Dan Gillikin surveyed the view from his front window and didn’t like what he saw. The Aniak River, which runs alongside his house, was a jumble of car-sized chunks of ice. Breakup on the nearby Kuskokwim River had pushed a frozen snarl down the Aniak, making it impassable. “I’m basically looking at Armageddon right […]
The University of Alaska Fairbanks Geophysical Institute is offering free public tours this summer to showcase some of its science facilities. Two different guided tours are available. One consists of a visit to four sites in the Geophysical Institute home base in the Elvey Building on UAF’s Troth Yeddha’ Campus. The other is an […]
The population of a plump northern Alaska shorebird weighing just over 2 ounces has been declining for decades. Reversing that decline will require additional conservation efforts at some of the birds’ East Asia wintering grounds, according to new research. Development that has replaced coastal wetlands is considered a major factor in the decline of the […]
Alaska’s Cook Inlet was home to nearly 1,300 beluga whales in the late 1970s, but today the population hovers around 300. Despite almost two decades of recovery work, the whales aren’t bouncing back. The Cook Inlet belugas are likely struggling under multiple pressures, including increasing human noise. Researchers are working on deciphering whale-whale communication to better account for […]