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Concept
Shishmaref, Alaska
Summary
Shishmaref (ˈʃɪʃmərɛf ; Qigiqtaq, qixiqtaq or Kigiqtaq; Шишмарёв) is a city in the Nome Census Area, Alaska, United States. It is located on Sarichef Island in the Chukchi Sea, just north of the Bering Strait and five miles from the mainland. Shishmaref lies within the Bering Land Bridge National Preserve. The population was 563 at the 2010 census, up from 562 in 2000.
Shishmaryov is probably a variant of Russian Shyshmánov from Turkic šyšman ‘fat’, but there is also Old Russian šiš ‘rogue, knave’ and Maréev ‘(son of) marine’. The name was assigned in 1821 to a nearby inlet by explorer Otto von Kotzebue of the Russian Imperial Marine, in honor of a member of his expedition, the commander Gleb Semënovič Šišmarëv (Глеб Семёнович Шишмарёв).
In the Iñupiaq language, Qigiqtaq (formally Ḳigiḳtaḳ) means ‘island’. The water to the south of it is called Qigiqtam Imaġrua ‘waters of Qikiqtaq’, shown in the map of the area in the Bering Land Bridge National Preserve.
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , of which, of it is land and of it (61.62%) is water.
Shishmaref was named in 1821 by explorer Lt. Otto von Kotzebue, of the Imperial Russian Navy, after Capt. Lt. Gleb Shishmaryov who accompanied him on his exploration.
Sarichef Island (on which Shishmaref is located) is part of a dynamic, 100 km-long barrier island chain that records human and environmental history spanning the past 2000 years; the oldest subaerial evidence for the formation of this system is about 1700 years before present, according to carbon 14 dating (see References, below). Erosion at Shishmaref is unique along the islands because of its fetch exposure and high tidal prism, relatively intense infrastructure development during the 20th century, and multiple shoreline defense structures built beginning in the 1970s.
The effect of global climate change upon Shishmaref is sometimes seen as the most dramatic in the world. Rising temperatures have resulted in a reduction in the sea ice which serves to buffer Shishmaref from storm surges.
Official source
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