Principal Investigator Sarah Trainor Program Manager Tina Buxbaum Co-Investigators John Walsh Philip Loring Jeremy Mathis Scott Rupp Post-Doctoral Fellow Nathan Kettle Affiliated Institution University of Alaska, Fairbanks Dates Funded 2006-present Project Website

Alaska Center for Climate Assessment and Policy

*Please Click Here for ACCAP's Phase I Final Report* (Period of Performance: 8/1/2006 - 7/31/2012)

*Please Click Here for ACCAP's most recent annual progress report* (Period of Performance: 6/1/15 - 5/31/16)

Mission & Vision

ACCAP partners with stakeholders to inform realistic community plans and climate adaptation strategies using the most scientifically accurate, reliable, and up-to-date information. Stakeholder interaction and outreach is integrated into every aspect of ACCAP’s work, including climate modeling and addressing regional vulnerabilities. These interactions include needs assessment, vulnerability assessment, as well as user collaboration in downscaling models, designing research studies, and developing, testing, and evaluating research information products and tools. ACCAP’s core activities integrate research and decision-support tool innovation.

Focus

Climate change is already impacting the seasons, landscapes and life in the North. These changes affect the health, lives, and livelihoods of Alaskans as well as the companies who do business in Alaska. ACCAP's work encompasses the entire state of Alaska. ACCAP focuses on coastal and living marine resources, applied climate downscaling, water availability, sea ice, wildfire, tribal impacts, and community adaptation planning.

See a two-page description of current ACCAP projects.

Learn more about ACCAP's most recent activities.

Building Partnerships
ACCAP aims to establish partnerships among:

• Scientists and engineers
• State and local planners, policy-makers and governments
• Transportation, natural resource and land management agencies
• Native non-profit organizations and Alaska Native tribes
• Industry
• Non-governmental organizations
• Anyone whose decision-making is influenced by climate-related events

Select Projects

• Ocean Acidification Vulnerability Index: The overall goal of this project is to assess the potential risk of ocean acidification on marine resources within the state of Alaska, using the best available and most recent chemical, biological and socio-economic data. 
  
  
• Gauging Public Perception of Ocean Acidification in Alaska: The purpose of this project is to better understand public perception in Alaska of OA, ocean health, and related research and policy.
  
  
• Meta-analysis of Needs Assessments: In this project, 65 documents that address climate change research needs in Alaska were analyzed. Common needs were identified, as well as gaps where needs have not been assessed.
  
  
• Current Coastal Change Research/Management Projects and Priority Information Needs in Western Alaska: Research on coastal change in Western Alaska has increased rapidly in recent years, making it challenging to track existing projects, understand their cumulative insights, gauge remaining research gaps, and prioritize future research. The goal of this effort is to help the Western Alaska Landscape Conservation Cooperative (WALCC) meet its mission of coordinating, developing, and disseminating applied science to inform conservation in the context of climate change.
  
  
• Vulnerability of Hydropower Production in Alaska to Climate Variability and Change: Best Practices for Communication and Application of Climate Science: The goal of this project is to outline best practices, uncertainties and limitations in assessment of the vulnerability of hydropower production to climate variability and change in Alaska.
  
  
• Using Climate Divisions to Construct Anomalies and Trends in Alaska: Thirteen climate divisions were delineated for Alaska. Monthly divisional average temperature and precipitation enhance climate information for Alaska, which opens up new potential directions in climate research.
  
  
• National Weather Service Alaska Climate Forecast Briefings The tools and techniques for making monthly and season scale climate forecasts are rapidly changing. Monthly, Rick Thoman (National Weather Service) reviews recent climate conditions around Alaska, forecast tools and the Climate Prediction Center's forecast for the upcoming season.
  
  
• Social Network Analysis of Climate Science and Service Organizations in Alaska: This social network analysis maps the relationships, communication channels, and information exchange between federal, state, tribal, industry and non-profit entities engaged in climate science and services in Alaska to inform ACCAP and Alaska Climate Science Center (AK CSC) research and outreach.
  
  
• Regional Assessments of Health Vulnerability and Environmental Security (RAVENS) Phase I: Water Security in Bristol Bay: This project conducts spatial analysis and testing of an adaptive capacity/assets framework used to evaluate water/wastewater resources and infrastructure among communities of the Bristol Bay region.
  
  
• Contributions to the Integrated Arctic Management Report: ACCAP and the Scenarios Network for Alaska and Arctic Planning (SNAP) provided writing and editorial assistance for this report as well as maps and graphics depicting ecologically and culturally important areas, biota, and processes, natural resources, and key drivers of environmental changes in the Arctic.
  
  
• 3^rd National Climate Assessment: Alaska Chapter: ACCAP director Sarah Trainor was a convening author on the Alaska chapter of the 3^rd NCA report. The National Climate Assessment summarizes the impacts of climate change on the United States, now and in the future. 

Decision Support Tools

• Historical Sea Ice Atlas for Alaska Waters: The atlas consists of digitally-stored sea ice concentration data on a grid covering all Alaska coastal waters to a distance of ~500 km (300 mi) from shore, with a spatial resolution of 25 km. The time resolution is monthly for the period 1850s-1950s, and weekly for the period from the early 1950s to 2010 with the allowance of subsequent updates. 
  
  
• Coastal and Marine Visualization Tools for the U.S. Arctic and Alaska: This project provides gridded downscaled data sets for sea ice, wind, and sea surface temperature for Alaska coastal area, as well as an analysis of the projected changes, their potential impacts, and adaptation implications.
  
  
• Alaska Climate and Weather Highlights: Developed in collaboration with the National Weather Service, this tool is designed to provide information to the public about notable weather and climate events in Alaska and surrounding waters. Data reported are preliminary observations by NOAA/National Weather Service and are reported in daily, multi-day, monthly, and longer time scales.
  
  
• Alaska Climate Dispatch: A seasonal review of climate conditions, update on climate forecasts and research announcements.
  
  
• Alaska Climate Webinar Series: The webinars promote dialogue and a forum for discussion and information exchange between all stakeholders in Alaska. Accessible statewide, the webinars identify existing information gaps and how best to fill them. Each webinar starts with 20–30 minutes of presentation followed by discussion and questions from participants.

Other Resources

• ACCAP on Facebook: A Facebook Page to connect with ACCAP stakeholders and interested parties. Regularly updated with items about ACCAP research and related work in Alaska.
  
  
• ACCAP on Twitter: A Twitter account for ACCAP sharing ACCAP and Arctic-related news.
  
  
• Alaska Climate Webinars and Podcasts: An archive of ACCAP-sponsored webinars on climate issues and research in Alaska. Viewers can also sign up for future webinars.
  
  
• Ocean Acidification Video: A four-minute video on the causes and effects of ocean acidification featuring research from ACCAP in a popular science format. Other videos are also available on ACCAP's Vimeo Channel