Climate change is causing trouble on Herschel Island.

In villages like Kongiganak, communities have stopped burying their dead because, as the permafrost melts, the oldest part of their cemetery is sinking.

Teller, Alaska is identified by the US Army Corps of Engineers as one of 31 villages in imminent danger of the effects of climate change.

There was a town where up to 40% of the population died. Naturally, the bodies were buried under the upper layer of permafrost soil, on the bank of the Kolyma River. Now, a little more than 100 years later, Kolyma's floodwaters have started eroding the banks.'

When a storm exposes human remains in Barrow, there isn’t an established protocol. They are usually given to the federally recognized Native Village of Barrow for repatriation.

Permafrost thaw and storms are drivers.

The issue of erosion is not new to Noatak cemetery. The old cemetery was located near the Noatak's airstrip, but in 1993, the spring breakup caused 30 feet of erosion adjacent to the cemetery. Flooding during the fall of 1994 further threatened the site, so residents relocated 200 graves to the north side of town.