Disastrous Global Warming Consequences Already Happening in Alaska as Whole Towns Face Moving Due to Rising Sea Levels. The disastrous consequences of global warming forecast by some scientists are already in evidence in Alaska, where rising sea levels may force the relocation of native villages and towns, Sen. Ted Stevens of Alaska told a Senate committee on Tuesday. One of the towns Stevens said will have to be relocated is Barrow, Alaska, on Point Barrow, the northern-most city in the United States with about 4,500 residents, most of them Inupiat Eskimos. And Alaskans have reported that Arctic ice is 8 inches thinner in some places this year than it was last year, Stevens said. And last June, Barrow experienced its first-ever thunderstorm.
Thunderstorms usually occur in warmer climates and are extremely rare along the Arctic coast.
Subsistence hunting remains the primary way of life on Point Barrow, but Inupiat hunters report that cellars dug into permafrost to store caribou and whale meat are beginning to thaw. Local officials worry that they may eventually have to provide refrigerated storage facilities for the caribou and marine mammals harvested by residents. Other Alaskan natives, including Inuit fishermen, have reported that with less ice and warmer water they are seeing a change in the species of fish and ocean mammals in the region. Stevens said he will lead a delegation of senators to Alaska later this month to observe the effects of climate change firsthand. Scientists have predicted that the effects of global warming will be amplified and first noticed in the polar regions.