Scammon Bay

Communities along the lower Kuskokwim River and coastal areas in Western Alaska assess damage from recent storms, with flooding and erosion impacting homes and infrastructure, and a new storm potentially exacerbating conditions.

Sand dunes disappear with more frequent and powerful storms in Western Alaska. These storms have impacted bird nesting grounds and tundra plants.

The remnants of Typhoon Merbok not only battered Alaska’s west coast in September, the storm also left behind a few treasures in its wake.

During a community meeting, Chevak residents said better emergency planning should be a long-term priority. For now, though, assessing damage is the focus.

The storm could have threatened the town’s winter subsistence stock if not for the work of local power plant operators.

This video shot on Thursday May 19th, shows the erratic circling behavior of a Canada goose. Although the cause is unknown, this type of behavior is according to USGS, "highly suggestive" of an infection with Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI).

Just two days after temperatures dipped below -5 degrees Fahrenheit in Hooper Bay, they shot up above freezing, and it started to rain. That caused the water level in the lagoon to rise, and water started to flow through the crack, eroding the lagoon wall.

The spill followed a sudden rise in warm temperatures in recent days. Hooper Bay Mayor Sandra Hill said that the thaw and rain had melted the previously frozen land surrounding the sewage lagoon, causing a wall of the lagoon to cave.

There is usually an abundance of this fish in the fall and early winter season. This is a usual harvest for most YK Delta coastal villages. Note: According to NOAA Bering Sea Bottom Trawl data, there has been an 88% decline reported in the biomass of saffron cod from 2020 to 2021 in the N. Bering Sea.

Almost 20 percent of residents in one town have tested positive for the coronavirus.

Permafrost thaw is causing tundra to sink and pool water.

The white spots found in the smelt appear to be tapeworm or nematode larvae. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommend cooking fish at about 153 degrees Fahrenheit for 5 minutes or freezing the fish at -4 degrees Fahrenheit for 7 days to kill the larvae before you eat the fish.

A big winter storm came in from the Bering Sea and battered the Western Alaska coast from the evening of Nov. 25 through Nov. 26. Some communities, like Hooper Bay, have reported flooding.

People living in the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta felt something unusual this past holiday weekend: a heat wave. Temperatures crept close to 90 degrees in many parts of the region.

Ringed seal (Phoca hispida) found with jelly-like meat texture and thin skin near the armpit and ribcage.

Two quakes shook the coast of the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta Tuesday night about 45 miles offshore of the community of Hooper Bay.

Blackline Prickleback (Acantholumpenus mackayi) caught along the Bering Sea Coast

Ross's gull (Rhodostetia rosea) spotted in Hooper Bay, south of normal species range.

A GCI cell tower in Western Alaska encapsulated in unusually thick ice and snow has caused service disruptions in villages.

I notice fluorescent glowing in the dark: happens to be the tomcods I caught the other day.