Coastal Observers of Barrow Community Based Monitors (COBCBM) have been monitoring coastal storms since 2015 at Utqiagvik. Coastal monitoring at Utqiagvik is done through re-measurement of coastal elevation profiles along the beach and storm berm fronting the community. Weather (temperature, precipitation, and description), wave (interval, height, direction), wind (speed and direction), soil grain sizes, and seaward/landward photos from edge of water are also collected and can be made available upon request.
From 2015 to 2017, funding for the equipment, monitor recruitment, training, data management, and supervision of the transect surveys was by ARIES and the NSB OEM. From 2018 to 2020, Alaska Sea Grant funded continuation of these tasks, improved survey equipment, and forecasting software with a collaboration among ARIES, NSB OEM, UAA Engineering and Geomatics Departments and DGGS. Acknowledgements include Orson Smith (UAA retired) for training methods of the AKCCO and the community monitors who have participated in the Coastal Observers of Barrow Community Based Monitors. Open access data, including the photographs and videos, should include acknowledgement of the NSB OEM, which permits the research, and ARIES, which supervises data collection. DGGS accessed these data from the North Slope Borough via a public records and data request submitted November 1, 2017.
Click for enlarged PDF version of the erosion monitoring site map.
Click for enlarged PDF version of the coastal elevation profiles.
Funding to provide data on this website is provided by the State of Alaska through a DGGS capital improvement project.
