Micro Panorama Thumbnail for Social Sharing Sites

Best of 2006

(January 1st - December 31st, 2006)

Robin Xu

Early Morning in Peking

Jan van der Woning

The Village that is Drowning

Kivalina, Northwest Arctic Borough, Alaska, USA

23 October 2006 at 6.30 p.m. - Just before sundown.

Loading panorama viewer ...
Configuring ...

© 2006 Jan van der Woning, All Rights Reserved.

Help
Caption
This is my best panorama and my worst. At least it shows how Kivalana is swallowed by the waves. Rising temperatures are causing a retreat of sea-ice and the thawing of permafrost along the coast of North West Alaska. This allows higher storms surges to reach the shore while thawing, makes Kivalina more vulnerable to wind-driven ice damage and erosion, undermining the village's homes and infrastructure.

They had erected an improvised wall of sandbags reinforced with steel matting, but never-the-less, at the time we were visiting the village in October 2006, a mild wind had forced a hole of 40 meters wide and 10 meters deep into this wall. New sandbags, with the aid of workers and equipment of the “nearby” Red Dog Mine, had to stop further erosion and the sliding of a house into the sea. This village is going to disappear from this place and will have to be relocated 7,5 miles inland. More Quicktimes and info at http://www.bigthaw.eu/kivalina.htm
http://www.bigthaw.eu
Location

USA-Canada / USA-Alaska

Lat: 67° 43' 33.5" N
Long: 165° 33' 13.45" W

→ maps.google.com [EXT]

Precision is: Medium. Nearby, but not to the last decimal.

Equipment
Roundshot 220 VR, 15mm Nikon, Kodak Portra 400
Scanner Flextight, Panavue software.

PLEASE RESPECT THE ARTIST’S WORK. All images are copyright by the individual photographers, unless stated otherwise. Use in any way other than viewing on this web site is prohibited unless permission is obtained from the individual photographer. If you're interested in using a panorama, be it for non-profit or commercial purposes, please contact the individual photographer. The WWP can neither negotiate for, nor speak on behalf of its participants. The overall site is copyright by the World Wide Panorama Foundation, a California Public Benefit Corporation. Webdesign © by Martin Geier www.geiervisuell.com