Coyotes are everywhere, even in Alaska By Ned Rozell [fusion_dropcap]L[/fusion_dropcap]ast Friday, an email popped up in all the mailboxes of people with the Geophysical Institute: Someone saw what might have been a wolf on the trails north of the UAF campus. "Please be cautious if skiing in the area." A few people responded, saying they [...]
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 [...]
Ice Worms: Enigmas of the North By Ned Rozell [fusion_dropcap]R[/fusion_dropcap]ecent research on the ice worm has shone some light on the tiny creature that appears when the sun sets on warmish glaciers. Few people have seen ice worms, but they are not mythical. Wispy and less than one inch long, ice worms live on glaciers, [...]
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 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 [...]
The Beauty of Alaska's St. Matthew Island By Ned Rozell [fusion_dropcap]S[/fusion_dropcap]T. MATTHEW ISLAND — I'm resting on a mattress of tundra plants that are growing more than 200 miles from the nearest Alaska village. While I have snuck away here to my own private ridgetop, eight other people, all scientists, are somewhere on this 30-mile-long [...]
[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, [...]
Kenai bark beetles primed for another devastating run By Ned Rozell [fusion_dropcap]E[/fusion_dropcap]d Berg has spent much of his life observing the natural happenings on a large peninsula (the Kenai) that juts from a larger peninsula (Alaska). The retired ecologist who worked many years for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has been around long enough [...]
Face of northern Alaska pitted by tundra fire By Ned Rozell [fusion_dropcap]E[/fusion_dropcap]ight summers ago, a bolt of lightning struck a dry tundra hillside in northern Alaska. Fanned by a warm wind that curled over the Brooks Range, the Anaktuvuk River fire burned for three months, leaving a scar visible from the International Space Station. The [...]
Japanese Submarines on Kiska Island in Alaska By Ned Rozell [fusion_dropcap]O[/fusion_dropcap]n a damp island far out in the Aleutian chain, a secret weapon of Japan's World War II Navy sinks into the sod. A Type-A midget submarine the shape of a killer whale was one of six the Japanese carried to Kiska Island in 1942. [...]