Utqiaġvik

The highly pathogenic influenza that just claimed its first known polar bear victim continues to circulate in the world’s wild populations.

The storm brought winds up to 40 mph to communities from Wainwright to Kaktovik, weather officials said. High waves damaged a road in Utqiagvik, affecting around five houses, residents reported.

About five beluga carcasses were left at the NARL Boat Dock on Aug. 8, causing smell and potential wildlife hazard in the area. The bones were cleaned the same day but the city reminded residents they can get help with cleanup after susbsitence hunting.

The average temperature in July was 48.4 degrees — 6.7 degrees above normal, with 11 hot days in a row. Such extreme warmth can accelerate the greening and permafrost thaw on the North Slope.

A wayward walrus calf, just one month old, was rescued from the North Slope. Workers on the North Slope spotted the baby walrus on tundra, about four miles inland from the Beaufort Sea.

Object shot down by US Air Force, ordered by Biden, over North slope of Alaska.

Backyard Buoys project will give residents real time data such as wave height to whaling crews and communities throughout the North Slope. A system of buoys will be displaced across the slope this summer.

The lack of winter sea ice is keeping temperatures warm. Climatologist Rick Thoman says it's a "very clear climate change signal."

There are new signs that killer whales, which are swimming farther north and staying for longer periods of the year in Arctic waters, are increasingly preying on Alaska’s bowhead whales. A newly published study found that 2019, an especially warm year in the region, also seems to have been an especially dangerous year for bowheads.

Iñupiat communities have been looking for alternatives to traditional ice cellars. Some households switched to using manmade freezers, which can be effective but they affect the taste and the quality of the food, Nelson said. Additionally, power outages, frequent in the villages, can make this storage method unreliable. So the search is on for creative ideas to preserve traditional ice cellars.

Forecasters say they are expecting significant coastal erosion from Utqiagvik to Unalakleet from the second severe-weather event to hit the region in three weeks.

Officials are still examining the substance in a lab to determine what it is, but DEC suspects it’s black tar or asphalt.

The open ocean off Utqiagvik in fall and early winter is evidence of climate change. Remarkably, bowhead whales appear to be thriving, although there are new challenges. Kidney-worm infections have been detected in bowheads, possibly brought by other species of whales coming north. And then there are the killer whales, a natural predators of bowheads now venturing north.

Alaska Department of Fish and Game records show two other unusually wayward moose hunts: One in 2016 taken north of Teshekpuk Lake along the Arctic coast, and another in 2014 on the Kokolik River near Point Lay.

“People assume that we’re entering this new Arctic, when in reality we have faced adversity for thousands of years. We’ve always been able to adapt and be resilient.

After 100 highs, Utqiagvik marks record low temperature

Winters are getting shorter and summers are getting longer, a new comparison shows. In most regions of the U.S. and Canada, summer is about 6-10% longer and winter is about 7-11% shorter. In Alaska, winters are about 30% shorter than they were just a lifetime ago.

The United States’ northernmost city plummeted to a bone-chilling minus 20 degrees Wednesday morning, beating out the previous daily record set in 1973.

A growing number of Arctic underground cellars are being rendered unreliable as global warming and other modern factors force changes to an ancient way of life.

It's been a challenging year for whalers in Utqiagvik. Crews started going out in September, but found the bowheads weren't appearing in their usual concentrations in the waters closer to shore. On the water Nov. 16 Panigiuq Crew landed the first whale of the season for Utqiagvik, later than many people can remember ever bringing one in before.