Garth UR - Mother Nature is a Tough Mentor.

         The ground under a home in Shishmaref, Alaska collapses from erosion

Mother nature is a tough mentor. The more I read and research the more I begin to understand the extent of the damage places like Alaska are beginning to suffer. There is no shortage of reliable information available on climate change in Alaska.

I am still searching for a more narrowed focus of climate data, temperature and rainfall etc.. UndergroundWeather.com is an excellent source of current and past weather, temperature and precipitation, although the area is more general and less specific.

"Two pairs of aerial photographs of pond areas in Alaska. The two images on the left show the pond areas in 1951 and images on the right show the same pond areas in 2000. The pond areas shown on top shrunk from 180 to 10 acres, and the pond areas shown in the bottom went from 90 to 4 acres in size."

My research has so far led me on a general overview of what the situation is and how the effects of climate change are a bit worse than I personally had known. In Alaska, the average temperature has increased approximately 3˚F in the summer and 6˚F in the winter, according to the USGCRP (United States Global Chang Research Program). This is nothing to sneeze at. Permafrost is thawing, lakes are drying, shoreline is eroding and ecosystems are shifting. As permafrost thaws the drainage of water increases through soil and as temperatures increase so does evaporation. To every action there is a reaction.

Another unexpected asset to my project has also been OCE1001 Introduction to Oceanography. We are learning the weather cycle and how climate change is a cyclical, cause and effect cycle. Understanding the general principles of weather patterns, ocean and global temperatures, wind and ocean currents allowing me a greater insight into this topic. Carbon dioxide, CFC’s and methane are catching in our atmosphere more quickly than our planet can dissipate them and in this warming blue marble, the science is clear. Unfortunately, the mindset of man is not. Tracking the damage and finding a solution lay yet in the mist.

Citation:
 USGCRP (2009). Global Climate Change Impacts in the United States
"Climate Impacts in Alaska." Https://www.epa.gov/climate-impacts/climate-impacts-alaska. Environmental Protection Agency, n.d. Web. 2 Mar. 2017.