HR: 14:55h
AN: ED13A-06    [Abstracts]
TI: Permafrost monitoring K12 outreach program
AU: Yoshikawa, K
EM: ffky@uaf.edu
AF: Univiersity of Alaska Fairbanks, POBox5885-99775, Fairbanks, AK 99775, United States
AU: * Saito, T
EM: saito@iarc.uaf.edu
AF: Univiersity of Alaska Fairbanks, POBox5885-99775, Fairbanks, AK 99775, United States
AU: Romanovsky, V
EM: ffver@uaf.edu
AF: Univiersity of Alaska Fairbanks, POBox5885-99775, Fairbanks, AK 99775, United States
AB: The objective of this project is to establish long-term permafrost monitoring sites adjacent to schools along the circum polar permafrost region. Permafrost will be one of the important indicators for monitoring climatic change in the future. Change in permafrost conditions also affects local ecosystems, hydrological regimes and natural disasters. The purpose of the long-term permafrost observation is fitting for future science objectives, and can also benefit students and teachers in remote village schools. Most remote villages depend on a subsistence lifestyle and will be directly affected by changing climate and permafrost condition. Monitoring the permafrost temperature in the arctic for a better understanding of the spatial distribution of permafrost and having students participate to collect the data is an ideal IPY project. Our outreach project involves drilling boreholes at village schools and installing the micro data logger with temperature sensors to measure hourly air and permafrost temperatures. Trained teachers help students download data several times a year and discuss the results in class. The data gathered from these stations is shared and can be viewed by anyone through the Internet (http://www.uaf.edu/permafrost). Using the Internet teachers can also compare their data with data form other monitoring stations. This project is becoming an useful science project for these remote villages, which tends to have limited exposure to science, despite the changing surroundings that they're daily lives depend on. NSF (EPSCoR) funded the previous seeding outreach program. Currently NSF/NASA and the International Polar Year (IPY) program support this project. In the 2006 field season, thirty-one schools participated in installing the monitoring stations. In 2007 we propose the expansion of this project to involve an additional 100 villages along the arctic. The broader impacts of this project are 1). This project will provide opportunities for field experience and educational participation at levels ranging from elementary school to high school. 2). To provide high-resolution spatial distribution of the thermal state of permafrost, especially in Alaska. 3). To assist in improving the general knowledge of the Earth's climatic pattern and opportunity to take part in understanding the climatic systems for younger generations. The obtained data and Internet Q&A systems help understand the relationship between permafrost condition and the arctic climate system. As well as being a strong outreach program to support village science education, the date sets form this project will establish a baseline for future permafrost monitoring investigations.
UR: http://www.uaf.edu/permafrost
DE: 0475 Permafrost, cryosphere, and high-latitude processes (0702, 0716)
DE: 0700 CRYOSPHERE (4540)
DE: 0702 Permafrost (0475)
DE: 0704 Seasonally frozen ground
DE: 0706 Active layer
SC: Education and Human Resources [ED]
MN: 2007 Fall Meeting