The Arctic Sounder - Serving 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."
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.
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.
This comes just days after other reports of about 60 dead ice seals found from Kotlik to Kotzebue and Kivalina to Point Hope.
Snow is melting sooner and coming in later on the North Slope, and that, in turn, is having an affect on other ecological variables.
For one day last week, the village of Deering needed to use a boat to get to the airport.
The Svalbard Global Seed Vault celebrates its first decade in operation by accepting its millionth sample—and a grant for work to keep those samples safe despite melting permafrost.
The unexpected appearance of sinkholes or groundwater flooding is something to which residents have grown accustomed.
New research shows that permafrost soils hold massive quantities of mercury — nearly twice as much as is held in all other soils in the world, plus the mercury in the oceans and the atmosphere —
Chris Burn at Carleton University is tracking the growing cost of maintaining Yukon’s Dempster Highway as warmer weather brings more landslides, washouts and other challenges.
The number of ships entering Canada's Northwest Passage, and the distances sailed, are all increasing, says a new report from the Arctic Council.
Deteriorating conditions on the Mackenzie Valley Winter Road have prompted the Northwest Territories government to close the winter highway for the season.
Parts of Northern Siberia were up to 7℃ warmer than normal in 2020. The warming is the most significant along parts of the North Siberian coast, and especially around the peninsulas of Taymyr and Yamal. This has been brought on, in part, by polar vortex on the Arctic coast.
Recent heavy snowfall and large drifts have created ideal conditions for the dens where the endangered Saimaa ringed seal raise their young, and a record number of pups may be born this year. The freshwater Saimaa ringed seal is one of the most endangered seal species in the world.
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.
All Topics
All Countries
Any Date
Apply