4.2 AN INTEGRATED ASSESSMENT OF THE IMPACTS OF EXTREME EVENTS ON THE COASTAL ZONE IN A SMALL ALASKAN COMMUNITY PROLOGUE

• Main Authors: A H. Lynch, Ronald D. Brunner
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 1963
• Subjects: Arctic; Lynch; Barrow; Beaufort Sea; Alaska; Siberia
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.128.2116; http://ams.confex.com/ams/pdfpapers/84224.pdf

Barrow, Alaska with little warning. The storm was “unique in its violence and consequences ” (Schafer 1966). The cyclone that produced the strong winds, erosion, and flooding in Barrow originated along the Arctic front over Siberia around 145.6o E late on 1 Oct 1963. Over the next 24 hours it traversed to the coast and continued northward on a track typical for such systems. However, shortly after 9 pm (all times Alaska Standard Time) on 2 Oct, the storm turned eastward and commenced a rapid deepening, reaching an estimated minimum central pressure of 976 hPa at 11 am on 3 Oct, while located in the Beaufort Sea north of Barrow (Lynch et al. 2003). The strongest winds at Barrow were reported between 1 and 3 pm with gusts possibly as high as 70 kts (36 ms-1