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放大给北极人民带来了各种挑战。在阿拉斯加和北极其他地区，气候变化与生存机会减少和预测对这些地区居民生计至关重要的环境条件的困难增加有关。 特别是，积雪和冰分布的变化普遍对旅行和生计活动产生了不利影响。该研究小组力求在科学学科（社会科学和自然科学）与具有长期环境观测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在冬季期间从阿拉斯加内陆的冻结到解体检查人类对河冰状况的看法。该项目的目标是记录整个冬季的危险冰况，并制作当地长期河流旅行者和物理科学家观察的录像和口头记录。文件包括口头描述和情况录像。这些可以作为参考，用于分析物理条件以及参与者调用经验和培训来构建其描述和评估条件的方式。 第二个目标是在现有的在线数据库上记录观测结果，以扩展影响冬季旅行者安全的危险冰位置的纵向记录。在促进学术学科（社会和自然科学）之间的伙伴关系，调查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.