Observations and Knowledge Exchange

Observations and Knowledge Exchange

COAST-X is more than a long-distance traverse. It is a moving platform for observation, learning, and exchange that connects people, places, and knowledge systems along Alaska’s western and northern coasts. As we travel, we are engaging in two complementary efforts that reflect different but connected priorities: community-centered Arctic science and applied research focused on coastal logistics and mobility.

Together, these efforts recognize that understanding Arctic coastal systems requires both lived experience on the land and ice and targeted observations that inform decision-making in a rapidly changing environment.

Community-Centered Observations and Knowledge Exchange (NSF NNA ACTION)

A primary focus of the COAST-X traverse is supporting the NSF Navigating the New Arctic project ACTION, the Alaska Coastal Cooperative for Co-producing Transformative Ideas and Opportunities in the North. Through ACTION, the traverse contributes to community-driven science, relationship building, and two-way knowledge exchange across coastal Alaska.

As we move between communities, we are listening, learning, and sharing observations related to coastal change, travel conditions, permafrost, sea ice, and nearshore environments. These experiences help ground scientific research in local priorities and lived realities, while also strengthening long-term partnerships between researchers, communities, and regional organizations.

This effort emphasizes co-production as a process. Indigenous knowledge systems, local expertise, and intergenerational learning are recognized as essential to understanding and responding to Arctic coastal change. The traverse provides time and space for conversations that do not happen in brief site visits, allowing trust, context, and shared understanding to grow along the route.

Applied Observations for Coastal Mobility and Logistics (CRREL-Supported Effort)

A second, complementary effort supported through the U.S. Army Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory focuses on logistics over the shore and coastal mobility in ice-affected environments. This work is concerned with how people, equipment, and supplies move safely and effectively across the dynamic boundary between land, ice, and sea.

During the traverse, observations of sea ice conditions, shorefast ice, coastal permafrost terrain, and travel routes provide valuable real-world context for understanding mobility challenges and opportunities along Arctic coastlines. These observations help inform applied research aimed at improving situational awareness, hazard identification, and decision-making related to travel and logistics in polar coastal settings.

While this effort is operational in nature, it benefits directly from the same deep familiarity with place, seasonal variability, and local travel knowledge that has long guided Indigenous and rural coastal communities. COAST-X helps bridge experiential knowledge and applied research by documenting how conditions are encountered and navigated in practice.