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

October began with "an explosion" of COVID-19 positive cases despite efforts to tighten and extend restrictions. In the first five days 14 residents on the North Slope and 23 in the Northwest Arctic, upping active caseloads in each borough to 40 and 45, respectively.

The two men, who were both part of an active whaling crew, were in one of the boats on a towline, towing a whale to shore, when their boat flipped, according to fellow whalers who were there when it happened.

A big cruise vessel has anchored up along the banks of the Kola Bay as the number of infected workers in Novatek's Belokamenka project continues to grow. The construction site operated by natural gas company Novatek continues to be the hotbed of COVID-19 cases in the Russian north.

The official

Following a 2008 symposium on indigenous arctic languages in Tromsø, Norway, the Indigenous Permanent Participants of the Arctic Council launched the Arctic Languages Vitality initiative under the auspices of the Council’s Sustainable Development Working Group.

The Finnish Meteorological Institute has issued a warning of very cold temperatures from Monday afternoon to Wednesday morning, February 26 to 28.

Looking at a map of Arctic Canada, it seems there are literally thousands of lakes and rivers, yet many Arctic communities are facing water shortages or threats of shortages to come. Iqaluit, capital of Nunavut Territory, will be facing that problem in the very near future.

Andrew Medeiros (PhD)

The North Water Polynya, between Nunavut and Greenland, is one of the Arctic’s most biologically productive areas — and an important part of the food supply for nearby Inuit communities.

T. gondii infection in people was found to be associated with drinking water from home water tanks where T. gondii parasites remained, clinging to the walls—so cleaning of these water tanks would be one way to reduce infection.

Eastern Finnmark, on the coast of the Barents Sea has always proved to be the cleanest of all areas of testing in the North Atlantic. But not so any more.

Video footage shows a 30m crane tower being toppled by the severe weather in Krakow.

Weatherwatch A recent heatwave in Siberia’s frozen wastes has resulted in outbreaks of deadly anthrax and a series of violent explosions

"In Bolivia, Peru and Ecuador disputes over water shortages are part of a wider fight for equal access and shared responsibility"

The sick are said to have been in contact with the carcass of a cow suspected to have been infected. It is the first time a human being is succumbing to anthrax in the area.

An estimated 11,000 people have been affected by heavy rain this year and 1,000 hectares of crops have been destroyed

The tide of mud and clay destroyed as many as 14 houses in Ask in the municipality of Gjerdrum, some 30km north of Oslo. Hundreds were evacuated and police said 21 people living in the affected area were still unaccounted for. The landslide area is known for its "quick clay", a form of clay that can behave more like a liquid than a solid when disturbed. It is thought heavy rain in recent days may have caused the soil to shift.

Deadly blaze that killed four people and forced evacuation of 10 villages is now close to being under control

Eutrophication — excess nutrients in water — and environmental changes were identified as the cause of the harmful algal blooms in the fresh aquatic system of the Achencoil.

Climate change is keeping temperatures higher in the fall, setting up browntail-moth caterpillars to boom in summer. Their hairs are barbed and hollow and there’s a reservoir of a toxin inside.

Doctors urge ministers to act as 1,320 killed by asthma in England and Wales last year