Background Articles

A closeup view of a bottlenose dolphin shows signs of skin lesions associated with a deadly skin disease known as ulcerative dermatitis. The increasing frequency and severity of storm systems drastically decrease the salinity of coastal waters, causing fatal skin disease in dolphins worldwide.

It turns out that a bit of melting helps support larger populations of seals, which are the bears’ main food supply. But this benefit will likely dwindle as sea ice continues to melt due to climate change, said Brandon Laforest, senior specialist of Arctic species and ecosystems with WWF-Canada.

The appeal was sent to president Putin on 30 October on behalf of Moscow and St Petersburg surfing federations, pointing his attention to the fact that traces of rocket fuel were found in samples from the polluted area. It means that the anthropogenic version of the recent environmental catastrophe mustn’t be brushed aside, the surfers say.

The event caused a die off of up to 95% of marine life along the seabed. The Russia's Academy of Sciences announced that the mass death was due to the effects of toxins from single-cell algae. Environmentalists are conducting their own inquiries and were not yet able to confirm the official probe's findings.

Environmental campaigners said they were conducting their own inquiries and were not yet able to confirm the official probe's findings.

Now believed to be caused by an unprecedented algae bloom, the decimation of bottom-dwelling sea life may have devastating ripple effects.

Bottlenose dolphins on Scotland’s east coast are expanding their range and swimming further south, according to one of the world’s longest-running studies of the species.

The size of salmon returning to rivers in Alaska has declined dramatically over the past 60 years because they are spending fewer years at sea, according to a new study led by researchers at the University of California, Santa Cruz, and the University of Alaska Fairbanks.

An Oregon State University researcher is using whale poop to ultimately help protect them.

Changes are coming to the Arctic so fast that scientists haven't even had a chance to understand what's there

A biennial NOAA survey in 2018 estimated the population of the white whales at 250 to 317.

An ocean heat wave off the U.S. West Coast from 2014 to 2016 drove humpback whales into a narrow band of cooler water, leading to a dramatic increase in whale entanglements with crab-fishing gear, according to a new study.

214 grey whales stranded in the Pacific in 2019, and scientists are preparing for more deaths in 2020 because whales are emaciated and skinny.

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.

Scientists attending a national gathering of Arctic researchers are outlining a widening range of climate change risks for so-called 'sentinel' species, such as ringed seals and beluga whales, which have sustained Inuit for millennia.

Ringed seals in Nunavut are facing changes in their habitats because of climate change, a group of wildlife advisers say.

Temperatures across the Arctic have been warmer than usual this fall, with one community in the Northwest Territories recording above-average temperatures for 72 days in a row.

In the North, where food prices are notoriously high, beluga whales are a staple community resource

As sea ice in the Arctic decreases due to climate change, it’s opening the way for more than cruise ship travel. Scientists have found evidence that links the decline of sea ice to the emergence of a virus in Arctic marine mammals that has killed thousands of seals in European waters.

When scientists found that Alaska sea otters were exposed to a sometimes-deadly virus that plagues seals in the North Atlantic, they were puzzled. Phocine distemper virus had not been previously found in Alaska waters.