Deaths of large whales in Gulf of Alaska an unusual mortality event - NOAA Via NOAA press release [fusion_dropcap]N[/fusion_dropcap]OAA is declaring the recent deaths of 30 large whales in the western Gulf of Alaska an "unusual mortality event," triggering a focused, expert investigation into the cause. An unusual mortality event is a stranding event that [...]
A float down Alaska's Tanana River By Ned Rozell [fusion_dropcap]T[/fusion_dropcap]his is not Henry Allen's Tanana River. Nor is it the Trail River of people living here thousands of years before the nineteenth-century government explorer struggled his way down the Tanana. But it seems close. I'm on a family trip down the wide brown river, starting [...]
NOAA Fisheries rescue harbor seal pup near Juneau Alaska: [fusion_dropcap]J[/fusion_dropcap]uneau, AK — An orphaned harbor seal pup is in stable condition at the Alaska SeaLife Center (ASLC) in Seward, after being picked up from a Douglas Island beach earlier this week. When NOAA Fisheries marine mammal experts received a call late Monday morning from two [...]
Ancient Northern Pike Found in Alaska Lake Mud By Ned Rozell [fusion_dropcap]W[/fusion_dropcap]hile slicing a cylinder of mud he pulled from an Interior Alaska lake, Matthew Wooller ran into a snag. The wire he was using to cut the mud stopped when it hit something solid. He grabbed a knife, carved around the obstruction, and made [...]
Water Fountains in the Tundra By Ned Rozell [fusion_dropcap]W[/fusion_dropcap]hile tightroping on tussock heads in a bog off the Chandalar River, two companions and I heard a waterfall. Strange. Looking through binoculars, we saw a knee-high fountain of clear water in the tundra. The flow was as thick as your leg. We squished over to investigate. [...]
The Northern Boreal Bird Nursery By Ned Rozell [fusion_dropcap]T[/fusion_dropcap]wo-hundred miles straight north of my home in Fairbanks, I'm at the northern edge of a forest that carpets the continent all the way to Labrador. Here for a meteorite search with an astronomer, I have helicoptered into a place humming with life. This dark spot on [...]
Denali plants more diverse up high By Ned Rozell [fusion_dropcap]W[/fusion_dropcap]hen Carl Roland was hiking the high country in an Alaska national park not long ago, he thought the landscape looked different than any park in the Lower 48. The alpine zone seemed to be carpeted with more plant species than the much-larger forests and wetlands [...]
Rocks from space in Alaska backcountry By Ned Rozell [fusion_dropcap]O[/fusion_dropcap]n February 26 at 1:06 p.m., someone in northern Alaska may have seen a torch of light in the cold daytime sky. On that afternoon, satellites detected a meteoric fireball headed toward Earth. An asteroid six feet in diameter penetrated the atmosphere at 13 miles per [...]
Anatomy of the worst fire year By Ned Rozell [fusion_dropcap]I[/fusion_dropcap]n a gorgeous warm May this year, we have not yet sniffed the bitter scent of flaming spruce. When we do, many of us will think back to a year that still haunts us. In summer 2004, a Vermont-sized patch of Alaska burned in wildfires. That [...]
Mosquito Season Starts In Alaska By Ned Rozell [fusion_dropcap]S[/fusion_dropcap]luggish mosquitoes, sprung from the leaves where they overwintered. Moths and butterflies flitting the fields and south-facing slopes. Beetles skittering along in pinstripe-grooved exoskeletons. One of the 17 trillion mosquitoes,Photo by Ned Rozell How many insects are stirring on the surface of Alaska? That's a [...]