Background Articles

Amid the highest water levels seen since 2005, the city urges residents to be prepared for things to get worse.

As the deepest and most northern of the Great Lakes, Superior was once thought immune to algal blooms, which is why it was such a shock when the first report of blue-green algae came in 2012.

Second of three parts: As salmon stocks have crashed on the Yukon River, so has a key source of income in fish-dependent communities.

Recently, however, scientists have observed not just shrinking lakes but lakes that have completely gone away. A paper published this year in Nature Climate Change, based on satellite imagery, found widespread lake loss across the Arctic over the past 20 years.

As Alaska faces an increased risk of spring breakup flooding this year, scientists are asking residents to share photos documenting major rivers’ progress from ice to water to help them predict with more accuracy where flooding might occur.

When Jody Potts-Joseph was growing up, her family mushed sled dogs during the harsh Alaskan winters to hunt and trap, feeding them salmon caught from the Yukon River by the thousands. But after rebuilding her sled dog team as an adult, Potts-Joseph, a member of the Han Gwich'in tribe, had to turn to store-bought dog food. The river that was once renowned for its salmon doesn't have enough to offer anymore.

Several people have drowned or been reported missing after swimming in Pacific Northwest bodies of water during the record-breaking heat wave in the past few days.

State officials said that king salmon runs are not showing signs of improvement and that conservative measures are needed to ensure future fishing opportunities.

An official with the Giant Mine remediation project and a local researcher aren't worried the low water in Yellowknife Bay is exposing people to more arsenic in areas along the shore line. 

Task Force Iqaluit is making plans to move its water purification operation indoors, after a winter storm knocked down the tent housing its purifying system. Meanwhile, city staff are being redeployed due to the crisis, leading to some cuts to recreation services.

Lake Superior is warming faster than any of the Great Lakes, with impacts on ice fishing, wildlife and Indigenous ways of life