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 Climate Resilience | Alaskans have been working in diverse arenas to reach common goals of ensuring economic opportunity, health, and safety for everyone in Alaska—now, and in the years to come—as our environment continues to change. Learn how the State of Alaska is working to increase resilience. |
| Alaska Coastal Hazards Program | The Alaska Division of Geological & Geophysical Surveys Coastal Hazards Program is engaged in mapping, monitoring, and modeling activities that assist communities in understanding vulnerability to coastal flood and erosion hazards. This program is dedicated to fostering scientific partnerships that will improve the quality and quantity of the critical baseline data that are necessary to fuel informed decision-making throughout the … |
| Alaska Coastal Hazards Program Monitors Flooding and Erosion | 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 to monitoring activities in low bandwidth community-specific pages. See the latest report by DGGS Shoreline Change at Alaska Communities that includes maps of historical erosion and accretion rates for several riverine and coastal communities in Alaska. The report and maps are available here. Photo Courtesy of Jacquelyn Overbeck … |
| 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. Photo Courtesy of Jacquelyn … |
| BeringWatch | A customizable tool for recording and communicating significant environmental and ecological events to empower remote communities dealing with the effects of climate change. |
| 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. |
| Community Based Monitoring Web Portal | Describes community-based monitoring and citizen science programs around Alaska. |
| Indigenous Sentinels Network | The BeringWatch Indigenous Sentinel Network (ISN) is an online database tool for non-scientists in remote communities to record and communicate environmental and ecological information. ISN fills a distinct niche; the focus is on effective real-time ecological monitoring by community members with local and traditional knowledge. |
| 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). |