Climate Change

Þorsteinn Þorsteinsson looks at a moulin on the Sólheimajökull glacier on Oct. 20. A moulin, or glacier mill, is a crevasse through which water enters a glacier from the surface. (Jasz Garrett / For the Juneau Empire)

Breaching a gap of 3,296 miles: Iceland’s experience with jökulhlaups

Glacial outburst floods a threat there for more than 1,100 years — what can Juneau learn from them?

 

Vincent Colliard navigates past glacier crevasses on the Juneau Icefield during a three-week crossing with fellow polar explorer Børge Ousland as part of their Ice Legacy project, which seeks to cross the world’s 20 largest icefields to raise awareness about the Arctic and impacts climate change is causing there. (Børge Ousland / Copyright photo used with permission)

Two polar explorers add to their ‘Ice Legacy’ with perilous 20-day crossing of the Juneau Icefield

Børge Ousland and Vincent Colliard overcome collapsing snow bridges, impassible crevasses, other challenges.

 

Andy Park, a National Weather Service Juneau meteorologist, shows U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski equipment at the weather station near the Mendenhall Glacier on Friday. (Photo courtesy of Lisa Murkowski)

Assembly OKs $3M for flood study as Corps of Engineers experts arrive to consider near-term options

Two straight years of major floods “has got the attention” of federal officials, Murkowski says.

 

Vincent Colliard (left) and Børge Ousland examine a map of the Juneau Icefield at the Mendenhall Glacier Visitor Center on Friday night before giving a presentation about their planned crossing of the icefield. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)

Two famed polar explorers crossing Juneau Icefield to prove large point about shrinking glaciers

Børge Ousland and Vincent Colliard attempting to cross Earth’s 20 largest icefields in climate campaign.

Vincent Colliard (left) and Børge Ousland examine a map of the Juneau Icefield at the Mendenhall Glacier Visitor Center on Friday night before giving a presentation about their planned crossing of the icefield. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)
The sticker-covered wall outside the Prudhoe Bay General Store, a landmark in the community of Deadhorse, is seen on Aug. 22, 2018. Behind it is an oil equipment and oil-related facilities sited at Deadhorse, just outside of the Prudhoe Bay field. On Tuesday, temperatures reached 89 degrees at the industrial camp community, the highest ever recorded there and likely the highest ever recorded at this latitude anywhere in North America. (Yereth Rosen/Alaska Beacon)

Record-high temperatures bake Deadhorse and other sites on Alaska’s North Slope

A scorching hot day in Alaska’s Arctic set multiple records on Tuesday, according to the National Weather Service. At Deadhorse, the industrial camp community next… Continue reading

The sticker-covered wall outside the Prudhoe Bay General Store, a landmark in the community of Deadhorse, is seen on Aug. 22, 2018. Behind it is an oil equipment and oil-related facilities sited at Deadhorse, just outside of the Prudhoe Bay field. On Tuesday, temperatures reached 89 degrees at the industrial camp community, the highest ever recorded there and likely the highest ever recorded at this latitude anywhere in North America. (Yereth Rosen/Alaska Beacon)
“Dreaming the Future” written by Mike Tobin and directed by Donnie Gott, and performed as part of the Climate Fair for a Cool Planet at Bill Overstreet Park on Saturday, ends with actors in an electric bus driving toward the future. (Jasz Garrett / Juneau Empire)

Climate Fair for a Cool Planet cultivates a culture of change with songs and theater

Record rain in Juneau and record-high global temps are both worrisome signs, organizers say.

“Dreaming the Future” written by Mike Tobin and directed by Donnie Gott, and performed as part of the Climate Fair for a Cool Planet at Bill Overstreet Park on Saturday, ends with actors in an electric bus driving toward the future. (Jasz Garrett / Juneau Empire)
Anchorage musician Quinn Christopherson sings to the crowd during a performance as part of the final night of the Áak’w Rock music festival at Centennial Hall on Sept. 23, 2023. He is the featured musician at this year’s Climate Fair for a Cool Planet on Saturday. (Clarise Larson / Juneau Empire file photo)

Climate Fair for a Cool Planet expands at Earth’s hottest moment

Annual music and stage play gathering Saturday comes five days after record-high global temperature.

