REAP joins Alaska Sea Grant in celebrating the 2022 winners of the 25th Annual Tsunami Bowl hosted in Seward, Alaska earlier this month.
The 25th Anniversary Theme – Climate Change: Ocean Science and Solutions.
Team Locolithophores of Yadaa.at Kalé (Juneau-Douglas High School) secured the 2022 Tsunami Bowl Championship Banner – a first for Yadaa.at Kalé’s new oceanography teacher and coach Shelby Surdyk – and co-coach Shannon Easterly. And it’s the 11th Championship Banner for recently retired teacher and Coach Emeritus, Ben Carney – father of Locolithophore’s team Captain, Matthias Carney.
The Alaska Tsunami Bowl is one of the regional competitions for the National Ocean Sciences Bowl (NOSB). All NOSB regional competitions feature a Jeopardy style buzzer-quiz match on a wide range of ocean-related topics. However, the Tsunami Bowl competition is unique in the nation because half of each teams’ total score is based on a research project as well. The goal of this year’s Tsunami Bowl research project is to identify a specific problem climate change has brought about and potential solutions to that problem.
That’s why Team Locolithophore contacted REAP STEM educator Clay Good for information and resources about regional renewable energy potential (we even wrote about that back in December). As a former Juneau NOSB coach (1998-2007), and as a REAP STEM Educator, Clay was delighted and well-positioned to support the team’s project.
To help them define the scope of their research, he introduced them to various energy stakeholders. Local elected leaders, AEL&P engineers and managers, developers, scientists – even Senator Murkowski’s staff – all provided support and information for Locolithophore’s effort to answer the Tsunami Bowl 2022 Research Question: What approaches can be taken to mitigate the impacts of climate change, both locally and globally?
What approaches can be taken to mitigate the impacts of climate change, both locally and globally?
Team Locolithophore’s research paper, Beneficial Electrification through Hydropower Expansion in Juneau, Alaska, explores Juneau’s present hydroelectric capacity and potential for further hydro development to support the increasing demand for electric vehicles (EVs), air source heat pumps (ASHPs) as well as shore power for the increasing number of large cruise ships that frequent the port daily April through October.
REAP celebrates the team’s research to assess community needs and capacity to replace expensive, imported fossil fuel heat and transportation with affordable, efficient electric ASHP and EV technologies powered by clean, local, renewable hydroelectricity.
And REAP applauds all the NOSB teams across the state for tackling the issue of climate change head-on with thoughtful research and innovative solutions; From the next generation – for the next generation.
2022 Alaska Tsunami Bowl organizers wrote:
As the urgency for action grows, it is crucial that our future leaders understand the interconnected processes influencing Earth’s climate at global and regional scales, the impacts of climate change, and the opportunities and approaches for adaptation or mitigation.
Read more about the Locolithophores’ victory in the Juneau Empire and see the full results on the Tsunami Bowl’s Facebook here.
All photos courtesy of the Tsunami Bowl (2022).