Background Articles

In Southeast Alaska, and across the state, climate change is bringing more rainfall, less winter snowfall and hotter temperatures. According to the project’s lead researcher Alex McCarrel, those changes disrupt berry development because a berry plant’s life cycle is precisely tuned to its environment.

Commercial fishing openers are only available to individuals registered as catcher/sellers. On the Kuskokwim, the only one registered is Fran Reich.

The Permafrost and Infrastructure Symposium this month brought together over 50 scientists, engineers and residents this month, creating a space for them to exchange their perspectives on the effects of thawing permafrost in the Arctic.

The most-expensive project in the nationwide initiative is $25 million for Alaska to replace a dozen culvert sites along the Parks Highway.

A new report from NOAA and NASA confirms that last month was the hottest July ever recorded, driven to new heights by human-caused climate change.

So far, 22 sea lions have been found, with signs of human interaction, including gunshot wounds.

A Fort Smith, N.W.T., man is recounting his terrifying effort to flee a wildfire with his wife a couple of weeks ago — and crediting a Hay River man for steering them out of danger.  

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.

Monkshood, a common yet highly poisonous plant in Alaska, has seen an unusual bloom this year, raising concerns about its safety among hikers and gardeners. Experts affirm that while the plant is toxic, casual contact is unlikely to cause harm.

There are now 140 active Interior wildfires, with Southeast Alaska seeing "abnormally dry" conditions.

“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.

Southeast trollers brought in about 85,000 king salmon from July 1 to July 12, around 8,000 fish over the target for the first opener of the season. Nevertheless, the fishing was pretty good for the 500 boats that stayed in the game. Hagerman says three days of bad weather during the opener meant for some busy days during good conditions. A lot of the work involved shaking undersize kings, which were below the legal length of 28-inches, and trying to keep hooks free for bigger fish.

Some residents in Fort Smith, N.W.T., say they're seeing more bears in and around town this year, and it's not clear why.

Amid the collapse of chum and chinook salmon on the river, the Smokehouse Collective is trying to build sustainable, resilient food systems for Native communities.

Satellite images from NASA show the alarming and above-average ice loss in Greenland due to rising temperatures, with significant melting and a transformation of the snow cover observed during the 2023 melting season.

The R/V Sikuliaq is a familiar sight in the Port of Nome. The ice-breaking research vessel is owned by the National Science Foundation and operated by the University of Alaska Fairbanks. This year, while the vessel is out at sea it will be collecting water that could signal whether a bloom is occurring.

The "whale pump hypothesis" claims nutrient-rich whale excrement feeds phytoplankton, a key producer of Earth's oxygen.

The temperature of asphalt and pavement and concrete and sidewalks in Arizona on a warm sunny day or summer afternoon is 180 degrees sometimes.