NOAA and NASA satellites measured an average sea-surface temperature of 68.93 degrees Fahrenheit in the Gulf of Maine on Aug. 8, only 0.05 degrees below the all-time record high of 68.98 set in 2012. It is the epicenter of the U.S. lobster fishing industry, an important feeding ground for rare North Atlantic right whales .

But the appearance of new chemicals is creating an uncertain future for polar bears, orcas and seabirds.

The Swedish Saami Association is demanding a comprehensive aid package from Stockholm after a season of unprecedented drought and wildfire ravaged the country, including key reindeer grazing areas.

The North Water Polynya, between Nunavut and Greenland, is one of the Arctic’s most biologically productive areas — and an important part of the food supply for nearby Inuit communities.

Two extreme weather events in 2006 and 2013 caused mass starvation among the reindeer herds, and researchers for the first time have linked these extreme weather events in the coastal mainland in northwest Russia with sea ice loss in the adjoining Barents and Kara seas.

Resident becomes sick after consuming oysters and wonders what is being done to prevent future outbreaks of V parahaemolyticus, this new climate related illness in Alaska.

Commercial and Subsistence Harvest

11-18-15 Bearded seal with hair loss - Shishmaref, Alaska, USA

11-13-14 Unseasonable warm - Unalakleet, Alaska, USA

Sixty-one thousand reindeer starved to death in the northwestern reaches of the Russian tundra in November 2013 in the largest recorded mortality event of its kind.

11-4-13 Ice fishing hazardous - Golovin, Alaska, USA

10-24-13 Warm weather delays subsistence - Shaktoolik, Alaska, USA

10-17-13 No ice fishing yet - Shishmaref, Alaska, USA

10-15 13 Too wet for food preservation - Elim, Alaska, USA

This has been a great year for the mushrooms

Despite the time of year, there is still no snow on the Seward Peninsula.

A winter storm lashed the sandy beaches at the mouth of the Ninilchik River with ferocious waves, powerful enough to uproot thousands of razor clams.

Anchorage can no longer claim to be the largest port city in the Northern Hemisphere without known rat infestations. State biologist Rick Sinnott caught and kille dtwo Norway rats found living at a pond near a South Anchorage school. Professional exterminatiors hired by the city placed more traps at the scene Monday afternoon.