Alaska Climate Research Center

The Alaska Climate Research Center is a research and service organization at the Geophysical Institute at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, and conducts research focusing on the climate of Alaska and other polar regions. It also houses an archive of Alaska climate data. The primary concern of the center, which is established and funded by the state of Alaska, is to supply information concerning the meteorology and climatology of Alaska to public, private, and government agencies. It also assists researchers around the world. Most of the climate data available for Alaska have been accumulated in Fairbanks and by the state climatologist in Anchorage at the Alaska State Climate Center. The center archives digital climate records, develops climate statistics, and compiles monthly weather summaries. The center also conducts research on a number of high-latitude meteorological and climate issues.

The center found itself in the spotlight of national debates over global warming in 2002, when the New York Times ran an editorial praising Californian legislation that set stricter standards for carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from automakers. The article cited a report by journalist Timothy Egan about Alaska, claiming that a dramatic 7 degree F (3.8 degree C) increase in average temperatures over the past 30 years has led to “melting permafrost, sagging roads, dying forests, unexpected forest fires, and disruption of marine life.” The article concluded by quoting Alaska Republican Senator Ted Stevens's concern about “global warming's potential cost to his home state” and “Washington's indifference.” The Alaska Climate Research Center entered the debate by issuing a note that challenged and openly countered the data reported by Egan. The statement read:

… the article “Alaska, No Longer So Frigid, Starts to Crack, Burn, and Sag,” written by Timothy Egan, stated that the average temperature has risen seven degrees in the last 30 years. This statement was repeated in an editorial by Bob Herbert of 24 June 2002. This statement is incorrect. The correct warming for Alaska is about 1/3 of the quoted amount for the last climatological mean 1971 to 2000. … It should be pointed out that… data [come] from first class weather stations, which are professionally maintained and generate high-quality data.

In the first decade of the 21st century, the center published important documents on climate change in Alaska, including the book-length study The Climate of Alaska (2007) and the paper “A Century of Climate Change for Fairbanks, Alaska,” both by Gerd Wendler and Martha Shulski. In the paper, the authors point out an increase in temperature of 2.5 degrees F (1.4 degrees C) in Fairbanks over a century. Such an increase was not uniform either over the period of time under study or throughout the course [Page 30]of a year. This data is almost double the world increase and is evidence of the phenomenon of polar amplification of climate change. The center has also focused on the study of the changes in the climate of the Alaskan North Slope and the ice concentration of the Beaufort Sea. In this area, the temperature increase over a 36-year period was considerably higher than the rest of Alaska, almost reaching 5.4 degrees F (3 degrees C). The study concludes that this higher increase in temperatures with the consequent coastal erosion and ice concentration decrease is likely to have a negative impact on the lives of the Inuit people, who rely on subsistence hunting.

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