Background Articles

There is danger lurking on the floor of the Bering and Chukchi seas for mussels, snails, clams, worms and other cold-water invertebrates, according to a new study led by National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration scientists.

Beavers, on the other hand, leave a mark on the landscape that you can sometimes see from space.Swarming ponds, building dams and expanding waterways, beavers are moving farther and farther into the Arctic, and are changing what the region looks like.

The number of endangered beluga whales in Alaska’s Cook Inlet increased slightly the past four years, according to a new estimate by federal biologists.

A new study concludes that Antarctica is already being and will continue to be affected by more frequent and severe extreme weather events, a known byproduct of human-caused climate change.

Around 600 competitors faced what the race director called the wettest edition of the race in its 32 years. The impact on competitors, a grueling race. The impact on the trails - mud, erosion and more mud.

While the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently reported larva of Japanese broad tapeworm has been detected in wild pink salmon from Alaska, the Alaska Dept. of Fish and Game says the discovery is nothing new.

A year after the closure of the Bering Sea crab harvests in Alaska, surveys show that crab populations are still low, raising doubts about future harvest prospects and suggesting that continued closures may be necessary.

The National Climate Assessment was released Tuesday with details that bring climate change’s impacts down to a local level.

"Talk of Alaska discusses the science behind landslide risk and early warning systems in the wake of Wrangell's third deadly landslide since 2015."

The snakeworm gnat larvae move in columns, possibly to frighten predators and to keep their fragile bodies moist when crossing dry ground.

A deadly wildfire burned more than 2,000 buildings in the Hawaiian town of Lahaina on Maui in August and left behind piles of toxic debris.

Yes, the city's official measuring station has recorded later snowfalls — but none that come in at an inch or more.

Arctic biologists use 25 years of data to find that warmer autumns might be enough to increase the odds of reindeer’s winter survival on Svalbard.

As geoscientists learn more about the Beach Road slide and the geology of Mount Riley, area residents aren't expecting to reach their homes until

As ocean temperatures trend warmer than average, green crab larvae dispersed in ocean currents from more southern latitudes will find more suitable habitat along the Alaska coast. Recently, adult green crabs have been detected in Skidegate Inlet on Haida Gwaii, British Columbia, and larval crabs have been found in Prince Rupert, both less than 100 miles south of Ketchikan.

Because the heat coincided with the summer solstice, when the northern hemisphere gets “maximum energy” from the sun, "it was really kind of a one-two punch.”

“This sort of became my purpose in life, to make something for my children and for humanity going forward,” said Dave Brailey, the mastermind behind the Juniper Creek Hydroelectric Project.

Cecelia Brooks remembers a time when the deep forest of New Brunswick was so cold, snow could still be found in its depths in August. That rarely happens anymore. Brooks, who lives on St. Mary's First Nation in Fredericton, is one of many Indigenous people in the Wabanaki region who say climate change is threatening traditional plants and medicines. Those changes, Brooks says, could alter their way of life.

The Institute of Tribal Environmental Professionals (ITEP) Tribes and Climate Change Program is publishing a report called the Status of Tribes and Climate C...

This study examines another mechanism of human impact on large species. If humans hunted a keystone species to a certain tipping point or extinction, they may have indirectly triggered a collapse of a complex ecosystem, leading to a chain reaction resulting in the extinction of other species. Since it is difficult to study ecosystems that existed thousands of years ago, the authors researched a more recent megafauna extinction event of the Steller’s sea cow in the mid-1700s, for which a few in person observations from Georg Steller exist.