UAF Researchers Begin 1,600-Mile Snowmachine Traverse From Bethel to Utqiaġvik

Two University of Alaska Fairbanks researchers left Bethel on Saturday on snowmachines, beginning a 1,600-mile coastal traverse that will carry them through more than a dozen Alaska communities before ending in Utqiaġvik. Benjamin Jones and Phillip Wilson of UAF's Institute of Northern Engineering are leading the expedition, which UAF announced the day prior and which one project author described as approximately 1,500 miles in separate materials.

The journey, formally titled the Collaborative Observations of the Arctic Shorezone: a Traverse for Knowledge eXchange, traces Alaska's western and northern coasts through four distinct regions: the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta, Norton Sound, the Bering Strait, and the Chukchi Sea coast. The route passes through Chevak, Hooper Bay, Kotlik, Unalakleet, Koyuk, Elim, Nome, Brevig Mission, Shishmaref, Kotzebue, Kivalina, Point Hope, and Point Lay before reaching Utqiaġvik.

"While the distance covered will roughly equal a trip from Miami to Montreal, COAST-X isn't just about covering ground," UAF wrote in its announcement. "It's about connecting it."

At each stop, residents will share observations on changes in sea ice, shoreline erosion, and shifting permafrost, while Jones and Wilson bring tools, data, and scientific context. The team will also visit schools in communities along the route. The Institute of Northern Engineering described the project as one that "bridges scientific research with local knowledge and aims to cultivate a space for open dialogue, shared learning, and meaningful collaboration."

COAST-X addresses topics of direct consequence to North Slope communities and their coastal neighbors: permafrost thaw, coastal hazards, infrastructure resilience, and broader environmental monitoring across shorelines undergoing rapid change. For Utqiaġvik and the communities of the Chukchi Sea coast, those are not abstract research categories but ongoing conditions reshaping land, infrastructure, and daily life.

The work is supported by the National Science Foundation through the UAF-led ACTION project, the Alaska Coastal Cooperative for Co-producing Transformative Ideas and Opportunities in the North. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory is a collaborator; CRREL also funds the related UAF-led ISOPS2 Project, which is listed among COAST-X's supporting programs.

Agencies and organizations working in western and northern Alaska on coastal observing, Arctic infrastructure, or community engagement are invited to coordinate with the team during the traverse. Melissa Ward Jones, research assistant professor and director of INE's Water and Environmental Research Center, can be reached at mkwardjones@alaska.edu. UAF media contact Katelin Avery is available at 907-474-5414.

The COAST-X 2026 website is tracking the team's progress, and a downloadable infographic showing the full route is available through UAF's Institute of Northern Engineering.