“Last year we got several reports from tourists and scientists that they saw around six walruses dead here on the west side of Svalbard. Unfortunately, we couldn’t sample them as the dead walruses drifted away by the time we got to the place. But it’s not normal to get so many reported dead walruses in such a small area," said Christian Lydersen, senior scientist at the Norwegian Polar Institute. Now samples (collected by a Station Manager in July 2023) have tested positive for highly pathogenic avian influenza.
Northern Finland experienced unprecedented June temperatures and abnormal rainfall, deviating significantly from historical weather patterns.
Reports are coming in about hundreds of dead birds from Hammerfest in the west to Murmansk in the east. A zone with a radius of five kilometers is closed and guards are in place round-the-clock.
A growing number of people are visiting Norway’s protected areas. This poses new challenges for national park management. Excrement and rubbish left behind by thousands of tourists degrades Lofotodden National Park’s idyllic nature. What can be done about this problem?
The year is coming to a close with temperatures down to minus 50 °C in parts of northern Siberia.
Climate change is triggering behavior change among animals across the Arctic. In Northern Siberia wild reindeer this summer started migrating almost a month earlier than normal.
At Longyearbyen airport, the peak temperature reached 9.2 °C for a short period, nearly two degrees warmer than the last November record measured in 1975.
Warm summer days lasted all August along the coast to the Barents Sea, from Hammerfest in the west to Kirkenes in the east. The latter is now experiencing the warm weather to last into September with several days reaching maximum temperatures up to 20 degrees Celsius (68 F).
Locals in the far northern Russian region believe between 60,000-80,000 animals might have died of starvation over the past few months. The tragedy follows the formation of a thick layer of ice across major parts of the Yamal tundra.
Floodwaters in Tomsk region threatens to submerge the river banks in Seversk where highly radioactive liquid waste from the Soviet Union's nuclear weapons program for decades were injected into two unprotected underground reservoirs.
This crab from the Pacific Ocean was once introduced into the Barents waters of the Soviet Union in Arctic Russia. Since then the invasive species has spread to Norway’s Barents Sea and a multi-million dollar industry has sprung up around it. In 2023 Norway exported 2,500 tons of king crab worth 1,2 billion kroner (€100 million).
The isotope measured in air in Tromsø for now is unknown. The isotope comes from a nuclear reactor, and is used in medial diagnostic.
Longyearbyen airport had an average temperature of 6.1°C, which is 2.5°C above normal. Global air and sea surface temperatures were also at record levels.
Grazing conditions are very poor this winter in Norway as an unusual amount of snow forces the reindeer to dig really deep to find food.
Loaded with up to 38,000 tons of oil, the 245 meter long tanker Shturman Skuratov makes this year's first transit shipment on the Northern Sea Route. Despite major concentrations of sea-ice, the tanker sails without icebreaker assistance.
Few places in Europe were warmer than the Finnmark region on Tuesday. Nyrud in the Pasvik valley measured a peak at 25.3 degrees Celsius (77 F), actually higher than the Mediterranean coast of Spain and Italy.The normal chilly winds along the coast of Finnmark in Norway and Kola Peninsula in Russia were replaced by very warm air.
At this time of year, there has never before been such a complicated ice condition around Russia’s offshore Arctic oil platform «Prirazlomnaya».
Regional authorities report about 55 new cases since yesterday, with major outbreaks reported from both local retirement homes and among workers at LKAB mining company.
Poaching and climate change might be the reasons why more than 1,200 migrating animals did not make it across the wide Arctic waterway.
More than 658,000 reindeer are up for vaccination in order to prevent another outbreak of the deadly bacteria infection.
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