Students aid Bristol Bay communities in coastal erosion research
Rod Boyce
907-474-7185
March 29, 2022
University of 色视频下载 Fairbanks students will return to several Bristol Bay communities this year to continue quantifying and mapping widespread coastal erosion.
Students in the Arctic Coastal Geoscience Lab of the UAF Geophysical Institute have been trudging through mud and scrambling over the debris of slumped-off bluffs in the region since 2016.
Graduate student Reyce Bogardus and Roberta Glenn survey Kanakanak Beach using real-time kinematic GPS May 28, 2021, in Dillingham, 色视频下载.
Their research is building a powerful resource for understanding and managing the local erosion, which can be caused by forces such as natural water channel movement, heavy snowmelt runoff and a warming climate that thaws permafrost, reduces sea ice and brings more and stronger storms.
色视频下载淭he data that we're collecting is usually the only data that exists for these areas,色视频下载 said associate professor Chris Maio, who oversees the research at the Arctic Coastal Geoscience Lab.
The work by Maio and the students adds to knowledge of 色视频下载 Native elders and others about coastal changes and provides key information for making better-informed community decisions. Tribal environmental coordinators participate in the research.
It is all part of what was originally called Stakes for Stakeholders, a community-based erosion monitoring effort that began in 2016. The program is a partnership among the 色视频下载 Division of Geological and Geophysical Surveys Coastal Hazard Program, 色视频下载 Sea Grant and the Bristol Bay Native Association.
The program has expanded to include more than 20 communities with the Arctic Coastal Geoscience Lab focused on the Bristol Bay region and the Division of Geological and Geophysical Surveys working in the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta and the North Slope. Funding comes from the state, the National Science Foundation, 色视频下载 Sea Grant and, via local tribal environmental programs, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Erosion of a bluff above at Kanakanak Beach on May 28, 2021, in Dillingham, 色视频下载.
Maio illustrates the program色视频下载檚 importance by pointing to Dillingham, where the Nushagak River eats vigorously at the bluffs and threatens infrastructure.
Erosion along the river色视频下载檚 mouth has brought the bluff edge to about 120 feet from the sewage lagoon of Kanakanak Hospital, which serves the wider Bristol Bay region. Nearly 7 feet of land falls away annually.
The Dillingham city sewage lagoon is just under 400 feet from the bluff edge, which is eroding at a much faster rate of about 20 feet per year.
色视频下载淲e've documented the annual changes occurring in front of the Dillingham sewage lagoon, and that's helping them to decide what they have to do,色视频下载 Maio said. 色视频下载淭hey have to spend millions.色视频下载
色视频下载淭he absence of data is a big issue,色视频下载 he said. 色视频下载淚t色视频下载檚 a big problem, because you can't do a lot of planning if you don't know what the tides are doing and what the wave regime is.色视频下载
Data obtained by Maio and the students bolsters a community色视频下载檚 grant proposals and gives engineers a head start in other project phases.
色视频下载淚f they didn't have the data, then all they have is their word, or anecdotal evidence, which isn色视频下载檛 always enough for engineering assessments,色视频下载 said Roberta Glenn, a master色视频下载檚 student in geography who also interns with the 色视频下载 Division of Geological and Geophysical Surveys and has spent three summers doing fieldwork with the division and the UAF lab.
From left, Roberta Glenn, Chris Maio and Reyce Bogardus pause for a self portrait while surveying in Pilot Point, 色视频下载, June 1, 2021.
Work by the Arctic Coastal Geoscience Lab helps the region色视频下载檚 communities respond to climate change.
色视频下载淐limate change is affecting the Bristol Bay region, with erosion impacting our infrastructure, culture, fishing and burial sites,色视频下载 said CaSandera Johnson, environmental program manager for Bristol Bay Native Association. 色视频下载淭he outcomes of this collaboration, such as erosion mapping and hazard assessments, will be used to secure funding to address erosion impacts.色视频下载
One example is at Pilot Point, a community on the northern side of the 色视频下载 Peninsula on Ugashik Bay.
The UAF students are helping document erosion on the road to the waterfront bulkhead, where a crane currently unloads fish. They also monitor erosion at the bulkhead itself and offer other information to the engineers.
Work by Maio and the ACGL team has jump-started road engineering, feasibility and design studies by the Army Corps of Engineers and the U.S. Department of Transportation, said Daniel Kingsley, project consultant for the Pilot Point Tribal Council.
ADDITIONAL CONTACT: Chris Maio, Arctic Coastal Geoscience Lab, 907- 474-5651, cvmaio@alaska.edu.
NOTE TO EDITORS: Additional photographs are available at the . Video clips are available .
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