Background Articles

A recent workshop in Kodiak connected some rural communities to resources that could help them adapt to erosion and other issues.

At least 30 houses still needed repairs, cleanup was ongoing, and the city’s residents grappled with the need to fix snowmachines, keep their soaked houses warm and prepare for future emergencies.

Power was restored in Rytkuchi, Chukotka after a storm caused village-wide flooding.

This research compiles over a century of local flood data in Alaska to improve future flood risk prediction and planning, addressing the lack of accessible historic flood information for community and regional use.

It funds maps, sirens and education. "Losing this program, really, at the end of the day could mean deaths in Alaska," says a state official.

The sand dunes in Hooper Bay, Alaska, which serve as a protective barrier against storms and preserve the community's cultural history, are rapidly eroding and may lead to the relocation of the village. The dunes were once home to sod houses and artifacts dating back to 1600 A.D. The loss of the dunes threatens not only subsistence food resources but also the community's connection to its past. As the dunes continue to erode, there are concerns about the potential relocation of the community and the preservation of their stories and artifacts.

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.

Coastal Alaskans in Hooper Bay and Chevak are struggling to find subsistence foods, such as berries and underground caches of roots called “mouse food”, due to the impact of Typhoon Merbok's storm surge and a cold, rainy summer.

The relocation between from Newtok to Mertavik has taken time and community members stay patient as local, state, and federal agencies figure out the complex funding and logistical hurdles.

Atmospheric rivers, those long, powerful streams of moisture in the sky, are becoming more frequent in the Arctic, and they’re helping to drive dramatic shrinking of the Arctic’s sea ice cover.

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.

Golovin was hurt worse than other places in the Norton Sound region by the remnants of typhoon Merbok as it swirled up through Bering Sea last weekend. Repairing the damage is going to take time — and the clock is ticking on winter’s arrival.

The powerful remnants of Typhoon Merbok pounded Alaska’s western coast on Sept. 17, 2022, pushing homes off their foundations and tearing apart protective berms as water flooded communities. Storms aren’t unusual here, but Merbok built up over unusually warm water. Its waves reached 50 feet over the Bering Sea, and its storm surge sent water levels into communities at near record highs along with near hurricane-force winds.

Approximately 31 Alaska Native communities face imminent climate change due to floods and erosion. This can lead to the disappearance of culture and lifestyle changes. The four tribes are in the process of relocating from a rapidly disappearing village.

Indigenous Australians from low-lying islands in the Torres Strait argue that the government, by failing to act on climate change, has violated their fundamental right to maintain their culture.

Warmer seas have led the fishery to move 300 kilometers further northeast - towards the North Pole. At the same time, cruising traffic in the outlying sea areas is increasing.

A new study suggests Greenland ice has hit a new tipping point with unprecedented melting since the early 2000s — and this will have consequences for East Coast cities.

A powerful wave as tall as 55-storey building crashed through a fjord in Alaska in 2015, stripping the mountainsides of trees and dirt. It was triggered by a landslide — and researchers say such tsunamis could pose an increasing risk in places like Western Canada as climate change melts glaciers.

The inhabitants of Lau Lagoon in Solomon Islands have lived in harmony with nature for generations. Now their entire way of life is vanishing beneath the waves.