Extreme Events on the Peoples of the Arctic

该奖项全部或部分由《2021年美国救援计划法案》（公法117-2）资助。该项目使用古气候学和历史数据集来记录环境变化及其对北美西北部土著居民的影响。研究人员将汇编和分析树木年轮数据，以确定小冰河期（~ 1450-1850）的极端气候事件。树木年轮的证据将与历史气象观测和记录人类影响的土著民族历史（如饥荒、移民）进行比较。该项目将测试有关北极社区和生态系统对极端环境变化的反应和敏感性的假设，重点是火山作用力的影响。该项目的目标包括利用树木年轮记录北美西北部的气候历史，并确定树木年轮数据与极端环境变化的历史、代理和土著证据之间的趋同程度。本计画更广泛的影响包括发展一系列以树木年代学为重点的多媒体本科生实验练习。这些实验室将使学生熟悉利用树木年轮重建气候的科学方法；相关网站将把这些练习提供给全国的教育工作者。项目小组还将与一位教育专家合作，为当地土著社区编写一套高中水平的气候变化课程。研究成果将通过专业会议和科学出版物传播。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This award is funded in whole or in part under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (Public Law 117-2).This project employs paleoclimatological and historical datasets to document environmental changes and their effects on Indigenous populations in northwestern North America. The investigators will compile and analyze tree-ring data to identify extreme climatic events for the period known as the Little Ice Age (~1450–1850). The tree-ring evidence will be compared to historical weather observations and Indigenous ethnohistories documenting human impacts (e.g., famine, migration). This project will test hypotheses regarding the response and sensitivity of Arctic communities and ecosystems to extreme environmental change, with emphasis on the impacts of volcanic forcing. Project goals include documenting climate history of northwestern North America using tree rings and determining the degree of convergence between the tree-ring data and historical, proxy and Indigenous evidence of extreme environmental change. Broader impacts of this project include the development of a series of multimedia undergraduate lab exercises focused on dendrochronology. These labs will familiarize students with the scientific use of tree-rings to reconstruct climate; the associated website will make the exercises available to educators nation-wide. The PI team will also work with an educational expert to develop a high-school-level climate change curriculum for use in local Indigenous communities. Research results will be disseminated via professional conferences and scientific publications.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.