The North Slope Borough will have access to help with recovery efforts for the autumn storm that pummeled the coastline earlier this year, causing more than a million dollars worth of damage.

Danny Foster and Mike Hawley of Kivalina were ice fishing outside of town when they came upon something they’d never seen before. Incidentally, similar ice balls or ice eggs were reported on an ocean beach in Finland on the same day.

The storm began Sept. 28 and continued for several days. A handful of Utqiaġvik’s roads were damaged or destroyed, and the community's freshwater source was nearly compromised.

As of Tuesday, two new fires had started in the Galena Zone, bringing the total number of fires in the area to 35. To date this year, wildland fires have burned more than 44,000 acres in the region.

While industry has had to adapt to changes, many locals are still struggling to find a new normal amidst the shifting seasons.

With the average temperature hovering north of negative this winter, Utqiaġvik and much of the Arctic once again broke records with a season that didn't match up to historic expectations.

"Yesterday we came over to do an assessment of the high-water flood storm," said Northwest Arctic Borough Deputy Director of Public Services Dickie Moto, who grew up in Deering. "They lost a lot of ground on the front and on the back side of town because of the high water and rough seas.

Environmental and economic changes could make it easier for non-native plants and animals to gain a foothold in the North.

Air emissions from Prudhoe Bay-area oil fields can have a big influence on the particles in the air in Utqiaġvik, the town formerly known as Barrow.

An enzyme protects squirrels during and after hibernation, and something similar could help people whose hearts shut down, a new study finds.

Arctic sea ice last month reached its greatest extent for the season, and it was the lowest in the satellite record. Now researchers say that ice is also younger and thinner than it once was.

Interior Alaska’s hot and dry summer of 2013, coupled with an invasion of insect pests, has taken a steep toll on the region’s birch trees, experts say.

Vitamin D deficiencies have long been a concern in high latitudes because sunlight — which stimulates its production in the body — is scarce in winter months.

The animals didn't necessarily become sick, researchers said, but were encountering the new pathogens much more frequently.

Disaster funds are reserved for single events, and storms that collectively cause much damage aren't often individually large enough to count as disasters.

Elodea, a fast-growing leafy plant, is now in a roadside ditch at the marsh, and a response plan is in the works.