A 4-year bioacoustic study of marine mammals in the northern Bering Sea will help scientists track the impacts of global climate change on Arctic ecosystems. Researchers with WCS (Wildlife Conservation Society), Columbia University, Southall Environmental Associates, and the University of Washington wanted to understand how seasonal variation in sea surface temperatures and sea ice affect […]
Tag: Arctic
I’ve Seen the Many Wonders of Arctic Alaska. We Must Keep Our Protected Areas Free From Drilling.
On a July day several years ago, I sat on the spine of a hill in the northern foothills of the Brooks Range on Alaska’s North Slope and watched 15,000 caribou stream around me, some just a few yards away. I could hear their clicking feet, their untroubled breathing, and their rough coughs so closely […]
Thousands of Dead Seabirds Washed Up on Alaska’s Shores Again This Year
The first reports came in May. They were sparse, but enough to put seabird-monitoring coordinator Hillary Burgess on edge. “Here we go again,” she thought. By late June, almost every time she checked her inbox, yet more news of washed-up seabirds on the Alaskan coast greeted her. Volunteers had collected nearly 9,200 seabird carcasses by early […]
Trump Administration Plans to Open Up the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge For Oil Drilling
The White House is in talks to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling. The area has been under protection for decades. Under the Bureau of Land Management will offer leases to companies in areas where threatened animal species, including polar bears and caribous, have their home. The area is part of legislation […]
Orca ‘apocalypse’: half of killer whales doomed to die from pollution
At least half of the world’s killer whale populations are doomed to extinction due to toxic and persistent pollution of the oceans, according to a major new study. Although the poisonous chemicals, PCBs, have been banned for decades, they are still leaking into the seas. They become concentrated up the food chain; as a result, […]
POLL: Should Trump’s officials allow ‘shaker machines’ to search the arctic refuge for oil?
The Trump administration has announced it is considering a proposal to conduct seismic testing for oil and gas in the Arctic national wildlife refuge, the largest such preserve in the US. If the plan moves forward, vehicles with “shakers” – diesel-powered equipment that sends tremors through the landscape – will be deployed along Alaska’s northern […]
Bear-ly Surviving…
No Arctic ice, no bears. Somewhere above the 80th parallel north, Arctic Ocean. Dana Allen Photo Safari with Journeys Unforgettable Photographic Safaris
POLL: Should drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge be banned?
For thousands of years, the Porcupine caribou herd has migrated to give birth and nurse their young in the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. The route they take varies every year, but it takes them thousands of miles, making it the longest migration of any land mammal on earth. The spectacle of […]