Nuiqsut

Scientists from the University of Alaska Fairbanks have observed an increase in chum salmon spawning in North Slope rivers, potentially indicating a shift in their population and a signal of climate change. Elizabeth Lindley, a Ph.D. student working on the project, says that while evidence of spawning in a new region may be a positive for salmon, the impact on important subsistence resources including Arctic char and Dolly Varden is uncertain.

Environmental and climate activists are rallying online against ConocoPhillips’ proposed Willow oil and gas drilling project in Alaska’s Arctic as the administration of U.S. President Joe Biden weighs whether to greenlight the controversial plan.

Drained lake basins make up more than half of the Arctic coastal plain, but the complete drainage of a lake is rarely witnessed by people.

ConocoPhillips' massive Willow project would emit 284 million metric tons of carbon dioxide over its 30-year lifetime.

The Washington Post made the Alaska North Slope village of Nuiqsut front page news earlier this month, under a provocative headline: "Alaska's warming, but can't quit big oil." We talked with the reporter who wrote the story.

In Alaska, a new oil boom is on the horizon even as climate change arrives and greenhouse gas emissions climb.

In Alaska, a new oil boom is on the horizon even as climate change arrives and greenhouse gas emissions climb.

Nuiqsut's Napageak crew, captained by Thomas Napageak, landed the very first bowhead of the season on Aug. 29. It was a 29.5 foot whale.

"The fish was easy to mold on the drying rack because the hot summer sun was not coming through the smoke."

In early October 2013, local fishers Eli Nukapigak and Edward Nukapigak Jr. alerted wildlife officials to the discovery of “sick fish” in their nets near Nuiqsut. The aanaakłiq had fuzzy grayish-white patches on their bodies, fins, and heads. Cottony masses almost covered the eyes of some fish. None of the fishers in the community recalled seeing this condition before.

The varnished wooden cross stands amid a cluster of grave markers tilted at odd angles in the cemetery, because the ground beneath them is sinking. Rising temperatures are thawing the once-frozen earth, forming pools of water that run through the graveyard.

There seems to be a large red fox population in the region around Nuiqsut, Alaska. When I last traveled there for work, I counted 5 red fox during a 1.5 hour-long car ride.

The skin lesion in the photo is likely caused by a stress-related bacterial infection – possibly trauma initiated. Probably common opportunistic bacteria in the environment such as motile Pseudomonas/Aeromonas Gram-negative organisms.

10-13-13 Skin illness on whitefish (Coregonus nelsonii)

Melting permafrost causing tundra to slip below sea level in northern Alaska.

In northern Alaska, an amphitheater of frozen ground thaws where a northern river cuts into it, exposing walls of ice. The feature, known by scientists as “yedoma,” is the largest of its kind yet found in Alaska. A great wall of ice holds a lot of treasures from the past, which science is eager to explore.

Called yedomas in Russia, the mounds of land are much more populous there.

Two local governments have retracted their criticism of Conoco's Willow project, now focusing on protecting subsistence resources and leveraging project opportunities.

The release was first detected last month at one of the company’s North Slope drill sites. A report from the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, dated Friday, listed the cause of the release as under evaluation and said that future plans included a continuation of “source remediation operations.”