What happened to Shishmaref?
Shishmaref is a sand-barrier island in the Chukchi Sea, separated from the Seward Peninsula by the Shishmaref lagoon. In 2016, the community voted to move to the mainland, to an area called West Tin-Creek Hills. That data, Beck says, can then be used to help the community and planning agencies make decisions.
Is Alaska going to sink?
Although ice melt from Alaska contributes to global sea level rise, sea levels near Alaska have been decreasing because the land beneath the state is rising. The state will need to take action and plan for future sea level rise and flooding. …
Is Newtok Alaska underwater?
Some Blame Climate Change. That means staying in a place that’s long been neglected. Tribal administrator Andrew John says no one wanted to invest in a place that was set to be abandoned. Newtok has no running water, so people use 5 gallon buckets — called honey buckets — as toilets.
How much did the sarichef island shrink as a result of the mid October storm?
How much did the Sarichef Island shrink as a result of the mid-October storm? According to the article, Sarichef Island shrank 3 miles long by 1,300 feet wide (5 km. by 400 mt.), due to the result of the mid-October storm. Three specific impacts on the island are ascribed to global warming.
What major decision did the residents of Shishmaref an island in Alaska make in 2016?
Reeling From Effects of Climate Change, Alaskan Village Votes to Relocate. Residents of a small Alaskan village voted this week to relocate their entire community from a barrier island that has been steadily disappearing because of erosion and flooding attributed to climate change.
How are homes being destroyed in the village of Shishmaref?
As higher storm surges reach shore, Shishmaref is shrinking by around 3m every year and the town’s homes, water system and infrastructure are being undermined and destroyed to the point where homes are being abandoned as they literally fall into the ocean.
How deep is the permafrost in Alaska?
Permafrost is present nearly everywhere beneath the Arctic slope of Alaska. Frozen ground generally extends to a depth of at least 1,000 feet; thicknesses ranging from 600 to 1,300 feet are recorded in wells near Point Barrow on the Arctic coast.
What is happening to the permafrost in Alaska?
Permafrost is structurally important to the soils of Alaska, and its thawing causes landslides, ground subsidence, and erosion as well as lake disappearances, new lake development, and saltwater encroachment into aquifers and surface waters.
How are people in Newtok being affected by melting ice and erosion?
“Many folks are not happy to be leaving the place they’ve known their whole lives.” After 20 years of melting permafrost, residents of Newtok now must move. Thawing permafrost and erosion has increased flooding risks and caused the land around their homes to crumble and sink.
Why does the village of Newtok in Alaska need to be moved?
For decades, Newtok—a village of about 375 people, nearly all of whom belong to the Indigenous Yupik community of Southwest Alaska—has been trying to relocate to escape the catastrophic erosion that has progressively ripped apart the ground.
What did they do in 2002 to Mina Weyiouanna house to protect it from the eroding shoreline?
What did they do in 2002 to Mina Weyiouanna’s house, to protect it from the eroding shoreline? They used a crane to physically lift and move her house farther inland, away from the coast. White sand made from the erosion of coral reefs.
What similar impacts is global warming have on both sarichef Island and the Maldives?
Both are experiencing land loss due to erosion and the rise in sea level. Since both are islands, there is already a limited amount of land. What is the population of Malé and Shishmaref?
How much land has been lost in Alaska?
They do now. According to a study conducted by a researcher at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, tiny Sarichef Island lost an average of seven and a half feet of land a year to erosion between 2003 and 2014. And as the island shrinks and the sea ice recedes, the risks steadily rise.
How is Sarichef Island in Alaska losing land?
According to a study conducted by a researcher at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, tiny Sarichef Island lost an average of seven and a half feet of land a year to erosion between 2003 and 2014. And as the island shrinks and the sea ice recedes, the risks steadily rise.
When did Shishmaref Alaska move to the mainland?
The people of Shishmaref know they’re not safe here, and two years ago, they voted to move the village to the mainland. In fact, the community has voted to relocate three times — in 2016, in 2002 and way back in 1973.
Why is the sea ice on kokeok island melting?
In decades past, Kokeok says, the sea ice around the island served as a kind of buffer, protecting it from the wind and waves when winter storms blew in. But these days the ice is forming later and later. “It was always frozen at the end of October,” Kokeok says.
