HR: 16:15h
AN: C24A-02    [Abstracts]
TI: Connecting Indigenous Knowledge to Thaw Lake Cycle Research on the Arctic Coastal Plain of Alaska
AU: * Eisner, W R
EM: wendy.eisner@uc.edu
AF: Department of Geography, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH 45221 United States
AU: Cuomo, C J
EM: cuomocj@UC.EDU
AF: Department of Philosophy, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH 45221 United States
AU: Hinkel, K M
EM: kenneth.hinkel@uc.edu
AF: Department of Geography, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH 45221 United States
AU: Jones, B M
EM: bjones@usgs.gov
AF: Department of Geography, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH 45221 United States
AU: Hurd, J
EM: hurdjk@email.uc.edu
AF: Department of Geography, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH 45221 United States
AB: Thaw lakes cover about 20% of the Arctic Coastal Plain of Alaska. Another 26% is scarred by basins that form when lakes drain, and these drained thaw-lake basins are sites for preferential carbon accumulation as plant biomass. Recent studies in the continuous permafrost zone of Western Siberia suggest that lakes have been expanding in the past several decades in response to regional warming. Anticipated regional warming would likely mobilize sequestered soil organic carbon, resulting in the emission of CO2 and CH4. Our understanding of the processes leading to thaw lake formation, expansion, and drainage in northern Alaska has been limited because models are specific to the flat, young Outer (seaward) Coastal Plain comprising 1/3 of the region. Furthermore, spatial and temporal analysis of lake dynamics is largely restricted to the period since 1948, when aerial photographs first became available across large regions of the Coastal Plain. In order to fill these gaps, we have been interviewing Iñupiaq elders, hunters, and berry pickers from the villages of Atqasuk and Barrow. The objective of these interviews is to obtain accounts of lake formation, expansion and drainage that have occurred within living or oral memory, and extend the record back several generations. To date, we have interviewed fifteen Iñupiat; most of these are people who travel the tundra frequently and have done so for decades. They have first-hand experience of lake drainage, sea cliff and river bank erosion, permafrost degradation, and other landscape changes. Many informants expressed concern that landscape changes are occurring at an increasingly rapid rate. They have identified lakes that have drained, areas where the permafrost is thawing, and places where the sea and river coastline is eroding. We have been able to corroborate reports of lake drainage from our informants with a series of aerial photographs, satellite images, and radiocarbon dates. In many instances, the elders have pinpointed the year of drainage where we previously had only bracketed a 5-10 year period in which drainage must have occurred. Our informants were also often able to identify the cause of the drainage event, the process by which it occurred, and the aftermath of the event (i.e. overflow into other lakes, changes in stream hydrology, changes in fish species, etc.). We have also noted a difference in the reports of lake drainage and other landscape changes between the people who have more knowledge of the Inner (Atqasuk residents) and Outer (Barrow residents) Coastal Plain. Travelers of the Outer Coastal Plain have identified more lake drainage events. The people of the Inner Coastal Plain, conversely, speak of lower water levels in lakes and overall drier conditions in recent years. The quantity of information from the Barrow and Atqasuk elders and the precision of their observations is impressive. We will be analyzing, by both quantitative and qualitative methods, this information in conjunction with our ongoing studies of thaw-lake processes on the Arctic Coastal Plain. In addition to discussing specific knowledge about thaw-lake processes, we are archiving the range of knowledge and stories that elders, hunters, and other users of the tundra introduce to the interviews. We believe the traditional knowledge and ongoing observations of the Iñupiat are highly valuable to scientists and society in general, and we strongly advocate further cooperation between traditional and scientific "ways of knowing."
DE: 0708 Thermokarst
DE: 0718 Tundra (9315)
DE: 0746 Lakes (9345)
DE: 0758 Remote sensing
DE: 1630 Impacts of global change (1225)
SC: Cryosphere [C]
MN: Fall Meeting 2005