A respiratory pathogen once thought to only affect sheep and goats has been found in Alaska caribou and moose. The bacterium, called mycoplasma ovipneumoniae, or "Movi," has also been implicated in the death of an emaciated caribou from the Fortymile herd last month.

This comes just days after other reports of about 60 dead ice seals found from Kotlik to Kotzebue and Kivalina to Point Hope.

Snow is melting sooner and coming in later on the North Slope, and that, in turn, is having an affect on other ecological variables.

The Arctic Sounder - Serving the Northwest Arctic and the North Slope

Aerial surveys this September and October show the bowheads aren’t where they usually are.

A tundra fire has burned nearly 2,000 acres on the Selawik National Wildlife Refuge over the past week.

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.

The school site is about six miles northeast of town. If constructed, it would serve as the terminus of the evacuation route and as a modern shelter capable of housing the entire community.

The roughly 300 miles of hard-packed snow roads were constructed under the Community Winter Access Trails (CWAT) project, headed by the North Slope Borough.

Of the 89 wildfires burning across Alaska right now, several are in the northern part of the state, either in the Arctic or near its southern boundary.

About 20 to 30 medium-sized birds with black backs and white bellies were found spaced out along the entire beach of the island.

The flooding was caused by a weather system that moved up to the Bering Sea from the tropics, and raised water levels and dumped rain across much of western Alaska.

The recent storm brought water levels up to the lagoon bank by town. Along the Chukchi Coast, storm surge and tides were expected to raise sea levels four to six feet above the normal high tide line, the weather service noted.

Sixty years ago there were 12 of these such cellars in Kaktovik.Today there is only one left. All the other family cellars have been flooded and have collapsed.

The Arctic Sounder - Serving the Northwest Arctic and the North Slope

Cleanup and recovery from the recent storm that battered the North Slope coastline may carry a price tag exceeding $10 million.

Dozens of walruses were found dead earlier this month at their seasonal haulout near Point Lay. The findings came just about a day after locals said they saw an airplane they believed to be flying inappropriately over the herd, which comes to shore each year once the sea ice recedes past the continental shelf and it becomes too deep for them to feed.

For one day last week, the village of Deering needed to use a boat to get to the airport.

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

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.