Research aims for baseline information on whale behavior and biology in absence of vessels. This is a collaborative effort with the University of Alaska Southeast, University of Alaska Fairbanks, NOAA Fisheries Alaska Regional Office and Alaska Fisheries Science Center/Auke Bay Laboratories and the Pacific States Marine Fisheries Commission. It’s an unusual year out on […]
An innovative scientific approach to survey Alaska pollock this year. Scientists are capitalizing on existing technological capabilities and partnerships to collect fisheries data. This will help fill the information gap resulting from the cancellation of FY20 ship-based surveys due to the COVID-19 pandemic. NOAA Fisheries plans to use autonomous surface vehicles to collect some […]
President Donald Trump’s suggestion that disinfectants could be used to treat coronavirus patients is triggering alarm among health experts, and warnings from a maker of the sanitizing solutions. Trump said at his regular White House coronavirus media briefing Thursday that scientists should investigate inserting disinfectants into patients’ bodies to cure COVID-19, the disease caused […]
On the cusp of Interior Alaska’s springtime, Melinda Webster will not experience it this year. She’ll miss most of summer, too. Webster will soon head north of Earth’s landmasses, to spend the next half year cradled in ice. Webster, a sea-ice specialist at the University of Alaska Fairbanks Geophysical Institute, will in a […]
Across much of Alaska, permafrost is thawing. In most locations of interior and south Alaska, what permafrost exists is protected by the ecosystems around it. Trees, moss and peat shade the ground from summer heat and help slow thaw. At the same time, scientists predict that wildfire seasons in Alaska will increase in duration and […]
For the 20th straight year, in December 2019 I carried a notebook into the halls of the Fall Meeting of the American Geophysical Union. Most of those years the conference was in San Francisco (as it was this year). Back in 1999, when one billion fewer people lived on Earth, the 5,000 scientists who […]
When my boss, Sue Mitchell, was in Tibet recently, she asked a local guide if the glaciers there were shrinking. The guide told her no, the glaciers were fine. When she returned to Alaska, Mitchell asked the same question of glaciologist Martin Truffer, who also works at UAF’s Geophysical Institute. He said no, Himalaya glaciers […]
Photo: An atmospheric river that transported immense amounts of water vapor from the tropics to Southcentral Alaska in November 2018. NOAA image Nome, August 2019: More than 2 inches of rainfall falls in one day, setting a new record. Thompson Pass, December 2017: 1.7 inches of snow piles up in 10 minutes. Seven feet of […]
Elders, Hunters, and Scientists Agree on Climate Impacts to Food and Water FORT YUKON, AK—Indigenous leaders from throughout the United States gathered last week to talk about the climate crisis and its impact on food security during a three-day Indigenous Climate Summit in Fort Yukon. “Our traditional hunters and scientists tell us that the climate […]