| NSF Org: |
OPP Office of Polar Programs (OPP) |
| Recipient: |
|
| Initial Amendment Date: | May 13, 2022 |
| Latest Amendment Date: | May 13, 2022 |
| Award Number: | 2221731 |
| Award Instrument: | Standard Grant |
| Program Manager: |
Liam Frink
lfrink@nsf.gov (703)292-0000 OPP Office of Polar Programs (OPP) GEO Directorate for Geosciences |
| Start Date: | June 1, 2022 |
| End Date: | May 31, 2024 (Estimated) |
| Total Intended Award Amount: | $78,872.00 |
| Total Awarded Amount to Date: | $78,872.00 |
| Funds Obligated to Date: |
|
| History of Investigator: |
|
| Recipient Sponsored Research Office: |
23 ROMODA DR CANTON NY US 13617-1423 (315)229-5574 |
| Sponsor Congressional District: |
|
| Primary Place of Performance: |
St. Lawrence University Canton NY US 13617-1501 |
| Primary Place of
Performance Congressional District: |
|
| Unique Entity Identifier (UEI): |
|
| Parent UEI: |
|
| NSF Program(s): | ASSP-Arctic Social Science |
| Primary Program Source: |
|
| Program Reference Code(s): |
|
| Program Element Code(s): |
|
| Award Agency Code: | 4900 |
| Fund Agency Code: | 4900 |
| Assistance Listing Number(s): | 47.078 |
ABSTRACT
This planning award lays the foundation for a participatory project to assess climate change impacts on prevailing wind direction on a Bering Sea island. Observation and interpretation of wind direction are components of traditional ecological knowledge in the Bering Strait region. For Indigenous St. Lawrence Islanders, wind direction is relevant to terrestrial wayfinding and sea ice navigation. Although there is little scientific data on prevailing wind direction on St. Lawrence, residents possess knowledge of wind patterns and construct shelters with prevailing winds in mind. This work asks whether wind direction has changed recently and will test whether wind direction can be reconstructed in the absence of instrumentation.
This planning award supports travel to St. Lawrence Island to develop collaborative relationships with Savoonga residents and to conduct initial assessment of Indigenous knowledge about wind direction. The PI will assess level of interest in and knowledge of wind direction while training a local student on qualitative research methods. Two focus groups will be held in the village, facilitated by a local coordinator. These focus groups will include elders and hunters knowledgeable about wayfinding and wind conditions. Should planning activities prove successful, the PI plans to develop a standard research proposal to explore whether wind direction can be reconstructed through study of structure orientation and grass lay direction complemented by Indigenous knowledge.
This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
PROJECT OUTCOMES REPORT
Disclaimer
This Project Outcomes Report for the General Public is displayed verbatim as submitted by the Principal Investigator (PI) for this award. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this Report are those of the PI and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation; NSF has not approved or endorsed its content.
The purpose of this planning grant was to improve the conceptualization, planning, and methodology of a larger project on St. Lawrence Island, Alaska looking at how wind patterns have changed with climate change. The project focuses on the weather observation practices of the Indigenous peoples of the island, the St. Lawrence Island Yupik. In particular, the project focuses on how subsistence hunters, gatherers, and herders use grasses to monitor wind direction. Observing wind patterns is a primary technique they use to make sense of weather conditions in the remote Bering Strait Region that has very few weather stations. Using grasses as an instrument to measure wind is new to science even though this practice has been used for generations in by the St. Lawrence Island Yupik. This project, therefore, is about learning how Indigenous peoples monitor their environment and then replicate and measure their techniques.
The most beneficial and illuminating result we have learned over the past two years was an increase in understanding of the St. Lawrence Island Yupik's knowledge and practice of observing weather conditions. At first, we worked to understand more fully how subsistence practitioners look at the direction dead grasses lay as an indicator of the predominant wind direction and as an indicator of wind direction change. We now understand that they look at wind patterns as it affects many natural phenomena, like clouds, ocean surface, and snow; this is how they get a weather report and decide on if it is a good day to go out hunting walrus or gather berries, where to do those activities, or where and when to travel safely. What we have learned and its academic significance is addressed in a paper we are about to submit for publication. In that manuscript we document dozens of specific weather observation practices. During the summer of 2023 visit we verified those practices with elders out on the landscape where they could point to, for example, the clouds or waves to further explain or verify what we learned the previous year.
Last Modified: 11/01/2024
Modified by: Jon R Rosales
Please report errors in award information by writing to: awardsearch@nsf.gov.
