Background Articles

Weakened wind patterns likely spurred the wave of extreme ocean heat that swept the North Pacific last summer, according to new research led by the University of Colorado Boulder and the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California San Diego. The marine heat wave, named the "Blob 2.0" after 2013's "Blob"; likely damaged marine ecosystems and hurt coastal fisheries. Waters off the U.S. West Coast were a record-breaking 4.5 degrees F (2.5 degrees C) above normal, the authors found.

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.

Back at his Spokane home, McCrea looked around. No bugs on the lights there either. No frogs in the pond. Only one bumblebee was buzzing against a porch light – and at an odd hour, around 10 p.m. that night.

Cars and houses submerged in water, commuters wading through buses knee-high in floods, and homeowners counting the cost of destroyed properties.

MOSCOW — Summer wildfires have already produced a record amount of carbon emissions in Russia’s Siberian region of Yakutia, with still more weeks of the fire season to come, according to the European Union’s Copernicus satellite monitoring unit. Environmentalists fear the fires, fuelled by hot weather, may thaw Siberian permafrost and peatlands, releasing even more

It’s not what you think.

A proposal to relocate Sitka black-tailed deer into areas crisscrossed with roads, farms and established wildlife populations may ultimately cause more problems than it’s worth, says an internal report from the Alaska Department of Fish and Game.

Heading into the end of 2021, Yellowknife’s deputy fire chief is celebrating a record low number, three, of structure fires in the city this year.

A new study conducted at the Moscow State University confirms that the Arctic permafrost along the country’s northern coastline is thawing at terrifying speeds.

Researchers now are uncertain when and to what extent the ice may return, and have scrambled to better understand the consequences of back-to-back years of its loss.

Communities and conservation groups have raised concerns about the project. Researchers said they won’t move forward with field testing until it’s deemed safe.

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

Alaska's peregrine falcons are among the world's greatest long-distance migrants, flying deep into South America. Peregrines from Northern Alaska have been documented wintering as far south as Chile and Argentina. After a few months in the grasslands and pampas of South America, they return to the north, a round trip journey of more than 17,000 miles.

The endangered population continues to slip and calf numbers are few, but no single factor has been identified as the cause.

After growing up in Sweden, Anna Liljedahl moved to Alaska to study hydrology at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. She now lives in Homer, where she conducts research as an associate scientist at the Woodwell Climate Research Center, focusing on how climate change is impacting water in Arctic ecosystems.

The destructive, invasive green crabs showed up in Metlakatla last summer. Stumpf explained a few key tells for a crab that doesn’t belong. “They have the five spines on either side of the eyes and then the three bumps in the middle,” he said. “So we’ve been teaching people with guides how to identify the crabs.”

Two regional tribal organizations, the Central Council of the Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska and the Tanana Chiefs Conference, have each cited different reasons for parting company with AFN.

An incurable disease found in deer, elk, and moose is spreading across Alberta, according to new provincial surveillance results — and certain populations have reached a 23 per cent positivity rate. 

What scientists are most worried about now are regional changes that tip into global catastrophes. Timothy Lenton, chair in climate change and earth system science at the University of Exeter, refers to “tipping elements” — systems of glaciers, forests and coral reefs whose collapse could trigger a form of global warming that feeds on itself. He said the extreme events making the news this summer might represent an early warning sign he calls flickering — a brief visit to the other side of a tipping point. “A complex system can sometimes start to sample a different regime or state before it takes a more permanent shift into that state.