Anchorage musician Quinn Christopherson sings to the crowd during a performance as part of the final night of the Áak’w Rock music festival at Centennial Hall on Sept. 23, 2023. He is the featured musician at this year’s Climate Fair for a Cool Planet on Saturday. (Clarise Larson / Juneau Empire file photo)
The piedmont terminus of Taku Glacier, one of more than 1,000 glaciers in the Juneau Icefield in Southeast Alaska. (Bethan Davies / The New York Times)

Study finds Juneau Icefield melting at an ‘incredibly worrying’ pace

Melt rate between 2015-19 twice as fast as before 2010; nearly five times as fast compared to 1980s.

The piedmont terminus of Taku Glacier, one of more than 1,000 glaciers in the Juneau Icefield in Southeast Alaska. (Bethan Davies / The New York Times)
A 2018 view of Suicide Basin and the Mendenhall Glacier. (Photo from National Weather Service Juneau)

‘Building a weather-ready nation’: What’s new for Suicide Basin’s outburst flooding

New monitoring equipment improves forecasts after last year’s record flood, experts say at town hall.

A 2018 view of Suicide Basin and the Mendenhall Glacier. (Photo from National Weather Service Juneau)
The entrance to the Alaska Gasline Development Corp.’s Anchorage office is seen on Aug. 11, 2023. The state-owned AGDC is pushing for a massive project that would ship natural gas south from the North Slope, liquefy it and send it on tankers from Cook Inlet to Asian markets. The AGDC proposal is among many that have been raised since the 1970s to try commercialize the North Slope’s stranded natural gas. (Yereth Rosen/Alaska Beacon)

Eight young Alaskans sue to block proposed trans-Alaska natural gas pipeline

Plaintiffs cite climate change that harms their access to fish, wildlife and natural resources.

The entrance to the Alaska Gasline Development Corp.’s Anchorage office is seen on Aug. 11, 2023. The state-owned AGDC is pushing for a massive project that would ship natural gas south from the North Slope, liquefy it and send it on tankers from Cook Inlet to Asian markets. The AGDC proposal is among many that have been raised since the 1970s to try commercialize the North Slope’s stranded natural gas. (Yereth Rosen/Alaska Beacon)
The “Newtok Mothers” assembled as a panel at the Arctic Encounter Symposium on April 11 discuss the progress and challenges as village residents move from the eroding and thawing old site to a new village site called Mertarvik. Photographs showing deteriorating conditions in Newtok are displayed on a screen as the women speak at the event, held at Anchorage’s Dena’ina Civic and Convention Center. (Yereth Rosen/Alaska Beacon)

Relocation of eroding Alaska Native village seen as a test case for other threatened communities

Newtok-to-Mertarvik transformation has been decades in the making.

The “Newtok Mothers” assembled as a panel at the Arctic Encounter Symposium on April 11 discuss the progress and challenges as village residents move from the eroding and thawing old site to a new village site called Mertarvik. Photographs showing deteriorating conditions in Newtok are displayed on a screen as the women speak at the event, held at Anchorage’s Dena’ina Civic and Convention Center. (Yereth Rosen/Alaska Beacon)
A wolf carries a piece of prey while walking through a national park in Alaska. (National Park Service photo)

In an era of climate change, Alaska’s predators fall prey to politics

“This story was originally published by Grist. Sign up for Grist’s weekly newsletter here.” As spring arrived in southwestern Alaska, a handful of people from… Continue reading

A wolf carries a piece of prey while walking through a national park in Alaska. (National Park Service photo)
The result of the Wrangell landslide is seen on Nov. 20. (Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities photo)

An Alaska climate expert reviews 2023’s weather and climate highlights

While Alaska didn’t have an ex-typhoon Merbok style widespread high impact event in 2023, there was still lots to contend with. Here’s a selection, in… Continue reading

The result of the Wrangell landslide is seen on Nov. 20. (Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities photo)
Massacre Bay at Attu. the westernmost of Alaska’s Aleutian Island, is seen on Aug. 23. 2017. Waters around the Aleutian Islands recorded their highest winter temperatures since 1900, according to an annual ecosystem status report issued by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Fisheries Service. (Photo by Lisa Hupp/U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service)

Ecosystem reports show continuing effects of warming in Alaska’s marine waters

Bering Sea, Aleutian Islands and Gulf of Alaska reveal mixed signs for fish stocks.

