This Day in Alaska History-October 2nd, 1911
If a lake drains in northern Alaska . . .
“Lakes seem, on the scale of years or of human life spans, permanent features of landscapes, but they are geologically transitory, usually born of catastrophes, to mature and die quietly.” — George Evelyn Hutchinson, “A Treatise on Limnology,” 1957. Harry Potter Lake did not die quietly. Water in the basin on Alaska’s North Slope cut […]
Plan to Discharge Fukushima Water Into Pacific Gets OK From Regulators
The discharge could release a number of radioactive isotopes into the Pacific Ocean, critics say. Despite outcry from local leaders and the Japanese public and warnings from environmental campaigners, Japan’s Nuclear Regulation Authority on Wednesday gave its approval for a plan to discharge contaminated water from Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant into the Pacific Ocean, a move […]
Alaska’s Water Crop is a Natural Resource
As much of Alaska’s landmass crosses the magical temperature threshold that turns ice and snow into water, it’s time to consider the state’s richness in a resource more essential to humans than oil or gas. Clear as gin, brown as iced tea or tinted aquamarine by glacial dust, Alaska’s freshwater supply is so abundant the […]