Alaskans will be flying blind after NSF decommissions ocean monitoring network
The state is also preparing for El Niño conditions later this summer.
Ocean Station Papa’s sensors and other instruments help weather forecasters and emergency response officials know ahead of time when super-storms like Halong are about to come barreling through.
“We’re looking at ocean temperatures, salinity, current, wave height and direction, wind stress,” Stratton said. “Those all feed into models that NOAA and universities use to tell us how storm systems intensify, how water levels along the coast are rising or falling, where and when we should expect the next big flooding event.”
The loss of Ocean Station Papa could make Alaska’s isolated, largely Indigenous coastal villages even more vulnerable.
“We’re seeing diseases directly linked to food security, income, intergenerational knowledge, community stability. So we’re not looking at just the biological crisis. It’s economic. It’s cultural. It’s a way of life, too,” Stratton added.
For longtime fisheries advocate Tim Bristol,...
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