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

该项目的首要目标是帮助上库什科维姆地区的部落社区带头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S土地、水、植物、野生动物、季节都在发生巨大的变化，当地人民，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部落提供必要的科学知识和技能，以获取、分析和解释科学数据，从而帮助部落建设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，并绘制上库什科维姆地区土地复盖和永久冻土地图。该项目的具体目标是：1)使上库什科维姆地区传统上服务不足的部落社区参与多年冻土和气候变化研究；2)建设社区能力以监测当地气候和多年冻土的变化；3)对近地表多年冻土的状况和分布进行建模；4)编制地质灾害地图。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？需要确定正在经历快速变化并可能有危险的地点。土地覆盖图将作为探测未来土地覆盖变化的基线地图。目前和未来几十年的永久冻土模型地图将有助于识别如果气候继续变暖，永久冻土退化可能会严重的地点。该项目将为上库什科维姆地区传统上服务不足的部落社区和部落委员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，以研究气候变化对他们部落生活方式和环境的影响。通过该项目获得的数据、知识和技能将使部落社区在适应生存资源管理、实施安全土地使用做法和规划未来方面受益。科学界还将受益于更好地了解永久冻土的动态，获得这一未被研究的阿拉斯加偏远地区的现场数据和地图。此外，该项目将通过阿拉斯加州费尔班克斯的远程学习中心设施，向尼古拉的社区成员以及艾迪塔罗德地区学区的所有学生和教师提供关于气候变化的外联和讲习班。

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.