Abstract
The environmental effects of climate change are likely having negative impacts on the health of the 13.1 million residents of the circumpolar north. In this chapter, we describe an observational epidemiologic study that collected surveillance data on local environmental changes and associated health outcomes from residents of communities in Northwest, Interior, and Southeast Alaska. To assess the health effects of climate change in Alaska, two rounds of sentinel surveillance data were collected for 12 months, each on unusual weather conditions and the health outcomes associated with those conditions in three ecologically-distinct regions of the state. Qualitative data was also collected utilizing in-depth interviews and community meetings with community residents. We evaluated statistical associations between two exposures; unusual weather conditions and participant changes in travel as a result of unusual weather conditions, with a variety of health outcomes and health outcome mediators. Qualitative responses were analyzed to better understand these associations. We found significant associations between unusual weather conditions and cold-related morbidity and mortality in two rounds of surveillance data collection across the state. The nature and timing of such outcomes were seasonal in nature, and indicated health outcomes from the increasing prevalence of icy conditions in winter, and unusually warm and dry conditions in summer, in northwest and central regions of Alaska. Further, discussions of the surveillance data with local residents provided insights into prospective causal relationships between environmental events and the health outcomes described.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Alaska Climate Science Center (2014) About. https://csc.alaska.edu/about. Accessed 8 Sep 2014
Blunden J, Arndt DS (eds) (2012) State of the climate in 2011. Bull Am Meteor Soc 93 (7): S1–S264
Callaghan TV, Björn LO, Chernov Y, et al (2005) Tundra and polar desert ecosystems. In: Arris SC, Heal B (eds) ACIA arctic climate impacts assessment Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK, pp 243–352
Chapin FS, Trainor SF III, Cochran P et al (2014) Ch. 22: Alaska. Climate change impacts in the United States: the third national climate assessment. In: Melillo JM, Terese TC Richmond, GW Yohe (eds) US Global Change Research Program, pp 514–536
Choi G, Robinson DA, Kang S (2010) Changing Northern Hemisphere snow seasons. J Clim 23:5305–5310
Cochran P, Huntington O et al (2013) Indigenous frameworks for observing and responding to climate change in Alaska. Clim Change 120(3):557–567
Comiso JC, Nishio F (2008) Trends in the sea ice cover using enhanced and compatible AMSR-E, SSM/I, and SMMR data. J Geophys Res Oceans, p 113, C02S07
Comiso JC (2012) Large decadal decline in the Arctic multiyear ice cover. J Clim 25:1176–1193
Derksen C, Brown R (2012) Spring snow cover extent reductions in the 2008–2012 period exceeding climate model projections. Geophys Res Lett 39:L19504
Ford JD, Vanderbilt W, Berrang-Ford L (2012) Authorship in IPCC AR5 and its implications for content: Climate change and Indigenous populations in WGII. Clim Change 113:201–213
Huntington H, Weller G et al (2005) Chapter 1: an introduction to the arctic climate impact assessment (2005). In: Assessment Arctic Climate Impact (ed) New York. Cambridge University Press, NY, pp 1–20
Hinzman LD, Bettes ND et al (2005) Evidence and implications of recent climate change in northern alaska and other arctic regions. Clim Change 72:251–298
IPCC (2012) Managing the risks of extreme events and disasters to advance climate change adaptation: a special report of working groups I and II of the intergovernmental panel on climate change. In: Field CB, Barros V, Stocker TF, Qin D, Dokken DJ, Ebi KL, Mastrandrea MD, Mach KJ, Plattner G, Allen SK, Tignor M, Midgley PM (eds) Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK, and New York, NY, USA, p 582
Jacob T, Wahr J, Pfeffer WT, Swenson S (2012) Recent contributions of glaciers and ice caps to sea level rise. Nature 482:514–518
Jafarov EE, Marchenko SS, Romanovsky VE (2012) Numerical modeling of permafrost dynamics in Alaska using a high spatial resolution dataset. The Cryosphere Discussions 6:89–124. doi:10.5194/tcd-6-89-2012
Krupnik I, Aporta C, Gearheard S, Laidler GJ, Kielsen Holm L (eds) (2010) SIKU: Knowing our ice–documenting inuit sea ice knowledge and use. Springer, New York, NY, USA 501 pp
