A HILLSIDE ABOVE LA PEROUSE GLACIER — Ben Gaglioti slices a foot-long blade through the trunk of a tree that died long before he was born. As he cuts the solid wood, yellow chips fly. A clean, familiar scent wafts through the air. I think of a cedar drawer in my boyhood home where my […]
LA PEROUSE GLACIER — During our first lunch at a blue-gravel campsite near this Alaska glacier named after a French explorer, scientist Ben Gaglioti and I had a visitor. As we sat on bleached slabs of wood, I held in my left hand a rectangular cracker with peanut butter smeared on top. We heard a […]
Roads, bridges, pipelines and other types of infrastructure in Alaska and elsewhere in the Arctic will deteriorate faster than expected due to a failure by planners to account for the structures’ impact on adjacent permafrost, according to research by a University of Alaska Fairbanks Geophysical Institute permafrost expert and others. The researchers say planners must […]
Residents of a remote Alaska coastal community will fly unmanned aircraft systems to support the Coast Guard’s oil spill response, fuel tank inspection, and search and rescue efforts. The project, supported by the University of Alaska Fairbanks, will also provide data to enhance local decision-making on environmental and community issues. Seven residents of Unalakleet, about […]