Marked by metal cones and a clear-cut swath 20 feet wide, Alaska’s border with Canada is one of the great feats of wilderness surveying. The boundary between Alaska and Canada is 1,538 miles long. The line is obvious in some places, such as the Yukon River valley, where crews have cut a straight line through […]
SAN FRANCISCO— Scientists at NASA and the National Snow and Ice Data Center confirmed today that this winter’s Arctic maximum sea ice extent was the second-lowest ever recorded. The announcement comes months after the Trump administration blocked endangered species protection for the ice-dependent Pacific walrus. “This is devastating news for Arctic wildlife like polar bears and walruses that […]
A major shift in western Arctic wind patterns occurred throughout the winter of 2017 and the resulting changes in sea ice movement are possible indicators of a changing climate, says Kent Moore, a professor of physics at the University of Toronto Mississauga. Thanks to data collected by buoys dropped from aircraft onto the Arctic Ocean’s […]
Mass mortality of seabirds. Marine mammal deaths. Alaskans sickened by shellfish. What’s the common theme? Seawater contaminated by toxic algae. Call it death by phytoplankton. A group of Alaskans — including state officials, tribes, nonprofit organizations and researchers — have recently come together to try to combat these marine toxins. The goal is to keep […]