The Backyard Buoys program celebrated another successful year in Alaska in 2024. With coordination by UIC Science, Indigenous hunters from Savoonga, Gambell, Little Diomede, Point Hope, Wainwright, Utqiaġvik, and Kaktovik deployed 26 small wave buoys from their skiffs. Of these, 19 buoys were recovered and will be redeployed in 2025.
The buoys transmit wave information (height, period, and direction) and sea surface temperature data approximately every 15 minutes during the open water season. The Alaska Eskimo Whaling Commission (AEWC), which owns the buoys, voted to share this real-time data publicly through the Backyard Buoys prototype app, aiding boaters in assessing water safety. Historical data is also accessible via the AOOS Data Portal. Looking ahead, the program aspires to have this data automatically integrated into National Weather Service marine forecasts.
Frederick Brower of Utqiaġvik retrieves a wave buoy in kayak after sea ice separated the buoy from the anchor line. Photo by Martin Edwardsen.
In 2024, Backyard Buoys expanded its outreach efforts. AOOS staff educated students about the buoys and wave data at the BARC Science Fair in Utqiaġvik and the Alaska Native Science and Engineering Program’s Middle School Academy in Juneau. Sheyna Wisdom presented at the Western Alaska Interdisciplinary Science Conference in Nome and the National Tribal and Indigenous Climate Conference in Anchorage. She, Jenny Evans (AEWC Grant Writer), and John Hopson, Jr. (AEWC Chair), also shared insights on the program during the Department of Interior Lecture Series in Washington, D.C., and through an informational video now available on YouTube. Sheyna, Jenny, and John will also be one of the keynote speakers at the upcoming Alaska Marine Science Symposium on January 25.
True co-production of knowledge is at the heart of the Backyard Buoys program. The AEWC played a pivotal role in shaping the original National Science Foundation (NSF) proposal, designing the project, and overseeing its implementation. The initiative is part of a larger collaboration with partners in the Pacific Northwest and Pacific Islands. The program’s success was recently featured in a special issue of Oceanography Magazine, which highlighted partnerships between remote coastal Indigenous communities and the Integrated Ocean Observing System (IOOS) Regional Ocean Observing Systems.
The Backyard Buoys program is gearing up for an exciting year ahead, with plans to announce new partners and buoy deployments in Nome, Kuskokwim Bay, and others.
Funded by an NSF Convergence Accelerator grant through 2024, the program will continue its work with support through AOOS with funds from NOAA’s Inflation Reduction Act.
For more information, please email Sheyna Wisdom at wisdom@aoos.org.