Mapping the Last Frontier: NOAA Award to Assist Alaska's Rural Coastal Communities

By Anne Johnson  |  December 7, 2017

Alaska was recently selected to receive a 2018 - 2020 Digital Coast Fellowship. This award will provide long-term benefits for Alaskans who reside in coast communities, 80 percent of whom are vulnerable to extreme weather events and storm flooding.

The project - titled Bringing Alaska Coastal Communities Online to the Digital Coast: Coastal Flood Mapping for Rural Alaska - will build upon existing data, online mapping tools and partnerships to assist Alaska in responding to coastal flood hazards. This includes efforts to:

• Develop a coastal flood forecast and catalog map tool

• Develop guidance on flood impact levels from storm water levels

• Support ongoing monitoring efforts to continue documenting storm impacts

• Outreach to stakeholders to research flood impact levels and coastal map tool needs as well as train stakeholders on how to use the finalized coastal map tool

The Alaska Department of Natural Resources will host the Digital Coast Fellow for two years at its headquarters in Anchorage. The award application was made through NSGIC, one of the founding organizations in NOAA’s Digital Coast Partnership.

Visit the NOAA fellowship page to learn more about the Alaska project, as well as other Digital Coast Fellowship awards.