Kwok R (2009) Outflow of arctic ocean sea ice into the greenland and barents seas: 1979–2007. J Clim 22:2438–2457
Kwok R, Rothrock DA (2009) Decline in arctic sea ice thickness from submarine and icesat records: 1958–2008. Geophys Res Lett 36:L15501
Larson JN, Anisimov OA (2014) Intergovernmental panel on climate change. 5th edn. https://ipcc-wg2.gov/AR5/images/uploads/IPCC_WG2AR5_SPM_Approved.pdf. Published March 2014. Accessed 26 Aug 2014
McMichael Anthony J (2003) Climate change and human health: risks and responses. World Health Organization, Geneva
Parkinson AJ, Butler JC (2005) Potential impacts of climate change on infectious diseases in the arctic. Int J Circumpolar Health 64(5):478–486
Rhein M, Rintoul SR, Aoki S, et al (2013) Observations: ocean. In: Stocker TF, Qin D, Plattner G-K, Tignor M, Allen SK, Boschung J, Nauels A, Xia Y, Bex V, Midgley PM (eds) Clim Change 2013: the physical science basis. contribution of working group I to the fifth assessment report of the intergovernmental panel on climate change. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK, NY, USA
Romanovsky VE, Marchenko SS, Daanen R, Sergeev DO, Walker DA (2008) Soil climate and frost heave along the permafrost/ecological north american arctic transect. Proceedings of the Ninth International Conference on Permafrost 2:1519–1524
Rothrock DA, Percival DB, Wensnahan M (2008) The decline in arctic sea-ice thickness: Separating the spatial, annual, and interannual variability in a quarter century of submarine data. J Geophys Res Oceans 113:C05003
Stewart BC, Kunkel KE, Stevens LE, et al (2013) Regional climate trends and scenarios for the US national climate assessment: Part 7. Climate of Alaska. NOAA Technical Report NESDIS, vol 142(7): P 60
Streletskiy DA, Shiklomanov NI, Nelson FE, et al (2008) 13 Years of observations at Alaskan CALM Sites: long-term active layer and ground surface temperature trends. In: Fairbanks D, Kane L, HinkelK M (eds) Proceedings of 9th International Conference on Permafrost. 29 June–3 July 2008, Institute of Northern Engineering, University of Alaska, pp 1727–1732
Surdu CM, Duguay CR, Brown LC, Fernández Prieto D (2014) Response of ice cover on shallow lakes of the north slope of alaska to contemporary climate conditions (1950–2011): radar remote-sensing and numerical modeling data analysis. The Cryosphere 8:167–180
Tchebakova NM, Rehfeldt GE, Parfenova EI (2009) From vegetation zones to climatypes: effects of climate warming on Siberian ecosystems. In: Osawa A, OA Permafrost ecosystems: Siberian larch forest
Inuit Tiparit Kanatami (2014) The effects of unpredictable weather on the inuit nunangut communities http://www.ehatlas.ca/sites/default/files/inuit-adaptation-chart.jpg. Accessed 26 Aug 2014
Thomson LI, Osinski GR, Ommanney CSL (2011) Glacier change on axel heiberg island, nunavut. Canada. J Glaciol 57:1079–1086
Tremblay M, Furgal C, Larrivee C et al (2008) Climate change in northern quebec: adaptation strategies from community-based research. Arctic 61:27–34
Wang J, Bai X, Hu H, Clites A, Colton M, Lofgren B (2012) Temporal and spatial variability of Great Lakes ice cover, 1973–2010. J Clim 25:1318–1329
WGMS (2008) Global glacier changes: facts and figures. In: Zemp M, Roer I, Kääb A, Hoelzle M, Paul F, Haeberli WG (eds) UNEP and world glacier monitoring service, Zurich, Switzerland, p 88
Willox AC, Harper SL et al (2012) From this place and of this place: climate change, sense of place, and health in Nunatsiavut. Canada. Soc Sci Med 75(3):538–547
Wolf A, Callaghan TV, Larson K (2008) Future changes in vegetation and ecosystem function of the Barents Region. Clim Change 87(1–2):51–73
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2016 Springer International Publishing Switzerland
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Driscoll, D., Luber, G. (2016). Engaging Communities to Assess the Health Effects of Extreme Weather in the Arctic. In: Steinberg, S., Sprigg, W. (eds) Extreme Weather, Health, and Communities. Extreme Weather and Society. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-30626-1_6
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-30626-1_6
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-30624-7
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-30626-1
eBook Packages: Earth and Environmental ScienceEarth and Environmental Science (R0)