An international team of scientists who searched out specimens from museums and remote Arctic islands has identified a rare new species of beaked whale that ranges from northern Japan across the Pacific Ocean to Alaska’s Aleutian Islands. Japanese whalers call the enigmatic black whales “karasu,” the Japanese word for raven. The new species is darker […]
In a new study by NOAA Fisheries, scientists looked at 347 Alaska communities to assess their dependence on marine resources and socio-economic well-being. This is the first time that NOAA Fisheries has used “quantitative” indicators for this type of assessment in Alaska. Scientists hope to provide marine resource managers with a scientifically sound rapid assessment […]
New evidence for frequent large tsunamis at a remote island near Dutch Harbor, Alaska provides geological data to aid tsunami hazard preparedness efforts around the Pacific Rim. Recent fieldwork in Alaska’s Aleutian Islands suggests that a presently “creeping” section of the Aleutian Subduction Zone fault could potentially generate an earthquake great enough to send a […]
On a clear day last spring, fire sizzled on water at Poker Flat Research Range in the Chatanika River valley. There, scientists were spilling crude oil in a manmade water basin and torching it from above. A series of similar test burns were part of a team effort between university scientists and researchers with the […]