A 60-mile walk under the midnight sun, with no stops for sleep
AlaskAcross 2019 was an informal, unsupported, nonstop hiking traverse in Interior Alaska, from Lost Creek to Eureka.
Science
Monitoring a mystery bird on Southeast Alaska ocean spits
Researchers in Yakutat, where residents just hosted a tern festival, are joining with others to unravel the mysteries of the Aleutian tern.
The sound of silence in Russell Fjord
Standing dead spruce trees on the shore of the Southeast Alaska fjord are a monument to what can happen in this big country, almost too large for comprehension.
Sullivan wants new US icebreaker focused on the Arctic, not the Antarctic
The U.S. Coast Guard is on track to have another icebreaker in five years, but how much time the vessel will spend in the Arctic is open question.
How many glaciers are in Alaska? There’s no easy answer
One researcher estimates the total area of Alaska’s glaciers at 34,000 square miles of ice, or roughly enough to cover the state of Maine.
Spike in gray whale deaths, including several in Alaska, triggers federal investigation into ‘unusual mortality event’
About 70 gray whales have been spotted dead so far this year along the West Coast from California to Alaska, the most in almost 20 years, NOAA officials said.
Ruddy ducks are among many waterfowl whose range is shifting northward
Ponds and lakes in Yukon Flats now have a longer ice-free season, perhaps creating new nesting opportunities.
'I said yes to everything’: The Alaska scientist who broke through the Northwest Passage
Merritt Helfferich, whose life of adventures also included the first hot-air balloon flight from Barrow, died in New Mexico on May 2. He was 83.
What studying the breath of clams tells us about the impacts of a warming ocean
To learn more about one of the largest environmental changes of our lifetimes, UAF doctoral student Brittany Jones studies clam breath.
Researchers pitch using powdered glass ‘microspheres’ to reduce northern sea-ice loss
A team of researchers has a plan to slow the melting of northern sea ice using a sand-like substance.
A warm spring may result in a gentle Alaska breakup
Forecasters are predicting a mellow transition from ice to water for most big rivers in the state.
New Denali weather stations let you check real-time conditions on North America’s tallest peak
The stations as high as 14,200 feet read the weather but also will help monitor the Kahiltna Glacier.
Greenland’s accelerating ice loss is likely to get even worse
The rate of ice loss from Greenland has grown by a factor of six since the 1980s, scientists found. Half of the resulting sea level rise has occurred in just the last eight years.
There’s one animal great white sharks are really afraid of
Ever since the 1975 movie “Jaws,” great white sharks have been considered the most fearsome predators in the ocean. But new research published this week shows that may not be the case.
Birds large and small sniff their way through life
Some seabirds can smell prey from up to 15 miles away.
A company built a team of robot ‘sled dogs.’ But can they handle the Iditarod Trail?
At their speed, it could take a while to reach Nome.
Innoko is a long river short on people
The fifth-longest river in Alaska, the Innoko is now at a historic low in human population.
Iditarod: One of the last Gold Rush towns
A century ago Iditarod was the largest city in Interior Alaska.
This year’s snow melt in Anchorage is one of the earliest on record
Anchorage broke or tied temperature records seven days in March, a weather service meteorologist said.
Oldest rock in Alaska has been found near Iditarod
The Iditarod rocks are more than 2 billion years old.