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 […]