A respiratory pathogen once thought to only affect sheep and goats has been found in Alaska caribou and moose. The bacterium, called mycoplasma ovipneumoniae, or "Movi," has also been implicated in the death of an emaciated caribou from the Fortymile herd last month.
The Arctic Sounder - Serving the Northwest Arctic and the North Slope
With fewer caribou in the area and the higher cost of fuel to travel upriver to find the animals, families and neighbors are finding themselves in a tough spot.
A magnitude 6.4 earthquake rattled a remote region of Alaska's North Slope southeast of Prudhoe Bay Sunday morning. The state seismologist called it the biggest quake ever recorded in the region.
After 100 highs, Utqiagvik marks record low temperature
Alaska Department of Fish and Game records show two other unusually wayward moose hunts: One in 2016 taken north of Teshekpuk Lake along the Arctic coast, and another in 2014 on the Kokolik River near Point Lay.
At least 60 ice seals have been found dead across northern and western Alaska this month. As of early this week, reports of dead seals had come in from the Norton Sound region, the Northwest Arctic and the North Slope.
Extremely high winds blew over Northwest Alaska this weekend, pushing away ice cover and cutting power in some communities. The storm is expected to be 100 miles west of Utqiagvik by 3 a.m. on Tuesday morning and continue to weaken and drift north after that.
The ice conditions are similar to last year (with) lots of young ice and close leads," said Captain Frederick Brower. "We all went out and broke trail to the edge, but a high west wind came along and added about three-quarters to 1 mile of ice and (we) had to break trail through that and began whaling from the new edge ... . The conditions were not favorable but we made due with what we had and continued on with our whaling season."
The recent storm brought water levels up to the lagoon bank by town. Along the Chukchi Coast, storm surge and tides were expected to raise sea levels four to six feet above the normal high tide line, the weather service noted.
Beavers live in every province of Canada, every U.S. state and into northern Mexico. Range maps now need to be redrawn to include areas north of treeline in Alaska and Canada.
Sixty years ago there were 12 of these such cellars in Kaktovik.Today there is only one left. All the other family cellars have been flooded and have collapsed.
Technology has changed, communities have moved, people have grown older, and the beluga whales the Kanigmiut have relied on for generations have all but disappeared.
It's been a challenging year for whalers in Utqiagvik. Crews started going out in September, but found the bowheads weren't appearing in their usual concentrations in the waters closer to shore. On the water Nov. 16 Panigiuq Crew landed the first whale of the season for Utqiagvik, later than many people can remember ever bringing one in before.
The two men, who were both part of an active whaling crew, were in one of the boats on a towline, towing a whale to shore, when their boat flipped, according to fellow whalers who were there when it happened.
The roughly 300 miles of hard-packed snow roads were constructed under the Community Winter Access Trails (CWAT) project, headed by the North Slope Borough.
Cleanup and recovery from the recent storm that battered the North Slope coastline may carry a price tag exceeding $10 million.
Late December and early January starts to the off-road season have become normal as warmer temperatures continue to mark the winter months across most of the Arctic. While industry has had to adapt to changes, many locals are still struggling to find a new normal amidst the shifting seasons.
One of the largest caribou herds in Alaska is shrinking, prompting hunters and conservationists to consider recommending hunting restrictions.
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