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METHODS article

Front. Clim.
Sec. Climate and Decision Making
Volume 6 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fclim.2024.1410329
This article is part of the Research Topic Addressing Climate Change Through Public Participation in Practice View all articles

Community-based Monitoring: Shoreline Change in Southwest Alaska

Provisionally accepted
Jessica Ellen Christian Jessica Ellen Christian 1*Richard M Buzard Richard M Buzard 2Katie Spellman Katie Spellman 3Harper L Baldwin Harper L Baldwin 1Reyce Bogardus Reyce Bogardus 1Jeanette Carlson Jeanette Carlson 4Gabe Dunham Gabe Dunham 5Susan Flensburg Susan Flensburg 1Roberta J T Glenn Roberta J T Glenn 3Jacquelyn R Overbeck Jacquelyn R Overbeck 6Christopher V Maio Christopher V Maio 1
  • 1 Arctic Coastal Geoscience Lab - University of Alaska Fairbanks, Fairbanks, United States
  • 2 United States Geological Survey (USGS), United States Department of the Interior, Reston, Virginia, United States
  • 3 International Arctic Research Center, University of Alaska Fairbanks, Fairbanks, Alaska, United States
  • 4 Chignik Bay Tribal Council, Chignik Bay, AK, United States
  • 5 Alaska Sea Grant (NOAA), Fairbanks, Alaska, United States
  • 6 National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration, Office for Coastal Management, Silver Spring, Maryland, United States

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Arctic amplification of climate change has resulted in increased coastal hazards impacts to remote rural coastal communities in Alaska where conducting research can be difficult, requiring alternate methods for measuring change. The pilot program, Stakes for Stakeholders, was initially planned to be funded from 2016-2018. Upon project completion the work has shifted to individual community's partnering with several agencies to continue the work. Stakes for Stakeholders was initially planned to be funded for three years and upon project completion the work has shifted to individual community's partnering with several agencies and entities to continue the work. This research showcases a successful long-term community-based erosion monitoring program in two rural communities in Southwest Alaska. The resulting outputs from the workflow we developed were 1) locally prioritized data products, such as a hazard assessment report for Chignik Bay and 2) evaluation rubrics used to assess the suitability of future sites and the efficacy of the program. Our model of two-way communication, responsiveness to individual community needs, and attention to efficiency and effectiveness of the program workflow, can serve as a model for universities, for-profit, non-profit, Tribal, city, state, and federal research agencies and communities partnering to respond to global climate change.

    Keywords: Data curation, Formal analysis, Funding acquisition, investigation, methodology, supervision, visualization, Writing -original draft

    Received: 31 Mar 2024; Accepted: 25 Nov 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Christian, Buzard, Spellman, Baldwin, Bogardus, Carlson, Dunham, Flensburg, Glenn, Overbeck and Maio. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Jessica Ellen Christian, Arctic Coastal Geoscience Lab - University of Alaska Fairbanks, Fairbanks, United States

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.