A Yearly Flood into the Gulf of Alaska By Ned Rozell [fusion_dropcap]S[/fusion_dropcap]atellite data has confirmed that the amount of freshwater released into the Gulf of Alaska from streams and rivers in Alaska and northern Canada is about 1.5 times what the Mississippi River dumps into the Gulf of Mexico each year. That astounding flow of [...]
Spectacled Eiders Overwintering in the Bering Sea By Ned Rozell [fusion_dropcap]L[/fusion_dropcap]ike flecks of pepper on chowder, all of the spectacled eiders on the planet are now gathered amid sea ice and steaming open leads in the Bering Sea. "It's a mass of life in this desolate area," said Matt Sexson, who once rode an icebreaker [...]
Alaska's Denali May Become A Volcano By Ned Rozell [fusion_dropcap]N[/fusion_dropcap]orth America's highest mountain should be a volcano. Denali sits about 60 miles above where the Pacific Plate grinds beneath the North American plate, as do Iliamna, Redoubt and Augustine. If you draw a line from the Aleutians to volcanic features in interior Alaska, the curve [...]
Alaska mosquitoes spreading malaria in birds By Ned Rozell [fusion_dropcap]T[/fusion_dropcap]housands of Alaska mosquitoes are now on sabbatical at the University of California, Davis. They are not pestering suntanned Californians. Researchers are analyzing their tiny corpses to see if the parasites that cause malaria are inside them. During the last two summers, Ravinder Sehgal and his [...]
Alaska's Augustine Volcano By Ned Rozell [fusion_dropcap]A[/fusion_dropcap]laska's Augustine Volcano sits alone, a 4,000-foot pyramid on its own island in Cook Inlet. Like many volcanoes, it has a tendency to become top heavy. When gravity acts on Augustine's oversteepened dome, rockslides spill into the ocean. A scientist recently found new evidence for an Augustine-generated tsunami from [...]
Alaska Scientists Launch 4 Rockets Into Aurora Borealis Filled Sky [fusion_dropcap]R[/fusion_dropcap]esearchers at the Poker Flat Research Range sent four rockets into an aurora filled sky early this morning. The four launches were successful and appear to have produced data that will help researchers understand turbulent air currents in the upper atmosphere, said Sue Mitchell a [...]
Tidal stresses and giant earthquakes By Ned Rozell [fusion_dropcap]A[/fusion_dropcap] scientist once noticed a connection between the stress that tides inflict on the planet and the number of small earthquakes that happen in some areas when that pressure is greatest. She saw a pattern to these earthquakes leading up to great tsunamis. A graduate student is [...]
The demise of Scotch Cap lighthouse By Ned Rozell [fusion_dropcap]I[/fusion_dropcap]n spring of 1946, five men stationed at the Scotch Cap lighthouse had reasons to be happy. World War II was over. They had survived. Their lonely Coast Guard assignment on Unimak Island would be over in a few months. But the lighthouse tenders would never [...]
Dinosaurs in the Wrangell Mountains By Ned Rozell [fusion_dropcap]T[/fusion_dropcap]he more Tony Fiorillo explores Alaska, the more dinosaur tracks he finds on its lonely ridgetops. The latest examples are the stone footprints of two different dinosaurs near the tiny settlement of Chisana in the Wrangell Mountains. Fiorillo, a dinosaur hunter with the Museum of Nature and [...]
Mystery wolf didn't survive in Alaska By Ned Rozell [fusion_dropcap]A[/fusion_dropcap]n Alaska wolf that disappeared about 12,000 years ago just made another appearance. No one will ever see this wolf, but scientists have found that it was different from Alaska’s wolves of today, and it was not like its Ice-Age contemporaries that lived in, among other [...]
