Bacteria from the ocean floor could be influencing Arctic weather
Seafloor microbes might be a key ingredient for Arctic cloud formation.
Science
Dirty glaciers all over the world
Many glaciers are littered with rocks and pebbles that can accelerate glacial melt. But if the rock coating is thicker, it can actually help insulate the ice.
Bizarre ice balls found in Arctic Alaska river puzzle locals and scientists
Danny Foster and Mike Hawley of Kivalina were ice fishing outside of town when they came upon something they’d never seen before.
What colonies and shoulder-season sightings tell us about Alaska’s little brown bats
Some researchers believe little brown bats hibernate in Interior Alaska instead of migrating south through the mountains.
Living whales are worth an enormous amount of money
Saving whales saves humans about $2 million per whale, according to a first-of-its-kind economic valuation.
Little brown bats remain a northern mystery
With preferences for nighttime hunting and warmer weather, little brown bats live differently in Alaska to cope with our extremes.
The last advancing Juneau Icefield glacier begins its retreat
Taku Glacier, Alaska’s thickest, is one of the last in the area to start receding in a warming climate. It could eventually send icebergs to downtown Juneau.
With sleuthing, a mystery organism found on the forest floor comes to light
“This was something from the X-Files,” said Derek Sikes, an insect specialist in Fairbanks.
The living dead: Wood frogs across Alaska will soon be frozen solid
After a half-year in the frozen living-dead stage, wood frogs thaw in springtime and hop away to a nearby breeding pond as if nothing happened.
Middle Alaska begins its transition to a quieter, snow-covered world
Snow cover encourages colder air temperatures by reflecting the sun’s rays, not letting the dusky ground absorb warmth.
Sifting Alaska volcano data paydirt could help researchers forecast eruptions
A team of UAF doctoral students will dig into collected volcano data to see if they can find a key to better understanding volcano behavior.
In fast-thawing Siberia, radical climate change is warping the earth beneath the feet of millions
The permafrost that once sustained farming - and upon which villages and cities are built - is in the midst of a great thaw, blanketing the region with swamps, lakes and odd bubbles of earth that render the land virtually useless.
New monitors aim to help detect landslides in Sitka
The project was initiated after heavy rainfall in 2015 triggered a landslide that struck a Sitka subdivision and killed three men, she said.
Early-morning 5.0 earthquake near Talkeetna felt widely in Southcentral Alaska
The quake was reported by hundreds of people from Anchorage to the Susitna Valley.
Home sweet volcano: Alaska fur seals thrive on an unlikely island
Why the seals have chosen volatile Bogoslof Island over the dozens of other uninhabited Aleutian islands is a mystery to scientists.
Raccoons, wild pigs and other bad ideas for Alaska
Over the years, many people have tried to introduce non-native species to Alaska and native species to places where they didn’t previously live.
Alaska and feds must do more to clear drinking water of cancer-linked PFAS chemicals, report says
The Dunleavy administration this year scaled back water pollution standards for the chemicals.
Rapid tundra ‘greening’ on Alaska’s North Slope linked to retreating sea ice
But retreating sea ice might also be causing more cloudiness elsewhere, which could limit greening farther south, scientists say.
Changes to Alaska’s environment are many, and so fast
In a new publication, UAF researchers summarize what scientists have observed in this place that is changing faster than anywhere else in the U.S.
As Bering Sea ice melts, Alaskans, scientists and Seattle’s fishing fleet witness changes ‘on a massive scale’
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.