The Bering Sea has noted an abundance of foreign debris washing up on our shores. Communities like Unalakleet, Gambell, Savoonga and Nome have all reported and documented hoards of this debris.
The last few weeks have seen another alarming uptick in the number of dead, emaciated seabirds found washed up on the shores in the Bering Sea.
The yellow tinting in ocean water has been identified by the Tanana Valley Clinic as spruce pollen, but it remains to be seen why the pollen counts are so high this year.
Ocean water may be tinted yellow from pollen.
"We have not seen this on a wide-spread occasion in a number of years. They are nesting in sea weed, and making it troublesome to go to the beach." Jacob Martin
Even if a storm does hit Western Alaska, thicker sea ice will always be more resistant than last year’s ice was at this time, a climatologist says.
Severe erosion at the Nome River mouth has cost Rita Hukill and her family most of their land at their campsite at Fort Davis.
More than a month’s worth of rain has soaked parts of the state in just a few days, setting records.
Heavy rain and coastal flood warnings threatened boats near Kotzebue, caused flooding at the old shipyard in St. Michael, and brought high water to the Eastern Norton Sound as well as several rivers near Nome.
Every year since 2015, the Bering Sea has melted out earlier than in every year before 2015. If heat is killing animals, scientists have yet to pin down exactly how it is doing so.
The rusty tussock moth has invaded the tundra in the Nome area, an infestation of the species not seen this far north before.
In July, Norton Sound water surface temperatures reached 68.2 DEG F on 7/10 and 69.3 DEG F on 7/11, which is about 17 degrees above average. The water was warm enough to comfortably swim in.
Unusually high abundance of rusty tussock moth caterpillars in the Nome area.
Unusually high abundance of caterpillars in the Nome River Valley.
When young Jack James looked out the window of his home at Anvil Mountain on June 7, he saw a red squirrel.
Near Nome, reports of seal pups and walrus calves hauled out on beaches are piling up at an unprecedented rate.
The appearance of walrus on the ice off Nome added some excitement to the onset of spring.
“It started breaking into pieces beneath us,” said Phillip Rode.
Warm ocean temperatures are keeping ice thin, which become easily moved by the wind. This ice movement separates commercial and subsistence crabbers from their gear, and have led to the loss of both crabbing and mining gear.
Back-to-back blizzards with tons of snow and high winds have hammered Nome since late January and the accumulation of a total of 76 inches of snow is now beginning to take a toll on residents.
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