VAWS – GINA https://gina.alaska.edu Fri, 23 May 2025 19:34:19 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=7.1.3 https://gina.alaska.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Asset-2@0.5x.png VAWS – GINA https://gina.alaska.edu 32 32 Webinar Overview of the 2022 Alaska Fire Season https://gina.alaska.edu/webinar-overview-of-the-2022-alaska-fire-season/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=webinar-overview-of-the-2022-alaska-fire-season Mon, 07 Nov 2022 17:59:07 +0000 https://gina.alaska.edu/?p=3464

There’s an upcoming webinar on Tuesday, November 15 @ 11:00 AM AKDT! Climate specialist Rick Thoman from the ACCAP and plant biologist JJ Frost will be giving a talk on the 2022 Alaska Fire Season, focusing on Southwest Alaska which experienced record breaking fires that impacted local communities and challenged resource management.

This webinar will review the weather, climate, and ecological factors that contributed to the severe wildfire season, with an in-depth look at the Southwest region. Additionally, this webinar will cover vegetation types and potential changes in the context of intensifying fire in Southwestern Alaska.

Register here
]]> VAWs Workshop on Sitka Landslide Risk Dashboard https://gina.alaska.edu/vaws-workshop-on-sitka-landslide-risk-dashboard/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=vaws-workshop-on-sitka-landslide-risk-dashboard Mon, 03 Oct 2022 17:56:19 +0000 https://gina.alaska.edu/?p=3230

Upcoming VAWS webinar on October 5 at 11:00 AM to 12:00 PM! The speakers are Annette Patton of the Sitka Sound Science Center and Jacyn Schmidt of the Central Council Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska. They will be talking about the new Sitka Landslide Risk Dashboard, which uses NWS rainfall data to monitor landslides and other geohazards in Southeast Alaska! 

The dashboard is now available to the public at sitkalandslide.org.

Workshop Description:

Rain-induced landslides pose risk to lives and infrastructure across Southeast Alaska. After the fatal landslide in Sitka in August, 2015, the community convened experts to consider strategies to mitigate landslide risk. Over the last five years, the Sitka Sound Science Center has partnered with an inter-disciplinary, inter-agency team of local and technical experts to develop and disseminate a landslide risk dashboard. The dashboard uses NWS rainfall data to estimate current and forecasted landslide probability and is now available to the public at sitkalandslide.org. We are now beginning a project to expand monitoring for landslides and other natural hazards in six rural communities in Southeast Alaska.

Register here
]]> VAWS Workshop on Snow Cover Variability https://gina.alaska.edu/vaws-workshop-on-snow-cover-variability/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=vaws-workshop-on-snow-cover-variability Fri, 15 Jul 2022 18:16:12 +0000 https://gina.alaska.edu/?p=3138
Upcoming webinar, on July 20 @ 11:00 AM AKDT! The speaker is Judah Cohen of Atmospheric and Environmental Research Inc. who will be talking about how “Eurasian Snow Cover Variability Links with Stratosphere-Troposphere Coupling and its Impacts on Alaskan Weather.”

Workshop Description:

Observed fall Eurasian snow cover extent (SCE) anomalies were first linked with variability in the North Atlantic/Arctic Oscillation (N/AO) where above normal SCE was related to colder temperatures across the Northern Hemisphere continents. Subsequent studies demonstrated that above normal SCE favored tropospheric precursors to sudden stratospheric warming (SSWs) and subsequent tropospheric negative N/AO events. However, the relationship has weakened over the past decade in the observations and is weak to absent in most modelling studies complicating our understanding of snow climate coupling.

In a more recent study, we showed that Eurasian SCE is better linked to a lesser-known stratospheric polar vortex (SPV) disruption that involves wave reflection and stretching of the SPV that is related to ridging/high pressure coupled with above normal temperatures across Alaska and cold to even extreme cold across parts of Asia and North America east of the Rockies. Using both observational analysis and novel numerical modeling experiments, we showed that autumn SCE and Arctic sea ice trends can force observed increasing trends in SPV stretching and surface impacts. Our analysis provides a dynamical link between rapid Arctic change and extreme winter weather across large regions of the Northern Hemisphere. Given the link between SCE and SPV variability, SCE could be utilized in subseasonal to seasonal prediction in the winter months.
Register here
]]> VAWS Workshop on NOAA’s Regional Climate Services https://gina.alaska.edu/vaws-workshop-on-noaas-regional-climate-services/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=vaws-workshop-on-noaas-regional-climate-services Mon, 13 Jun 2022 21:20:08 +0000 https://gina.alaska.edu/?p=2880
There’s an upcoming webinar this Wednesday, June 15 at 1:00 PM AKDT! The speaker is Dr. Jessica Cherry, RCS Director for Alaska, talking about “NOAA’s Regional Climate Services (RCS) Program: what does it do and how does it work with other entities?”
This talk provides an overview of the National Centers for Environmental Information’s Regional Climate Services Program and what services are specifically available for Alaska. Products available from NCEI’s parent organization, the National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service (NESDIS) will also be discussed, as well as the contractual relationship with the Regional Climate Centers. Within NOAA, coordination with the National Weather Service’s Climate Services Branch, Environmental Science and Services Divisions, Regional Integrated Science and Assessment Programs, Co-operative Institutes, and Regional Teams is essential. The RCS Directors also coordinate with state and federal partners such as the State Climatologists, the USDA Climate Hubs, FEMA, and the USGS Climate Adaptation Science Centers. Listeners should come away with an understanding of what Alaska’s Regional Climate Services Director can provide.
Register Here
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