Barrow Bay, Alaska

Question 1

Population

Answer 1

4,500

Question 2

America’s what?

Answer 2

Northernmost city

Question 3

homes are built on what?

Answer 3

pilings

Question 4

why are homes build on pilings?

Answer 4

to keep therefrom melting the permafrost

Question 5

Where is it located

Answer 5

Against the Chukchi Sea, northern Alaska

Question 6

how long has the ice substantially changed?

Answer 6

30-40 years

Question 7

how much ice has disappeared sine 1970s according to National snow and ice data centre

Answer 7

3/4

Question 8

by when is it predicted to be completely gone?

Answer 8

artic summer within the next 15 years

Question 9

how much are temperatures climbing at?

Answer 9

twice the average global rate

Question 10

over the past 20 yers how much have temperatures increased in December

Answer 10

4.7 degrees F

Question 11

what doesnt ice offer anymore?

Answer 11

reliable footing

Question 12

what do younger and weaker ice not do?

Answer 12

doesn’t anchor as firmly to shore and breaks away more easily from coastline

Question 13

what problems is the city likely to face come the fall storm season?

Answer 13

floods and erosion

Question 14

how will floods and erosion effect?

Answer 14

when shore is iceless and exposed - any anchored or drifting ice buttressing the coast would protect against incoming waves ad high winds - wont freeze until December (used to be October)

Question 15

what thawing is much quicker?

Answer 15

spring of snow and ice

Question 16

how much shore does persistent push and pull waves erode?

Answer 16

over 1 ft per annum but a single storm can chew up up to 35 ft

Question 17

southerwesten city - why are homes in danger?

Answer 17

perch seven ft from edge of bluffs

Question 18

what efforts are being made?

Answer 18

replenshish the beach with scooped up ocean sediment

Question 19

what problems happened to the efforts made?

Answer 19

dealt a serious blow in 2000 when a storm sank the city’s main dredging barge

Question 20

what happened in 2017

Answer 20

a storm surge cause millions in damage and prompted a federal disaster - authorised FEMA funds for repair

Question 21

what is at risk of flooding which is important?

Answer 21

Illisagvik college - only federally recognised tribal college in Alaska

Question 22

what does Illisagvik college provide?

Answer 22

low cost education to indigenous people

Question 23

between 1978 and 2007 how much of the sea ice region shrank

Answer 23

40%

Question 24

in 2008 what happened?

Answer 24

a wildfire broke out in the area north of the brooks range - no word for forest fire

Question 25

what is a major consequence?

Answer 25

new arctic shipping route around top of Alaska expected to open - cutting thousands of miles off trips between Asia and Europe and Asia and E-USA

Question 26

Why is the new shipping route a problem?

Answer 26

Northwest passage - Baffin Bay - eastern Canada to Pacific Ocean was frozen for cent. but last few summers so much has melted that is naviagable

Question 27

Why will commercial shipping operations take Northwest passage?

Answer 27

require long term planning and can’t risk longer - so will take. A single container ship using the route to reach New York from china could save $2 mill on fuel and Panama Canal tolls - usable in 2050

Question 28

what could shipping lead to?

Answer 28

more fuel/oil spills, subsistence of hunting and animal migration

Question 29

what is point barrow?

Answer 29

a headland on the arctic coast