In many parts of Alaska, river ice is a central part of life in winter, used for transportation, recreation and subsistence fishing. But ice conditions today are becoming more unpredictable with climate warming.
A University of Alaska Fairbanks program is recruiting members of the public to help monitor river ice around the state to inform breakup and flooding forecasts and track long-term changes in the ice.
“We have this capability to exchange knowledge so fast now that we saw real potential in sharing observations up and down river through our phones,” said Katie Spellman, an assistant professor at UAF’s International Arctic Research Center who is helping coordinate the “Fresh Eyes on Ice” program.
To contribute, just snap a photo and send it in with a note marking the location. Contributors can add photos to the Fresh Eyes on Ice Facebook group or website, or even through a citizen science app called GLOBE Observer.
Fresh Eyes on Ice was set up in 2018 through a National Science Foundation grant with the goal of modernizing and coordinating ice observing in Alaska. Additional NASA funding has helped the program partner with the National Weather Service and Tanana Chiefs Conference.
Spellman said the hundreds of photos the program receives help forecasters model river ice and issue warnings about floods and erosion. This year’s cold spring is concerning, she said, because the late snowpack increases the risk of ice jam flooding on Alaska’s major rivers.
As the days get longer, “it’s going to cause snow to melt really rapidly, all at once. That’s the flooding danger that’s of concern this year,” Spellman said.
She said photo submissions also help to preserve a record of what river ice looks like right now.
“In climate research, those images, if you take one today, the value increases through time, because we want to see how it was in the past,” she said.
It’s still unclear exactly how climate change will affect ice and flooding, since rivers could see thinner ice growth but heavier precipitation or unpredictable freeze-thaw cycles.
Kavitha George worked at Alaska Public Media from 2021 to 2024. Her coverage areas included statewide politics and climate change.
