The Attacking Ocean Read Online Free PDF

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    Arctic barrier islands are more vulnerable to climate change than any other such formations in the world. For thousands of years, permafrost and sea ice have protected them from wave damage during storms. Now sea levels are climbing aggressively by geological standards. Islands in the far north are said to be eroding three or four times faster than those farther south in the United States. If the erosion accelerates, many Arctic islands will vanish and the Eskimo communities living on them will face an uncertain future.
    Today, most villages along the Chukchi Sea coast are clusters of heavily insulated government-issue homes that protect their occupants against a climate where ice is at their doorsteps for nine months a year—or was until recently. Today, ice-free conditions along the shore last for as long as four months, sometimes more, along Alaska’s North Slope, even longer farther south. Now fall and winter storms bring waves that break against the fragile barrier islands, smashing the melting permafrost that once helped make the beaches natural seawalls. A combination of rising sea levels and greatly accelerating erosion are playing havoc with the communities that have used Arctic barrier islands for a very long time. The US government estimates that at least twelve Native Americanvillages are facing possible destruction. Another twenty-two coastal communities will require some form of immediate protection from climbing sea levels and its consequences. The people of these villages, who are still subsistence hunters, once moved easily in the face of changing climatic conditions and the seasons. Living permanently in places that still make sense in terms of hunting strategy, but are not necessarily the best places, has made these isolated communities highly vulnerable to rising sea levels in ways that were unimaginable in ancient times.

    Figure 12.1 Maps showing Alaskan locations in chapter 12 .
    Shishmaref, on the shores of the Chukchi Sea, lies on a six-kilometer-long island, a settlement occupied by 580 subsistence hunters. People have visited here for at least four thousand years, probably much longer. Until recently, the Eskimo used the island as a winter camp, fanning out to other island encampments in the summer. 4 Toward the end of the nineteenth century, Shishmaref became a harbor for shipping gold-mining supplies inland and permanent occupation began. Now the community is under serious threat from rising sea levels, with only limited options for long-term survival.

    Figure 12.2 A house falls into the sea at Shishmaref, Alaska, September 27, 2006. AFP Photo/Gabriel Bouys Files/Newscom.
    One option has been in play for a while—constructing sea defenses. Since the 1950s, the community has tried a variety of measures, including oil drums and sandbags, even household refuse, to protect the settlement against storms. In 1984, Shishmaref built a 520-meter seawall of wire baskets filled with stones. Storms promptly removed sand behind it, but the wall did slow coastal retreat. Next came a barrier of cement blocks, linked by cables to form a mat and placed against the face of the coastal dune, designed to bend when sea ice pushed against it. The mat failed in short order. Even if successful, the walled area actually enhances the problem, for the sea is cutting back on both sides of it and turning the village into a headland and a juicy target for storm waves. By late 2006, some thirty-four million dollars had gone into seawalls to protect the community, a staggering expense to protect less than six hundred people and more costly than all the structures in the village.
    Then there’s a second option: Remain on the island and shift threatened homes to new locations. Eighteen houses were moved back from the shoreline after a 1997 storm. However, wherever one places houses on the island, they are still threatened by ongoing erosion, so the only path for long-term survival would be a community protected by