Gambell, Alaska, USA

Leaving the topics, you travel north over the Pacific Ocean under a night sky of twinkling stars that arches from horizon to horizon. Arriving at Gambell, Alaska, 171º 44' W/ 63º 46' N, you step into the arctic tundra of St. Lawrence Island. Almost all inhabitants of Gambell are members of the Yupik tribe. The Yupik are indigenous people closely related to Inuit and Iñupiat peoples.

Although like Satitoa, Gambell is on an island, the residents of Gambell face different challenges from climate change. In Samoa, rising sea levels were the pressing climate threat. However, the changes affecting St. Lawrence Island come from diminishing periods of ice cover. During the dark, cold arctic winter, ice sheets form around the Bering Strait. When summer returns, the ice recedes. Since 1980, the period of ice coverage has decreased by 30 days. (SOURCE https://www.klimahaus-bremerhaven.de/entdecken/die-reise/alaska.html?no_cache=1) Ice melts earlier in spring and forms later in autumn. Yupik people are permitted to hunt whales for food. Yupik people depend on the Arctic ice to reach winter hunting grounds in the ocean. This means that today, the Yupik hunting season is one month shorter than it was 35 years ago.

A painting on the wall depicts animals adapted to life in the Alaskan tundra. You are prompted to find a walrus, hare, and bear. Each animal is well camouflaged making the search a challenge. The polar bear, also called “nanook” by the natives, is one of the biggest and most dangerous carnivores in the world, but it too is facing the same one month shorter hunting season experienced by the Yupik. For the polar bear, a shorter hunting season means less food and the threat of starvation. It is perhaps understandable that the polar bear has become the poster animal for climate change in the Arctic.

Another hidden climate threat bubbles up from melting permafrost: methane gas. Permafrost is soil frozen all year. Rising temperatures in the arctic are causing thawing of permafrost. As the land thaws, decomposition of plants that died and froze long ago begins. This decomposition process releases methane gas, a gas with high global warming potential. Scientists conducting research in the arctic regions are measuring higher concentrations of methane and carbon dioxide as the permafrost thaws. Additional concerns have been raised regarding ancient bacteria and other disease causing organisms locked away in the Arctic deep freeze.

Tundra ecosystems depend on producers that include moss, sedge, grass, shrub, and lichen. These autotrophs (organisms that make their own food) are well adapted to a climate with a short growing season, cold temperatures, and little precipitation. There are signs that forests are creeping into the tundra as temperatures rise. Although the amount of sunlight will not change unless the Earth’s tilt changes, a warmer temperature may be enough to promote tree growth. Producers support an ecosystem food web. What changes will occur as the result of changes in the tundra producers is a hot topic in polar research.

The Yupik people of Gambell live with one foot in tradition and one foot in the modern world. You watch a video of a festival that includes a blanket toss competition. It looks like fun, but the traditional purpose of the blanket toss was to hurl a hunter high enough to spot dangerous polar bears before the polar bears spotted the hunters. While the traditional whale hunt continues, you notice the vehicle for hunting is a modern quad bike. Tribal legends and hunting stories may be told around a fire, but electricity powers modern appliances and lights. The inhabitants of Gambell have also lowered their energy production cost by installing three wind turbines in 2009. (Source:https://stgincorporated.com/project/gambell-wind-turbines/)

With rising temperatures affecting sea ice, thawing tundra, and changing ecosystems, how much longer will the Yupik way of life continue? Could addressing that effect of light bulb in Bremerhaven be a solution?

• Look for clues to answer the question.

• Examine the photo to identify factors that influence the climate of Gambell.

• Use Google Earth to develop a sense of place.

• Analyze the data and the climograph to observe patterns in rainfall and temperature.

• Use the dig deeper resources to gather information to understand the processes behind climate change