• Energy Research
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In order to consider the energy saving methods of oil fired water heating in Hokkaido households, an actual condition investigation on conventional and latent heat recovery water heaters, was performed. The following results were obtained: 1)Latent heat recovery heaters heated water 10-12% more efficiently than conventional heaters. 2)The water heating requests lasting under 30 seconds had little influence on the daily efficiency of hot water heaters. 3)As a result of case study, lowering the hot water heating temperature by 2.0 degrees centigrade reduced energy use by 5.9%.

In 2004, many large-scale fires occurred in Alaska and the burned area encompassed about 26,700 km2. This was the largest burned area since 1956, and combined with an additional 19,000 km2 burned in 2005 (third-largest fire year), the total burned area comprised about 10% of the Alaskan boreal forest in just two years. To clarify the background of the many large-scale fires in 2004, spatial and temporal analyses using various data were performed in this paper. The derived results allow the following conclusion. Dry and warm weather conditions with strong persistent winds are crucial for fires. In 2004, easterly winds from Canada caused two daily hotspot peaks in late June and late August; one daily hotspot peak in mid-July was caused by southwesterly winds from Bethel or the Bristol Bay. These persistent winds lasted for about one week and promoted fire expansion. The above wind conditions in June and August were caused by the development of a high-pressure system over the Beaufort Sea under a persistent blocking ridge over Alaska.

In this paper, I describe a history of indigenous salmon fishing technologies and management issues in the Upper Kuskokwim region, Alaska, U.S.A. As a traditional food, salmon has been an important part of culture for the Upper Kuskokwim Athabascan people. Intensive contacts with non-Natives in the early 20th century brought some changes to Upper Kuskokwim people’s subsistence technologies including fishwheels, which made it possible to obtain large amount of salmon efficiently in siltladen main streams of the Upper Kuskokwim tributaries. Conflicts with non-Native wildlife management regime began after Alaska’s statehood when the State banned salmon fishing technology which involves blocking the entire width of a river or stream. As a result, Upper Kuskokwim people were forced to abandon their fishing weirs and fences at Salmon River since the late 1960s. After a decade or so, subsistence salmon fishing with rods and reels resumed at Salmon River. Nowadays, Salmon River Culture Camp has been organized by Nikolai Village Council to revitalize their fishing traditions. Since the 2010s, severe decline of king salmon populations in Alaska and Yukon has become a serious issue in indigenous societies of the areas. Local people think that commercial fishing (including bycatch) in high sea negatively affects the king salmon populations, while some others point out that increased activities by beavers and low-level of water in interior rivers might have been causing disruption of salmon's upstream migration. Through my observation of people’s activities in salmon spawning areas, I argue that making a small opening to beaver dams (instead of totally destroying them) may actually benefit spawning salmon populations.

サイロ全体の籾の穀温を氷点下に低下させてカントリーエレベータで超低温貯蔵を行うことを目的として, 冬季通風冷却による籾の貯蔵試験を行った。その結果, 冬季に通風冷却を行うことにより, サイロ内の籾の穀温はすべて氷点下となり, 実用規模のサイロ貯蔵において超低温貯蔵が可能であることが実証された。また, 低温の籾をサイロから排出する際に, 乾燥機で常温通風して穀温を上昇させて玄米の胴割発生を防止する技術を確立した。 ; An on-farm experiment in which 378 metric tons of rough rice was stored in a silo from November until August and aerated for 114h with fresh chilly air in winter was conducted at a country elevator in Hokkaido to develop new techniques for storing rice in cold regions. The overall temperature of the rough rice in the silo decreased to below ice point (minimum temperature of -6.6°C), and the temperature of rough rice in the center of the silo remained below ice point until summer. The rewarming process using an unheated forced-air drier after storage prevented the development of fissures in the brown rice. The results of the experiment indicate that aeration with fresh chilly air in winter enables rough rice in a farm-scale silo to be stored at a temperature below ice point, i.e., super-low-temperature storage.

カントリーエレベータで超低温貯蔵を行った際の夏季におけるサイロ内壁付近の穀温上昇や内壁付近と中心部の穀温差が品質に与える影響を明らかにするため, 貯蔵終了時のサイロ内各部の籾の品質測定をするとともに, 排出時に約10tごとに籾を採取して品質を測定した。その結果, 夏季の穀温上昇や穀温差が品質に与える悪影響はないことが確認された。カントリーエレベータでの超低温貯蔵による籾貯蔵技術は, 寒冷地の自然環境を利用した米の貯蔵技術として確立した。 ; The temperature of the rough rice near the inner silo wall gradually increased in spring and summer, whereas that of the rough rice in the center of the silo remained below ice point. The effect of this difference in rough rice temperatures in the silo on rice quality was investigated. There was no deterioration in the quality of rough rice near the silo wall, and the quality of the rough rice unloaded from silo after storage was uniform. These results indicate that there was no significant effect of the difference in grain temperatures in the silo on rice quality. The technique for storing rough rice at a temperature below ice point, i. e., super-low-temperature storage, at country elevators in cold regions using natural energy in winter was finally developed.

カントリーエレベータで自然放冷と冬季通風冷却によるサイロ貯蔵を行い, 同時に行った-5℃貯蔵, 低温貯蔵, 室温貯蔵とサイロ貯蔵の品質保持効果を検証した。その結果, 自然放冷によるサイロ貯蔵は低温貯蔵と同等の品質保持効果があること, 冬季通風冷却によるサイロ貯蔵は低温貯蔵や自然放冷によるサイロ貯蔵よりも品質保持効果が高いことを明らかにした。通風冷却に利用するのは冬季の寒冷な外気という自然エネルギであるため低コスト省エネルギであり, 冬季通風冷却によるカントリーエレベータでのサイロ貯蔵は寒冷地の自然環境を利用して高品質米の供給を可能にする貯蔵技術である。 ; Quality characteristics of rough rice stored at country elevator in Hokkaido and under controlled storage conditions (room-temperature storage, low-temperature storage and -5°C storage) were examined. The quality of rough rice stored at country elevator by aeration with fresh chilly air in winter was better than that of the rough rice stored under low-temperature storage and that of the rough rice stored at the country elevator with natural heat radiation in winter. The combination of storage of the rough rice at a temperature below ice point and utilization of fresh chilly air in winter enables the quality of rice to be preserved at a high level, similar to that of freshly harvested rice, without the requirement of a cooling unit or electricity.

This Special Issue is devoted to describing histories of northern fishing in the Anthropocene. Northern indigenous communities face new challenges as well as new opportunities as global warming progresses. Historical perspectives are necessary if we hope to understand Arctic and northern people’s adaptations to global biocultural change in the Anthropocene.