Lack of sea ice near Savoonga, Alaska and Lower 48 weather

Lack of sea ice near Savoonga, Alaska and Lower 48 weather By Ned Rozell [fusion_dropcap]L[/fusion_dropcap]ast month, villagers in Savoonga landed a bowhead whale. Before 2017, in every January people can remember, sea ice surrounded St. Lawrence Island, locking it in for the winter. Boat-launching and whale-taking were not possible. Now, the disc of ice chunks [...]

Living On An Alaska Glacier

Living On An Alaska Glacier By Ned Rozell [fusion_dropcap]C[/fusion_dropcap]ANWELL GLACIER — This summer, Sam Herreid has slept for 12 nights on these rocks that ride slowly downhill on a mass of ice. For a few days at a time during the last six summers, the 28-year-old has lived on this ephemeral landscape in the eastern [...]

Evidence Of What Killed St. Paul Island Wooly Mammoths

Evidence Of What Killed St. Paul Island Wooly Mammoths By Ned Rozell [fusion_dropcap]U[/fusion_dropcap]sing the tiniest of clues, scientists have determined what probably killed the woolly mammoths of St. Paul Island — thirst. “It looks like climate did them in,” said Matthew Wooller, the UAF scientist who in 2013 went to St. Paul as part of [...]

Many Signs of Alaska’s Climate Change

Many Signs of Alaska's Climate Change By Ned Rozell [fusion_dropcap]I[/fusion_dropcap]n anticipation of an arctic science conference happening next month in Fairbanks, an editor asked me to write a column on climate change in the north. I told her climate stability would be the bigger story, since basswood trees used to grow in Fairbanks and redwoods [...]

Sea Ice at the Top of the World

Sea Ice at the Top of the World By Ned Rozell [fusion_dropcap]O[/fusion_dropcap]n a February day long ago, a family living in a sod hut near the Arctic Ocean saw blocks of sea ice bulldozing their way onto shore. Winds shoved more ice until the mass towered above them and started dripping water through a ventilation [...]

A Yearly Flood into the Gulf of Alaska

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 [...]

How Many Glaciers Are There in Alaska?

How many glaciers are there in Alaska? There's no easy answer By Ned Rozell [fusion_dropcap]N[/fusion_dropcap]ot long ago, a glaciologist wrote that the number of glaciers in Alaska "is estimated at (greater than) 100,000." That fuzzy number, perhaps written in passive voice for a reason, might be correct. But it depends upon how you count. Another [...]

The Number of Alaska Glaciers is Everchanging

The Number of Alaska Glaciers is Everchanging By Ned Rozell [fusion_dropcap]A[/fusion_dropcap] glaciologist once wrote that the number of glaciers in Alaska "is estimated at (greater than) 100,000." That fuzzy number, perhaps written in passive voice for a reason, might be correct. But it depends upon how you count. Another glaciologist saw an example of the [...]

Why Was Interior Alaska Green During the Last Ice Age?

Why was interior Alaska green during the last ice age? By Ned Rozell [fusion_dropcap]D[/fusion_dropcap]uring our planet's most recent cold period, a slab of ice smothered Manhattan. Canada looked like Antarctica but with no protruding mountains. When the last glacial maximum peaked about 20,000 years ago, most of the continent - from the Arctic Ocean to [...]

Glaciers no obstacle for Copper River and Northwestern Railway

Glaciers no obstacle for Copper River and Northwestern Railway By Ned Rozell [fusion_dropcap]H[/fusion_dropcap]ome of the trans-Alaska oil pipeline, Alaska has been the setting for a few epic engineering battles rendered against nature. The Million Dollar Bridge, standing almost intact on the lower Copper River, is a reminder of another improbable Alaska construction project. Completed in [...]