The Effects of Global Climate Change - Where the Action Is


The Environmental and Energy Study Institute (EESI) recently held a Congressional briefing on the Arctic Climate Impact Assessment (ACIA) and climate change impacts already observed in Alaska. The assessment is an intergovernmental report based on a four-year scientific study of the Arctic conducted by an international team of 300 scientists and sponsored by the eight arctic nations (Canada, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Russia, Sweden, and the United States) and six indigenous people's organizations. Alaska, in particular, is being affected by climate change and experienced its warmest summer on record in 2004, characterized by its worst fire season, unprecedented insect outbreaks, and significant coastal erosion.

The warming has caused a decline in summer sea ice extent and thickness, allowing seasonal storms to increasingly erode portions of the Alaskan coastline. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) estimates costs of $100-400 million to move an endangered Alaskan village, with some 184 villages seen as susceptible to flooding and erosion. The briefing featured three leading climate change experts: Dr. Robert Corell, Chair of ACIA and Senior Policy Fellow for the Policy Program of the American Meteorological Society; Dr. Pal Prestrud, Vice-Chair of ACIA and Director of the Center for International Climate and Environmental Research (CICERO) in Oslo, Norway; and Dr. Heidi Cullen, Climate Expert from the Weather Channel, formerly with the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR).

Dr. Robert Corell commented, "The arctic is where the action is. It is believed to be warming 2-3 times more rapidly than the rest of the planet." Corell further mentioned that the study found warming took place mostly during the winter months, thinning glacial and sea ice causing shorelines which were once frozen to experience erosion due to the retreat of ice. Erosion only needs a few high tides to occur and the land literally melts away.

The Weather Channel's climate expert, Dr. Heidi Cullen, recently ran a 5-part series exploring the effect of global warming on Alaska and its residents, reporting that the average winter temperature in Alaska has increased more than 6° F since 1948; most of Alaska's permafrost is now just barely frozen, potentially affecting the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System; climate change-induced erosion is threatening many areas; and large tracts of Alaskan forests are becoming more vulnerable to attack by normally cold-sensitive beetles.

Indigenous communities are facing major economic and cultural impacts. The sea and inland ice is changing rapidly and disappearing in places essential to indigenous residents of the Arctic. Cullen noted that the Inuit people feel that the weather has become a stranger to them due to the constantly changing climate.

Several reports will be released in Spring 2005 on these findings. They will be available at www.acia.uaf.edu.

Located on the shores of Cook Inlet and at the foot of the Chugach Mountains, Anchorage is a unique urban environment set in the heart of great wilderness. What better setting to discuss global climate change and its impacts on the environmental and water community as well as other current environmental and water resource issues.

Experience the climate and culture of Alaska firsthand.
Register online for the EWRI Congress, May 15-19, 2005 in Anchorage, Alaska at http://www.asce.org/conferences/ewri2005/index.cfm.