Noatak has lost 19' of river bank since May 19th. Now the road to the community gravel source is failing.
A fisherman was coming home from fishing last night and noticed (what he thought was) a coffin sticking out of the old gravesite above one of the markers I used to measure erosion with last summer. It turned out to not be a coffin, but rather an old air duct or metal meat trailer.
"The sea level rise and wind is making this happen because it is really vulnerable. We are always really amazed every time we go out there with the change, and pieces of earth the size of a house falling over."
Thawing permafrost and erosion is resulting in the loss of infrastructure in Newtok. These images show impacts on utility poles, and the shoreline.
"This year we had a lot more rain than other years, we used to be able to get on our ATVs and travel 10-12 miles upriver. I haven't seen or heard of anyone using ATVs to travel upriver this year. I think the breakthrough channel has a lot to do with us not being able to travel on ATVs. I see a lot of my favorite ATV fishing spots washed away from the highwater."
Community Water System at Risk: Extreme precipitation throughout the summer and sustained high water has resulted in erosion of the location for the water transmission line and Noatak's two water wells.
Unusual high water all summer in Noatak, causing massive erosion towards the airport and old buried landfill, exposing old trash into the river.
"While on a field trip for work, we stopped at the beach and you can notice hundreds of dead clams and star fish littering the beach."
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