Our assessment of the impacts of climate change in Alaska and the Bering Sea region started in 1995 and has now spanned a period of almost five years, with workshops taking place each year.

In 1995 our first workshop was on “Preparing for an Uncertain Future: Impacts of Short- and Long-Term Climate Change on Alaska.”

In 1996, the International Arctic Science Committee (IASC) provided funds for an impact assessment on the Bering Sea under an IASC project called BESIS (Bering Sea Impact Assessment). A proposal to the Office of Polar Programs, National Science Foundation was also funded and allowed us to conduct our second workshop in September 1996.

The 1997 workshop received funding from the Department of Interior and was recognized by the U.S. Global Change Research Program (USGCRP) as the national workshop for the Alaska region.

A fourth impacts assessment workshop under the USGCRP took place in Fairbanks, Alaska, in October 1998 with Department of Interior funding.

With NOAA and IASC funds we also organized an international workshop in Tromsø, Norway, in April 1999, to begin a pan-Arctic assessment of the impacts of climate change.

See all workshop reports