Herrera Helps Native Village Prepare for Climate Change Impacts

By bitsadmin

Herrera is helping a coastalcommunity on the shores of the Bering Sea prepare for significant changes totheir community as a result of climate change. The Native Village of Shishmarefis a small village on Sarichef Island in the Chukchi Sea, a marginal sea of theArctic Ocean. The Village has made international news because of acceleratederosion due to melting permafrost, sea level rise and a reduction in theduration of shore-fast sea ice. Although the Village plans to relocate furtherinland, the cost of that move is significant and will take several years tofund. To assist the Village in the meantime, Herrera is analyzing sea levelrise, producing a map of inundation frequency for three future dates based onthe methodology of recent Washington State guidance applied to the specialconditions present at Shishmaref. The results will be presented to thecommunity in 2020.

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Community, Environmental, Water