Aleutian Islands Risk Assessment Project Home

Updated:January 19, 2010 10:04

---

Project Update/What's New as of 01/05/10

• WHERE THE SEA BREAKS ITS BACK

• December 2009 AIRA Progress Report

---

 

WHERE THE SEA BREAKS ITS BACK, the title of the epic history of Naturalist Georg Steller and the early Russian exploration of Alaska by Corey Ford, very accurately describes, in one sentence, the weather of the Aleutian Chain. Long before that first voyage of Vitus Bering the Aleut referred to the area as agunalaksh, literally, “the shores where the sea breaks its back”. The weather of the region leaves all people who experience it, regardless of time frame, culture or technical sophistication, with the same impression.

Location and latitude go a long way in explaining why. The Bering Sea, lying north of the Aleutian Chain is shallow, so shallow the water cools to a lower temperature than the deeper water on the south side. Mountains are concentrated on the North side of the Aleutian Islands. Warmer water, driven by deep ocean currents and tides, flow between the islands into the Bering Sea. The combination of these factors produce weather than can only be described in extremes-- Williwaws, rogue waves, buckets of rain, from sun to snow to rain to fog to gale, all in less than an hour; you get the idea.

The impact on the maritime world, military or civilian, for profit or pleasure, from its earliest beginnings in skin covered boats to the present 6,000 plus commercial transits a year, is the stuff of history and legend. Weather was by far the most bloodiest combatant in the Aleutian campaign during WWII, racking up a much bigger and grimmer body count than both belligerents combined. The region is littered with wreckage, all which remains of human decisions that underestimated, often with tragic consequences, the terrible and capricious power of the weather.

The technical data is impressive. The climate type is “sub polar oceanic.” The seasonal temperature range is relatively moderate, average 30F in January and 52F in August for a mean of 38F. Dutch Harbor experiences up to 250 rainy days a year, making it one of the wettest places in the United States. The almost constant fog is moved around by the wind that blows an average 6 out of every 7 days. Gas and ash from any of a dozen or so active volcanoes that occasionally erupt in the area also has an influence.

To what degree people include local weather in their planning their daily activities often depends on where they are. In Hawaii the weather report takes up about three lines in the local paper, in Anchorage it fills half a page! If you are a fisherman, a merchant or a Risk Assessment Planner, the local weather should be a pre-occupation if you find yourself on “agunalaksh”!

 

Add your name to our Distribution List for Project Updates