Background Articles

Climate change has been observed for hundreds of years by the plant specialists of three Odawa Tribes in the Upper Great Lakes along Lake Michigan. Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore is the focus of two National Park Service (NPS) studies of Odawa Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) of plants, ecosystems, and climate change. Data collected during these studies contributed to developing Plant Gathering Agreements between tribes and parks. This analysis derived from 95 ethnographic interviews conducted by University of Arizona (UofA) anthropologists in partnership with tribal appointed representatives. Odawa people recognized in the park 288 plants and five habitats of traditional and contemporary concern. Tribal representatives explained that 115 of these traditional plants and all five habitats are known from multigenerational eyewitness accounts to have been impacted by climate change. The TEK study thus represents what Native people know about the environment. These research findings are neither intended to test their TEK nor the findings of Western science.

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

The Barents area is the fastest warming place on the planet. A new study shows that the warming is happening twice as fast as previously thought.

In coming decades, the ocean conditions that triggered the snow crab crash and harvest closure are expected to be common.

East Finnmark region was 4 to 5 degrees warmer than normal in January.

Ship captains are battling with major volumes of sea-ice across the Russian far north. Temperature data show that the Arctic has almost never before been this hot.

National Weather Service says Alaska has been lucky to have three La Niña years. Due to climate change we could see a shift into warmer La and El Nino's.

The Yukon, the N.W.T. and western Nunavut are experiencing above-average temperatures. According to Environment and Climate Change Canada, it's going to stay that way for the month of January.

Streams in Alaska are turning orange with iron and sulfuric acid. Scientists are trying to figure out why

Warming soils beneath Utqiagvik are triggering erosion that threatens homes, infrastructure and cultural resources. The North Slope has seen some of the fastest changes in coastal erosion in the nation.

Three temperature records this week were broken in Chukotka. Forecasters recorded abnormally high temperatures for this time of year in Pevek and Omolon.

As the driest summer in Seattle’s record books ended, trees across the city were sounding silent alarms. It was the latest in a string of Seattle summers in the last decade, including a record-breaking heat dome in 2021, to feature drier conditions and hotter temperatures that have left many trees with premature brown leaves and needles, bald branches and excessive seeding –- all signs of stress.

Scientists have analyzed 1.4 million global lakes, saying the sky is "thirstier" than ever.

The temperature on the delar of Svalbard has risen to twice as fast as the time period known. No can forecast at the Norwegian Meteorological Institute document the greatest warming in the world.

High water temperatures were measured at Chilkat Lake weir in Alaska, raising concerns for the salmon population, although no harm to the fish has been reported so far.

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.

By Seth Borenstein | The Associated Press FILE - A kayaker paddles in Lake Oroville as water levels remain low due to continuing drought conditions in

The ground was completely white in Reykjavík on just 17 days during 2021—the second-lowest number on record. The summer was the warmest on record in many parts of the country and many heat records were broken.

If that saying about Jan. 1 setting the tone for the year to come has any truth to it, 2022 is going to be a wild ride.

In 2021, the average temperature in Norway was normal, while precipitation was 10 percent below normal. The year is nevertheless marked by great contrasts. The summary of the weather in 2021 was presented at the Meteorological Institute's annual event Climate Status on 5 January. Here you can see video footage of Climate Status (Vimeo)