Monitor and Evaluate
Community-based monitoring is critical to understanding how much and how quickly climate change is affecting the local environment.
Researchers and citizen scientists can work together to improve understanding of complex climate and ecosystem dynamics by:
- collaborating on coastal erosion or water temperature monitoring projects
- collecting and sharing Indigenous knowledge, local community observations, and new research
- integrating existing networks of information into a hub
Resources for monitoring
| Title | Summary |
|---|---|
| Alaska Arctic Observatory & Knowledge Hub | Shares information from community-based observations on sea ice change, and provides tools and observational data relevant to changes in the arctic seasonal cycle. |
| Alaska Coastal Hazards Program | The Alaska Division of Geological & Geophysical Surveys helps build local capacity to monitor flooding and erosion in Alaska communities. This site has the most recent updates for monitoring activities in low bandwidth community-specific pages. |
| Alaska Forestry Sciences Laboratory | Works with partners to collect forest survey data from remote sensing systems, including satellites and high-altitude aerial photography. |
| Alaska Online Aquatic Temperature Site | A comprehensive statewide inventory of current and historic continuous monitoring locations for stream and lake temperature. |
| Alaska Water Level Watch | The Alaska Water Level Watch (AWLW) is a collaborative group working to improve the quality, coverage, and accessibility to water level observations in Alaska’s coastal zone. Water level data has many applications that contribute to safe navigation, storm modeling and mapping, tsunami warnings, watches, and advisories, incident response, search and rescue operations, tidal datums, sea-level trends, storm trends, and much more. |
| Chugach Region: Generations of Change StoryMap | The Chugach Regional Resources Commission presents a StoryMap encompassing the experience of seven generations in southcentral Alaska – the three that preceded us, our current generation, and the three that will follow. The StoryMap includes data on recent challenges and changes in the region, but also stories of adaptation and resilience among Chugach tribes. |
| Climate Adaptation Planning in Alaska | An overview of climate adaptation planning and assessment in Alaska, including case studies, ongoing needs and resources. … |
| Community Based Methods for Monitoring Coastal Erosion | Guide for designing and installing erosion monitoring systems, with tips for selecting monitoring sites, instructions for site installation and data collection, and lists of necessary materials. |
| Copper River Climate Change Adaptation Plan | The Copper River Native Association (CRNA), with support from various partners, created a climate change adaptation plan to address risks like flooding, permafrost thaw, and shifts in wildlife that threaten subsistence practices in the Copper River Valley. |
| Indigenous Sentinels Network | The goal of the BeringWatch Indigenous Sentinel Network (ISN) is to provide remote, indigenous communities with tools, training, networking and convening, coordination, and capacity for ecological, environmental, and climate monitoring. |
| Kodiak Climate Adaptation Plan | The Kodiak Area Native Association, with funding from the Bureau of Indian Affairs Tribal Climate Resilience Program and Alaska Center for Climate Assessment and Policy, developed a comprehensive climate adaptation plan over the course of the two-year project. |
| Local Environmental Observer (LEO) Network | Provides access to first-hand accounts of climate and environmental change, made by expert observers based on local and traditional knowledge in the area. |
| Rural Alaska Monitoring Program | RAMP is a tribally-designed, village-based, resident-operated program to monitor existing and emerging climate-mediated threats to village food and water security, and to provide data for adaptation strategies. |
| Sea Ice for Walrus Outlook | A resource for sea ice and conditions relevant to walrus. |
| Sea Level Rise Viewer | Visualize community-level impacts from coastal flooding or sea level rise (up to 10 feet above average high tides). |
| Sitka Landslide Risk Dashboard | In response to landslides that took place in 2015, the Sitka Sound Science Center has created a tool for forecasting landslides in the Sitka region of Baranof Island. The landslide warning system launched in the format of a “Landslide Dashboard” web page in the Spring of 2022. |
| Southeast Alaska Salmon Simulator | Climate Change is causing changes in stream hydrology that impact salmon populations. Researchers at UAF, SAWC, and USFS have produced a Southeast Alaska Salmon Simulator to model salmon abundance under changing conditions. The simulator provides a tool for stakeholders to input streamflow and temperature data to project the number of returning adult salmon for particular streams. This tool helps to achieve more localized, downscaled projections of salmon returns for communities. |