Background Articles

The U.S. Forest Service has finalized a plan to revamp Juneau's Mendenhall Glacier Recreation Area, addressing tourism growth and community concerns.

The collapse of Diomede city's building, suspected to be caused by melting permafrost, has led to emergency measures and online schooling as efforts to stabilize and dismantle the structure proceed.

Otto Florschutz, a candidate in the 2022 U.S. House special election, was found dead following a landslide in Wrangell, Alaska, that also claimed the lives of four members of the Heller family.

The Little Diomede school is closed indefinitely after a collapsing city building, with rotted stilts, leaned on it, causing no injuries but prompting a switch to video conference classes and relocation of teachers.

Anchorage faces record snowfalls and plowing challenges, raising concerns about its preparedness for future extreme precipitation events linked to climate change.

An emergency phase has been declared and the town of Grindavík in Iceland has been evacuated due to increased volcanic activity and damage from earthquakes, with residents being urged to seek safety in emergency relief centers.

A new study suggests that more than 75% of Earth's near-surface permafrost will be gone by the end of the century, leading to major implications for cold-climate regions like Alaska where permafrost covers the majority of the state and thawing is already well underway, resulting in sinking and unstable infrastructure and significant costs for adaptation.

Families in Hooper Bay, Alaska, who were displaced by Typhoon Merbok last year and currently live in low-income housing, may lose their housing by the end of the month due to the expiration of their temporary emergency placement.

Teller is considering moving to a new subdivision site to avoid flood zones and eventually connect to water and sewer systems, with the project estimated to be completed by summer 2025.

August flooding in Juneau has resulted in severe damage to private homes. After such events physical damage to buildings and homes are obvious. What do the experts say about mental health challenges after events such as the Mendenhall Glacier event?

Melting permafrost will increase the maintenance costs for critical infrastructure by $15.5 billion by mid-century but unable to prevent some $21.6 billion in damages. Nearly 70% of current infrastructure located on permafrost is at risk, including major oil and gas fields, pipelines, and mines.

The Hokksund family in Drammen, Norway, has experienced flooding in their living room for the second time and may not be able to return home until next year due to ongoing flooding in the area.

Due to recent flooding, FEMA assessors will work with state, local and tribal officials to determine if federal aid is warranted with flood and erosion damage.

Survivors of the Maui fire in Lahaina say they were overwhelmed by the speed of the blaze, the smothering smoke and the lack of escape routes.

“We started seeing structural timber,” one resident said. “And then I was like, ‘Oh, my God. That’s from houses upstream.'”

Extreme weather events like Typhoon Merbok are becoming more common, and many Alaska communities are wondering about the future.

Scientists from Moscow State University have studied the Lorino cliff in the Chukotka region and discovered that the rapid retreat of the coast is due to the reduction of sea ice, and they recommend that villagers prepare for the transfer of coastal structures further inland.

Electric heat pumps help homeowners swap fossil fuel for renewable energy. To spread heat pumps across the region, Allen Marine is collecting small donations from thousands of visitors that pass through Juneau, Sitka and Ketchikan on their whale watching and glacier tours each year.

The Quebec government has allocated over $2 million to research and develop a plan to adapt public housing in Nunavik to the effects of thawing permafrost, which can cause damage to units built on jacks.

The state’s rural areas lead the world in renewably powered microgrids. So if the grid of the future is being incubated in rural Alaska, can urban Alaska, like the Railbelt, benefit from some of these strategies and lessons learned?