Marie Lowe
University of Alaska Anchorage, AK·Earth & Environmental Science
As the Arctic warms, thawing permafrost (ground that normally stays frozen year-round) is speeding up riverbank erosion. This erosion damages roads, buildings and other infrastructure, and it has sometimes forced entire Alaska communities to move.
- Fields
Earth & Environmental Science
Social Science
Engineering
- Topics
riverbank erosion
permafrost thaw
Arctic
- Grants
- 1 known grant, through Dec 2026
What they work on
- Estimate riverbank erosion rates in the warming Yukon River basin and their effects on water quality and infrastructure, using numerical landscape evolution models and monitoring stations.
- Track mercury, other metals, nutrients, fine sediment and pathogens released from eroding permafrost floodplains, using biogeochemical, isotopic and metagenomic measurements.
- Evaluate regional adaptive capacity and institutional barriers, and combine these findings with the science to co-produce Erosion Action Plans with three Indigenous partner communities.
More about the research
It also exposes frozen floodplain sediment that can release mercury and other metals, nutrients and pathogens into rivers, threatening water quality and ecosystems. Scientists still do not understand well how erosion responds to warming, or how communities can turn new knowledge into workable adaptation plans.
Why it matters
Alaska Native communities along the Yukon River face erosion that threatens homes, infrastructure and water quality. This work could give them Erosion Action Plans grounded in local data. It could also clarify the risks from mercury, nutrients and pathogens released by thawing banks, and identify policy barriers to climate adaptation in the Arctic.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
Emily Seelen
University of Alaska Fairbanks, AK·Earth & Environmental Science
Develop river-erosion forecasting tools for Alaskan permafrost rivers using satellite imagery analyzed with sub-pixel and machine-learning change detection, combined with theory on permafrost erosion and mud transport.
Julie Brigham-Grette
University of Massachusetts, MA·Earth & Environmental Science
Measure and model rates of land change and altered water flow caused by rising sea level and collapsing permafrost across villages and traditional-use landscapes in Alaska's Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta.
Olga Lauter
University of Texas at El Paso, TX·Engineering
Investigate how socio-cultural factors shape housing construction and energy use in two Alaska Native communities in the Bristol Bay region, using needs assessments and community workshops.
The school
University of Alaska Anchorage: 4 labs on PI Pages, $25M a year on research, 3 research doctorates a year.
Reach out
A start for your email. Fill in the brackets.