A Review of Emergent Vulnerabilities Indices in the Alaskan Arctic

Human populations are increasingly impacted by consequences of climate change, especially in the Arctic, where Polar Amplification is accelerating climate impacts to more than twice the global average. The complex, interconnected risks that result from climate change need to be measured, tracked and prioritized, to characterize highly impacted areas and populations. We reviewed a cross section of published vulnerability indices developed to characterize change across ecosystems in the Alaskan Arctic, including ecosystem dynamics like permafrost thaw, water availability, animal habitat and migration, and anthropogenic risks including marine & aviation infrastructure, and oil spill impacts with an increase to the extractive industry. While this cross section offers a diversity of analysis, the accessibility needs improvement. Increasing accessibility of these tools will allow further evaluation of feasibility and limitations. Further, we spatiotemporally evaluate their relationship with each other and the industrial development in the Arctic, including shipping, mining, and energy extraction.