Background Articles

The Nez Perce Tribe in Idaho is leading efforts to protect vulnerable community members from wildfire smoke indoors by distributing free portable air purifiers and providing education on indoor air quality. A nearby paper mill is a local source of emissions. But now, wildfire smoke is the main pollutant the reservation faces, a near-constant each summer.

Residents of Grindavik have evacuated the town as the threat of a volcanic eruption looms over Iceland.

Since 2020, members of a small group of killer whales have rammed into at least 673 vessels off the coasts of Portugal, Spain and Morocco — causing some to sink. The Spanish and Portuguese governments responded by tasking a group of experts with determining what was causing the whales to strike rudders, which are used to steer ships, and how to stop it.

The renowned bush pilot was making a trip he’d made many times when the Cessna 180 crashed near Shaktoolik in June 2023.

Alaska Wildlife News is an online magazine published by the Alaska Department of Fish and Game

Most of Alaska sits atop permafrost. But the ground is thawing, leading to unexpected and sometimes catastrophic outcomes — what scientists have called a “slow disaster.”

Extreme weather, floods, fires and landslides related to climate change are shifting the way Canadian adventure sports enthusiasts approach backcountry — as risks get harder to predict.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is convening a high-level emergency meeting to discuss the wildfire situation in the Northwest Territories. "This is an example of how bad the forest fires have become now in our country where we're seeing unprecedented forest fires ... my thoughts are with the community."

A fire broke out on the nuclear-powered container ship Sevmorput in Murmansk, but information about the incident was scarcely communicated to the public.

The city told owners their buildings should not be occupied until snow is removed if they have a roof at risk of collapse.

Drifting icebergs can conflict with navigation routes and cause hazards for coastal communities and ships. Climate change is creating more ice shelf break-off than ever and scientists are keeping track of drifting patterns as a result.

A three-week evacuation odyssey ended for many Yellowknifers Wednesday, as people began to return home. The barricades outside of the city opened at 11 a.m., and cars began streaming in.

Kenai River flooding began last week when glacier-dammed lakes burst and caused water levels to rapidly rise. Water levels were already high due to recent rainfall.

A retired volcanologist recounts his firsthand experience of the 1992 Mount Spurr eruption, describing the dramatic flight over a rising ash plume and the unforgettable moments above the volcano. His narrative highlights both the beauty and inherent risks of volcanic activity.

The release was first detected last month at one of the company’s North Slope drill sites. A report from the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, dated Friday, listed the cause of the release as under evaluation and said that future plans included a continuation of “source remediation operations.”

State and federal agencies are working to combat what experts call one of the harshest and most neglected effects of climate change in the U.S.: rising worker heat deaths and injuries.

Troopers said that they have suspended the active search for two men missing from Kwigillingok, one of the hardest-hit communities. The men are related to the storm’s lone confirmed fatality, a 67-year-old woman found Monday.

A heat warning has been issued for Ottawa and the surrounding region.

Arctic fox rabies is enzootic in populations of arctic and red fox populations along Alaska’s northern and western coasts. This means rabies is always present in these populations at some low level but periodically there can be outbreaks called epizootics (an outbreak in animal disease rather than an epidemic as is it is called when occurring in a human population). However, the winter of 2020-2021 ushered in a widespread outbreak with persistent and large focus in and around Nome.

Drivers on the Coquihalla could feel the heat in their cars as they rushed to clear the highway before the July Mountain fire overtook it. Somewhere in the ashes is the route for the Trans Mountain pipeline, a project that would fuel the climate change that’s making these fires worse.