Massacre Bay at Attu. the westernmost of Alaska’s Aleutian Island, is seen on Aug. 23. 2017. Waters around the Aleutian Islands recorded their highest winter temperatures since 1900, according to an annual ecosystem status report issued by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Fisheries Service. (Photo by Lisa Hupp/U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service)
Spawning chum salmon swim in a spring feeding the Tanana River, a tributary of the Yukon River. Crashes in Western Alaska chum and Chinook salmon runs are tied to rapid warming that is having myriad effects across the Arctic, as described in the 2023 Arctic Report Card released by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. (Photo by Seth Adams/University of Alaska Fairbanks)

Alaska salmon woes, extreme precipitation, tundra shrub growth part of Arctic transformation

NOAA’s 2023 Arctic Report Card highlights challenges posed by rapid climate change in Alaska

Spawning chum salmon swim in a spring feeding the Tanana River, a tributary of the Yukon River. Crashes in Western Alaska chum and Chinook salmon runs are tied to rapid warming that is having myriad effects across the Arctic, as described in the 2023 Arctic Report Card released by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. (Photo by Seth Adams/University of Alaska Fairbanks)
Strips of chum salmon hang on a drying rack on Aug. 22, 2007. A new study by federal and state biologists identies marine heat waves in the Bering Sea and Gulf of Alaska as the likely culprit in the recent crashes of Western Alaska chum salmon runs. (Photo by S.Zuray / U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service)

Study points to concurrent marine heat waves as culprit in Western Alaska chum declines

Successive marine heat waves appear to have doomed much of the chum salmon swimming in the ocean waters off Alaska in the past year and… Continue reading

Strips of chum salmon hang on a drying rack on Aug. 22, 2007. A new study by federal and state biologists identies marine heat waves in the Bering Sea and Gulf of Alaska as the likely culprit in the recent crashes of Western Alaska chum salmon runs. (Photo by S.Zuray / U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service)
University of Alaska environmental science professor Eran Hood (foreground right) and National Weather Service Juneau hydrologist Aaron Jacobs discuss their hope of renaming Suicide Basin to Kʼóox Ḵaadí Basin, a Tlingit name referring to a small weasel-like mammal in the area — during a presentation Friday at the University of Alaska Southeast. They also discussed the basin’s history, a record flood from it that occurred this summer and the possibility of future such floods. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)
Video

Experts seek to rename Suicide Basin to Kʼóox Ḵaadí Basin; warn its deadly flood threat rising

History, future and monitoring of ice dam that caused record flooding this year focus of UAS event.

University of Alaska environmental science professor Eran Hood (foreground right) and National Weather Service Juneau hydrologist Aaron Jacobs discuss their hope of renaming Suicide Basin to Kʼóox Ḵaadí Basin, a Tlingit name referring to a small weasel-like mammal in the area — during a presentation Friday at the University of Alaska Southeast. They also discussed the basin’s history, a record flood from it that occurred this summer and the possibility of future such floods. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)
Video
Rafters navigate the Mendenhall River in July of 2021. (Photo by John Harley)

Sustainable Alaska: Adventures in a changing climate

It’s difficult to quantify and rank the threats of climate change — how do you weigh the complete collapse of a Yukon salmon run against… Continue reading

Rafters navigate the Mendenhall River in July of 2021. (Photo by John Harley)
A person walks across the dock at St. Paul Harbor, Thursday, June 22, 2023, in Kodiak. Alaska fishermen will be able to harvest red king crab, the largest and most lucrative of all the Bering Sea crab species, for the first time in two years, offering a slight reprieve to the beleaguered fishery beset by low numbers likely exacerbated by climate change. (AP Photo/Joshua A. Bickel, File)

Alaska fishermen will be allowed to harvest lucrative red king crab in the Bering Sea

Catch allowed after two canceled seasons; snow crab fishery to remain closed for second year.

A person walks across the dock at St. Paul Harbor, Thursday, June 22, 2023, in Kodiak. Alaska fishermen will be able to harvest red king crab, the largest and most lucrative of all the Bering Sea crab species, for the first time in two years, offering a slight reprieve to the beleaguered fishery beset by low numbers likely exacerbated by climate change. (AP Photo/Joshua A. Bickel, File)
Simple weatherization techniques, like improving insulation and plugging up gaps in your home, can help homeowners lower their energy costs. Alaska Heat Smart, offer free home heating assessments, which analyze homes and their energy use to create a report about potential heat pump installation options, and weatherization suggestions. (Bethany Goodrich/ Sustainable Southeast Partnership)

Exploring needs and opportunities on anniversary of Inflation Reduction Act

Tips on using federal and regional incentives for a clean energy future for Southeast Alaskans.

Simple weatherization techniques, like improving insulation and plugging up gaps in your home, can help homeowners lower their energy costs. Alaska Heat Smart, offer free home heating assessments, which analyze homes and their energy use to create a report about potential heat pump installation options, and weatherization suggestions. (Bethany Goodrich/ Sustainable Southeast Partnership)