The size of a large caribou herd in Alaska's Arctic region has dropped by more 50 percent over the last three years, and researchers who have tentatively ruled out hunting and predation as significant factors for the decline are trying to determine why.

The size of a large caribou herd in Alaska's Arctic region has dropped by more 50 percent over the last three years, and researchers who have tentatively ruled out hunting and predation as significant factors for the decline are trying to determine why.

No sea ice; hunters say it should not be like this today.

Herschel Island has seen a lot of people come and go. The Inuvialuit have used the place, known as Qikiqtaruk in Inuvialuktun, for at least 1,000 years.

Darren Nasogaluak has an unusual problem.As the mayor of Tuktoyaktuk, a small Inuvialuit hamlet on the coast of the Beaufort Sea, he has had to watch bits of his community wash away over the years.

Unique paleontological sites are facing destruction from gangs seeking to sell prehistoric remains. The hunters are especially active in late summer, when the permafrost retreats leaving mammoth remains more visible.

Scientist Rod Towell has been part of the fur seal counts since 1992. He said the difference at the rookeries is striking. Northern fur seal pup production has hit its lowest level since 1915.

A recent study estimates permafrost coverage on the peninsula has decreased by 60 percent since 1950. Permafrost is usually associated with Northern and Interior Alaska, but it also occurs in isolated pockets in wetlands on the Kenai Peninsula.

As lichen has disappeared, the herd has changed its diet. This adaptation could have global implications for reindeer facing a warming climate.

As Alaska warms and permafrost thaws, the chemistry of the Yukon River's water is transforming chemically, new research from the U.S. Geological Survey shows.

The 2007 fire was probably the first for that area in 6,500 years, according to scientific evidence examined later, Higuera said. But the wait for the next big burn won't be nearly as long, according to the evidence gathered in the study.

Scientists recently announced they had found an Asian tapeworm species in pink salmon caught off the coast of the Kenai Peninsula. Listen now

Flowers blooming near the mouth of the Klamath River

In Anchorage, the temperatures forecast for this week won't come close to breaking any city records, Ahsenmacher said. But they are a departure from years of mild winters that rarely saw temperatures below zero.

After years of low snow and higher winter temperatures, Anchorage once again looks like a real northern city thanks to a heavy layer of frost.

Clime Map is a Google Map based portal created by ANTHC with links to news articles about events from across the circumpolar north.

A robin was sighted in southcentral Alaska; an early arrival.

Letters: Climate change is driving long-term environmental damage and sudden catastrophes, presenting a global long-term threat to human security

Heavy snows over the weekend are likely to have saved up to half of the rare, endangered Saimaa seal pups being born this winter season from death by exposure or from predators.