The beaches of Namibia have been filled with thousands of seal fetuses. The problem was first detected in August, when observers began to see an unusual number of abortions and prematurely killed pups on the beaches of Pelican Point. Current estimates indicate about 5,000 have died in Pelican Point alone, although the precise reasons are still unknown.

Staring out into the darkness, she and her husband Ivan saw "an enormous ball of light in the sky to the west. It was moving north to south, and was quite big."

After the Arctic Ocean recorded its second-lowest summer ice minimum last month, conditions have grown worse across the region. Large parts of the Arctic Ocean, which historically should be covered in new sea ice by now, remain largely ice free.