Abstract
This community-based Permafrost/Active Layer Monitoring (PALM) Program is greatly successful from both educational and scientific viewpoints. The Permafrost/Active Layer Monitoring Program is an ongoing project that builds on work begun in 2005 to establish long-term permafrost and active layer monitoring sites adjacent to schools in Alaska and in the circumpolar permafrost region. Monitoring stations are located all over Alaska, including the Aleutians, the Bering Sea Islands, and southeast Alaska. Two hundred schools in Alaska are involved in the project, and a monitoring site has been included at Denali National Park and Kenai Fjord National Park. The monitoring sites collect temperature measurement data on permafrost and the length and depth of the active layer (the layer above the permafrost that thaws during summer and freezes again during winter). This information is important because changes in permafrost conditions affect local ecosystems and hydrological regimes and can influence the severity of natural disasters. In addition to extending our knowledge of the environment of the cryosphere, the program involves school-age students in hopes of inspiring a new generation of scientists to continue this study.
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Acknowledgments
We thank Dr. Kathy Bertram and the staff of University of Alaska Fairbanks Geophysical Institute Education Department for working PALM Programs as part of ACMP; Drs. Ming-Ying Wei (NASA), David Campbell (NSF), Renee Crain (NSF), Sharon Locke (NSF), Panya Lipovsky, and Sarah Laxton (Yukon Geological Survey), V. Romanovsky (UAF), U. Newmann, D. Sergeev (RAS), staff of CH2M HILL for logistical support; and the Institute of Northern Engineering and International Arctic Research Center, University of Alaska, Fairbanks, for the provided technical support. We also thank Martha Kopplin, Fran Pedersen, other UAF WERC staff members, Isao Yuguchi, Ryota Kajita, Miho Aoki, Theresa Bauer, Tohru Saito, and all of the science teachers/students and principals of our network schools for the help with field and support. This research was primarily funded NSF and NASA joint IPY project “Current Climate changes over Eastern Siberia and Interior Alaska and their Impact on Permafrost Landscapes, Ecosystem Dynamics, and Hydrological Regime (DRL-0731739)” and Alaska EPSCoR Outreach Program: Permafrost Health (EPS-0346770), AON: Thermal State of Permafrost (TSP) in North America and Northern Eurasia: The U.S. Contribution to the International Network of Permafrost Observatories (INPO) (ARC- 0856864), GEO-0627941 (GLOBE Seasons and Biomes), “Resilience and Sustainability in a Rapidly Changing North (EPS-0701898)”.
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Yoshikawa, K., Sparrow, E., Stanilovskaya, J. (2014). Engaging Alaska Communities and Students in Cryospheric Research. In: Tong, V. (eds) Geoscience Research and Outreach. Innovations in Science Education and Technology, vol 21. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-6943-4_3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-6943-4_3
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