Scientists solve mystery of mass coho salmon deaths

Scientists solve mystery of mass coho salmon deaths. The killer? A chemical from car tires When officials in Seattle spent millions of dollars restoring the creeks along Puget Sound — tending to the vegetation, making the stream beds less muddy, building better homes for fish — they were thrilled to see [...]

Alaska Hit By Major Earthquake, Again

Alaska Hit By Major Earthquake, Again By Ned Rozell What’s this? Another aftershock? That’s hundreds now, each more faint than the last. Sorry, I guess I’ve moved on. I should pay more attention, given that you - a 7.9 deep in the seafloor not far from Kodiak - are the most powerful earthquake on the [...]

California Governor Brown Stops Off In Alaska To Talk Climate

California Governor Brown Stops Off In Alaska To Talk Climate By Ned Rozell A few Alaska researchers recently accepted a surprise assignment of giving Jerry Brown a tour of the Seward Peninsula. The California governor was stopping in Nome on his way to a meeting in Russia. The 79-year-old environmentalist and leader of a state [...]

The most valuable wild salmon fishery in the world could become a mine under Trump

(CNN) This year, 56 million sockeye salmon swam hundreds of miles from the ocean toward the rivers and streams of the Bristol Bay watershed in southwest Alaska. Many that escaped fishermen and bears leapt over waterfalls and used a mysterious combination of the Earth's magnetic field and their own sensory memories to locate the exact [...]

NOAA-trained team hopeful strategic cut freed an entangled humpback near Tracy Arm

From a NOAA Press release: NOAA-trained team hopeful strategic cut freed an entangled humpback near Tracy Arm NOAA Fisheries marine mammal entanglement experts are hopeful that a humpback whale is free, after a successful operation to cut the anchor line it was stuck in Sunday afternoon near the mouth of Tracy Arm. The humpback had [...]

NOAA Fisheries finds harbor seals in Iliamna Lake not warranted for listing under ESA

NOAA Fisheries finds harbor seals in Iliamna Lake not warranted for listing under ESA November 16, 2016 NOAA Fisheries/Dave Withrow NOAA Fisheries concluded that the listing of Pacific harbor seals in Iliamna Lake, Alaska as an endangered or threatened species under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) is not warranted. The seals do not constitute a [...]

Yukon River breaking up smoothly this year

Yukon River breaking up smoothly this year By Ned Rozell: [fusion_dropcap]C[/fusion_dropcap]IRCLE — As the pilot of a chartered Cessna 206 curved in for a landing above the Yukon River, his passengers squinted at white river ice that clung to the south bank near town. Chocolate brown open water filled river channels both upstream and downstream [...]

Harmful Toxins Detected in Alaska Marine Mammals

Harmful Toxins Detected in Alaska Marine Mammals From a NOAA Press Release: [fusion_dropcap]T[/fusion_dropcap]oxins from harmful algae are present in Alaskan marine food webs in high enough concentrations to be detected in marine mammals from Southeast Alaska to the Arctic Ocean, including whales, walruses, sea lions, seals, porpoises and sea otters, according to The next link/button [...]

Alaska Polar Bears Walking a Treadmill of Ice

Alaska Polar Bears Walking a Treadmill of Ice By Ned Rozell Stronger winds and thinner ice are forcing Alaska polar bears to work harder to remain in Alaska, according to scientists who have studied increased movements of both sea ice and bears. "There's an energetic cost to stay in Alaska," said David Douglas of the [...]

Measuring the highest peaks in the Brooks Range of Alaska

[fusion_dropcap]U.[/fusion_dropcap]S. Geological Survey topographic maps give you a choice on the height of Mount Isto. Depending on what map scale you choose, the mountain in the Brooks Range is either higher or lower than 9,000 feet. Using a new combination of techniques, an Alaska researcher has crowned Mt. Isto the highest peak in America's arctic, [...]