Increasing incidents of wildfires in the Arctic are not only thawing permafrost but changing the entire underlying structure of the region.
Alaska
Posted inNews
What a Gold Mining Mishap Taught Us About Rivers
Miners in Alaska rerouted a river to search for gold. One hundred years later, the new channel is teaching scientists how rivers shape Earth.
Posted inEditors' Highlights
Thermospheric Cross-Polar Winds Observed to Unexpectedly Stall
Observations of cross-polar cap neutral winds near 240 km altitude stalling over short distances in the midnight sector near Poker Flat, Alaska, challenge the standard view of high-latitude dynamics.
Posted inFeatures
The Changing Climate’s Snowball Effect
Shrinking snowpack, thawing permafrost, and shifting precipitation patterns have widespread consequences. Can new technologies—and public policies—help communities adapt?
Posted inNews
Testing on the Tundra: NASA Snow Program Heads North
With infrastructure, experience, and a slice of the world’s largest snow biomes, Alaska is an essential research destination for NASA’s multiyear SnowEx campaign.
Posted inNews
Laser Flashes Shed Light on a Changing Arctic
An ongoing project in northern Alaska is using pulses of laser light to monitor anthropogenic activity, ice quakes, and marine wildlife.
Posted inScience Updates
The Imminent Calving Retreat of Taku Glacier
Long an anomaly among glaciers, advancing while most others shrank, Taku Glacier is starting to succumb to climate change, offering an unprecedented look at the onset of tidewater glacier retreat.
Posted inScience Updates
Ancient Rivers and Critical Minerals in Eastern Alaska
Fieldwork is revealing a history of landscape evolution over the past 5 million years that links climate change and river capture to critical mineral resources across the Alaska-Yukon border.
Posted inEditors' Highlights
First Field Observations of Ocean Melting a Tidewater Glacier
Using autonomous kayaks, researchers carried out measurements of water properties near the terminus of LeConte Glacier and showed that ice/ocean interactions are more complex than thought.
Posted inNews
Helping Alaskan Communities Facing Climate Risks
Scientists examine how best to use science to help communities respond to rapid climate change in the Arctic.