Alaska Climate Change and Water

Over the past 50 years, Alaska has warmed at more than twice the average rate of the rest of the United States. Its annual average temperature has increased 3.4 degrees Fahrenheit while winters have warmed by 6.3 degrees Fahrenheit. The higher temperatures are already causing earlier spring snowmelt, reduced sea ice, widespread glacier retreat, and permafrost warming. Other impacts of concern in this region include drier conditions and increasing acidification of Alaskan waters, which present a threat to the region's subsistence communities and commercial fisheries. For more information about the overall impacts of climate change in Alaska, in addition to water impacts, visit EPA's main climate change website. 

Highlights of EPA and Partner Activities

The Climate, Ecosystems & Human Health Work Group, is co-chaired by the Alaska Department of Health and Social Services, EPA, and the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium – Center for Climate and Health. This interagency group focuses on addressing ecosystem impacts to human health resulting from a changing climate.

The Alaska Climate Science Center provides scientific information, tools, and techniques for anticipating, monitoring, and adapting to climate change.

Alaska has five different Landscape Conservation Cooperatives that cover the state that work to identify best practices, connect efforts, identify gaps, and avoid duplication through improved conservation planning and design. They include:

• Arctic
• Western Alaska 
• Northwestern Interior Forest
• Aleutian and Bering Sea Islands
• North Pacific
  

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's Climate Change Executive Roundtable meets regularly to share information and facilitate cooperation among agencies. The roundtable focuses on down-scaled climate data and physical parameter monitoring networks, sea level rise and physical hazard assessment, forecasting species and habitat changes, and data integration and collaboration.

The Alaska Center for Climate Assessment & Policy works to improve the ability of Alaskans to respond to a changing climate.