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The LEO Network is a worldwide network of observers and experts that share their observations of environmental change.
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Observations

Warning of 'Collapse' in Siberia's Permafrost Cities
A new study has warned of the risk to buildings in urban areas across Russia's permafrost zone caused by climate change. The Russian-US analysis says a worst-case scenario could lead to a 75-95% 'reduction in bearing capacity throughout the permafrost region by 2050'.
Anadyr, Chukotskiy Avtonomnyy Okrug, Russia
Siberian Times

Melting permafrost changes Yukon River
Tanana, Alaska, United States
Alaska Public Media

Lake Drying
Decades have passed and ponds are drying up.
Chistochina, Alaska, United States

Russia plans to kill a quarter-million Siberian reindeer amid anthrax fears
A mysterious anthrax outbreak over the summer killed more than 2,300 reindeer and at least one child.
Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug, Russia
Washington Post

Huge cull of 250,000 reindeer by Christmas in Yamalo-Nenets after anthrax outbreak
Freak warm weather followed by a freeze in winter 2013-14 caused an ice-over of pastures which led to the deaths of some 70,000 reindeer in a famine. This summer, there was an outbreak of deadly anthrax after the hottest Arctic summer on record.
Noyabrsk, Yamalo-Nenetskiy Avtonomnyy Okrug, Russia
Siberia Times

Nome Area Ponds Are Disappearing
Ponds in and around the Nome area are drying up.
Nome, Alaska, United States

Experts warn of threat of born-again smallpox from old Siberian graveyards
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.'
Zashiversk
Siberia Times

Huge Thaw Crater
Downriver from Arctic Village
East Fork Chandalar River, Northeast Interior, Alaska, United States
Carter Brubaker, Vladimir Romanovsky, Ray Hander, Richard L Thoman Jr, Janet Jorgenson

DEC looks into whether drums in village's drinking water lake pose any hazards
State and North Slope Borough officials say Point Lay’s drinking water lake was wiped out by the nearby Kokolik River, which flooded and eroded the lake banks.
Point Lay, Alaska, United States

The Alaskan Highway Is Literally Melting
A critical artery is threatened by thawing permafrost.
Tok, Alaska, United States
Bloomberg.com

Siberian Heatwave Sparks Anthrax Outbreak, Killing A Child And Thousands Of Reindeer
Russian officials have said the death of a 12-year-old boy, a member of a reindeer-herding family from the Yamal tundra 1,300 miles north of Moscow, was the first fatality in Siberia linked to the pathogen since 1941. Twenty others have been diagnosed with anthrax.
HuffPost

Anthrax outbreak triggered by climate change kills boy in Arctic Circle
Seventy-two nomadic herders, including 41 children, were hospitalised in far north Russia after the region began experiencing abnormally high temperatures
Salekhard, Yamalo-Nenetskiy Avtonomnyy Okrug, Russia
the Guardian

Crack in the Tundra
Possibly an effect of thawing permafrost.
Kipnuk, Alaska, United States

Global warming winners? North Slope brant thriving amid changes
Climate-induced habitat changes on Alaska's North Slope such as coastal erosion and permafrost thaw have produced more food for migrating brant, a study says.
North Slope, Alaska, United States
Alaska Dispatch News

River Erosion
Shungnak, Alaska, United States

Why Alaska's Arctic tundra is slowly sinking
Alaska’s tundra landscapes carpet a good portion of the state, from the North Slope to the elbow of the Alaska Peninsula. Researchers say it's slowly sinking in places -- as much as a fifth of an inch each year.
Teller, Alaska, United States
Anchorage Daily News

Coastal Erosion
Coastal erosion near Cape Blossom
Kotzebue, Alaska, United States

Eroding Arctic coastline reveals human bones
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.
Utqiaġvik, Alaska, United States
Eye on the Arctic

Thawing ATV Trail
Thawing all-terrain vehicle (ATV) trail.
Chuathbaluk, Alaska, United States

Gravesite Erosion
Permafrost thaw and storms are drivers.
Teller, Alaska, United States
Jennifer Demir, Ryan Brubaker, Racheal Lee, Anahma Shannon, Mike Brubaker, Kendra Lee, Tom Wolforth

Muddy River Raises Salmon Concerns
Thawing permafrost and river bank collapsed on the Cheenik Creek.
Golovin, Alaska, United States

Natural Gas Vent
On a rising tide, a line of bubbles from the mud under the water of Ugashik Bay can be observed rising forcefully to the surface.
Pilot Point, Alaska, United States
Mike Brubaker, Jennifer Skrada, Nikki Shanigan, Katey Walter Anthony

Thawing and Eroding Trail
Permafrost thaw is causing trail in Golovin to erode.
Golovin, Alaska, United States

Damage to ATV Bridge
Permafrost thawing causing bridge damage.
Selawik, Alaska, United States

Brace yourselves, winter is coming
This summer has been one of the rainiest Ulaanbaatar has ever experienced, leaving behind puddles of water that result in cracked and deteriorated roads.
Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia
The UB Post

Tundra Slipping Below Sea Level
Melting permafrost causing tundra to slip below sea level in northern Alaska.
North Slope, Alaska, United States

Community Water Distribution System Freeze Up
We performed a survey of community water lines to see how permafrost thaw and sinking foundations may be impacting homes, water and waste water systems. During the June visit we saw where foundation sinking was putting stress on pipe runs and junctions. Now in the winter we see evidence of freeze up in some of the homes where the junction boxes have been compromised, gaps in the insulation seal, and resulting freeze up and overflow of water.
Selawik, Alaska, United States
Tanya Ballot, John Warren, Mike Brubaker, Prithviraj Chavan

Permafrost Thaw Threatens Ice Cellars
Arctic food storage system at risk.
Point Hope, Alaska, United States
Jacob Bell, Ryan Brubaker, Mike Brubaker

Erosion to Dump and Water Plant
Noatak, Alaska, United States

It's pothole season in Iqaluit. But does it have to be?
"Roads are actually getting worse in the springtime than they were even [a few] years ago. In a perfect world, we'd be able to re-engineer all of our roads and get them paved. It's going to be a long-term process to get there." say Deputy Mayor Kyle Sheppard.
Iqaluit, Nunavut, Canada
CBC

A one of a kind northern permafrost cliff
In northern Alaska, an amphitheater of frozen ground thaws where a northern river cuts into it, exposing walls of ice. The feature, known by scientists as “yedoma,” is the largest of its kind yet found in Alaska. A great wall of ice holds a lot of treasures from the past, which science is eager to explore.
Nuiqsut, Alaska, United States
Fairbanks Daily News-Miner

Climate change forces removal of historic mountain hut
A historic site in Yoho National Park will be dismantled and removed this spring because of effects caused by climate change, Parks Canada announced Thursday.
Abbot Pass Refuge Cabin National Historic Site
CBC

Trans-Alaska pipeline under threat from thawing permafrost
The slope of permafrost where an 810-foot section of pipeline is secured has started to shift as it thaws, causing several of the braces holding up the pipeline to tilt and bend, according to an analysis by the Alaska Department of Natural Resources.
Fairbanks, Alaska, United States
High North News

Researchers try packing down snow to preserve permafrost in N.W.T.
A permafrost scientist in the N.W.T. is leading an experiment that compacts snow near the Inuvik-Tuktoyaktuk Highway to see if that will slow down permafrost thaw and protect buildings and roads built atop it.
Inuvik, Northwest Territories, Canada
CBC

Permafrost thaw is causing Noatak's grave site to erode
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.
Noatak, Alaska, United States
The Arctic Sounder
Alaska Media, LLC., Steve Keller designer and application developer

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