Background Articles

Climate change and ice-free Arctic seas are contributing to milder temperatures in Finland.

The number of animals in the Western Arctic Caribou Herd (WACH) is down by 20 percent. The calving parturition average was also significantly lower than recent years, with 2020 at 67%.

A new report based on necropsies conducted by the USGS's National Wildlife Health Center in Wisconsin suggests that the die-off was caused by long-term starvation and was likely exacerbated by a spate of freakishly cold weather.

Video | From forest fires larger than some European countries to historic oil spills, Russia's ecosystems faced unprecedented impacts this year. 

Residents of Seyðisfjörður in East Iceland have been returning home this weekend, and it will become clear today whether people from the part of the town that was first evacuated will also be allowed to return home now that the intense rain that caused devastating mudslides in the town, destroying or damaging a dozen houses and completely changing the appearance of the town and the fjord, has passed.

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.

The National Police Commissioner has raised the level of alert for the town. After a week of extreme rainfall, devastating landslides have hit the town of Seyðisfjörður in east Iceland.

Talik is ground that is thawed year-round. Now some Alaska scientists have found that were there are tall shrubs above the ground, there is likely to be talik below ground.

Newspaper of record for Nunavut, and the Nunavik territory of Quebec

In Troms and Finnmark, two glacier fronts have retreated, while one glacier front has progressed slightly. In the last 20 years, the glacier fronts have retreated between 340 and 593 meters.

Gov. Mike Dunleavy on Saturday signed a disaster declaration.

Dozens more homes in Haines were evacuated Thursday night as rain continued to saturate the mountainsides near residential neighborhoods.

As winters get warmer, the number of drowning deaths is going up. "I just don't think we have appreciated that is one of the costs," said one scientist.

The region is prime landslide territory and a changing climate - trending toward warmer, rainier winters - is likely to increase the frequency of slides in the future.

The new road allows villagers to access higher ground as global warming causes their village site to erode.

Russia's two biggest cities will see warmer seasons over the next 10 years compared with the prior decade.

Environmental campaigners stressed the need for the incoming Biden White House to put in place permanent protections for Alaska's Bristol Bay after the Trump administration on Wednesday denied a permit for the proposed Pebble Mine that threatened "lasting harm to this phenomenally productive ecosystem" and death to the area's Indigenous culture.

11,500 years ago, Norway experienced one of the fastest meltdowns the world has seen. Now scientists fear the same thing is happening elsewhere.

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.

Meteorologist Alex O'Brien dives into what has led to an extended fire season this year.