Background Articles

A rule unveiled by the Environmental Protection Agency could force power plants to capture smokestack emissions using a technology that has long been promised but is not in widespread use in the U.S.

Dr. Micah Hahn received an EPA grant to make air quality and health data easier to access in rural Alaska.

A long, thin cloud of ash began drifting toward the Aleutian Islands on Wednesday and continued east toward the Gulf of Alaska, where it caused major disturbances for air traffic starting Thursday. Volcanic ash is a danger to planes because it is abrasive and can cause engines to fail. Alaska Airlines canceled 51 flights that day, the company said in a statement. Alaska Airlines canceled 11 flights by 6 a.m. and said more are possible, with delays likely through the day.

Due to ash from the volcano in Kamchatka, Russia, Alaska Airlines canceled eight flights Wednesday between Anchorage and Western Alaska airports in Adak, Bethel, Dillingham and King Salmon.

In March, Ingrid Weisse, her husband and two young sons were aboard Alaska Airlines Flight 889, headed home from Portland, Ore. to Hawaii, when the Boeing 737 began buffeting so fiercely that it felt as if the plane would shake itself apart. The reason for this is clear-air turbulence, As global temperatures increase due to rising levels of greenhouse emissions such as carbon dioxide, the jet stream is experiencing more wind shear.

The Copper River Basin in Alaska has experienced less reliable snow and ice conditions in recent years, impacting winter activities such as trapping, hunting, and gathering firewood. This study, based on nine oral interviews with local residents, reveals that crossing rivers has become more treacherous and difficult, with significant changes in ice conditions observed since the 1970s. Decreased snowpacks and increased shrub growth have also posed obstacles for accessing winter trails, requiring individuals to cut through forests. These changes, combined with socio-economic and technological factors, have affected the way people engage in winter activities in the Copper River Basin. Overall, this research contributes to the understanding of climate change's impact on winter activities in Alaska and the Circumpolar North.

World leaders already have many options to reduce greenhouse gas pollution and protect people, according to the United Nations report.

Trudeau orders takedown of unidentified object in Canada airspace.

There was almost twice as much lightning north of 80 degrees in 2021 as in the previous nine years combined, a Finnish firm says.

Scientists, concerned hikers and residents have observed more stressed and dying bigleaf maple across urban and suburban neighborhoods as well as in forested areas. While forest pathologists have ruled out several specific diseases, the overall cause of the tree’s decline has stumped experts for years.

Experts raise concerns about residents who refuse to evacuate as ‘huge explosion’ reported at La Soufriere volcano. The volcano, which last erupted in 1979, began spewing copious amounts of ash on Friday.

In a single decade, summer lightning tripled across the Arctic, a change directly attributed to rapid Arctic warming, a new scientific paper reports. “Now that we have Arctic warming, you can really get a lot more of the optimal conditions for thunderstorms,” said Robert Holzworth, a University of Washington professor emeritus of Earth and space

Demonstration of how easy ponderosa pine tree tops can be broken due to the effects of climate change.

As atmospheric scientists, we found in a recent study that thawing permafrost contains lots of microscopic ice-nucleating particles. These particles make it easier for water droplets to freeze; and if the ones in permafrost get airborne, they could affect Arctic clouds.

The Institute of Tribal Environmental Professionals (ITEP) Tribes and Climate Change Program is publishing a report called the Status of Tribes and Climate C...