Convergence NNA: ANCHOR - Arctic Network for Coastal Community Hazards, Observations, and Integrated Research

University Of Alaska Anchorage Campus, Anchorage AK

Investigators

Abstract

This Research Coordination Network (ANCHOR) will integrate social science, natural science and engineering to address the imminent challenges that coastal communities in the Alaskan Arctic face due to rapid permafrost thaw and coastal erosion. These processes are causing buildings, roads and areas of cultural significance to be undermined as coastlines subside and collapse into the sea. These communities are considering a range of options, which include abandoning their homelands for higher ground or building seawalls to limit erosion. At the same time, opportunities are now being realized for communities to participate in monitoring of the environmental processes that are occurring. Through the activities of ANCHOR, local communities will participate in monitoring that will help inform their decision-making processes. Overall, ANCHOR will help to develop scientifically robust approaches for coastal communities to respond to coastal erosion. Further, some activities will be focused in one local coastal community in Alaska in order to evaluate approaches developed through ANCHOR. This project promotes convergence by integrating understanding of the social processes of community decision-making under duress and uncertainty with advances in relevant natural science disciplines (coastal geophysics, soil physics, climate modelling, and atmospheric science) and disciplines in civil and environmental engineering (geotechnical engineering, risk assessment, water and wastewater treatment). The ANCHOR project will integrate social science, natural science and engineering by employing a testbed approach focused on a specific community to address the imminent challenges that coastal communities in the Arctic face due to rapid permafrost thaw and coastal erosion. These communities are now considering the drastic options of abandoning their homelands for higher ground or armoring in place, as buildings, roads and culturally significant areas collapse into the sea. At the same time, opportunities are now being realized for communities to participate in local scale monitoring and research. To provide a scientific foundation for addressing these imminent decisions, this ANCHOR project will bring together leading natural and social scientists and engineers with local community leaders, state and federal managers and NGO's to integrate local knowledge with state of the art natural science and engineering. For example, ANCHOR will develop a monitoring network with community involvement in one Alaskan coastal community. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.