Shrinking snowpack, thawing permafrost, and shifting precipitation patterns have widespread consequences. Can new technologies—and public policies—help communities adapt?
Alaska
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 inNews
Experimentos Revelan Cómo el Carbono del Permafrost se Convierte en Dióxido de Carbono
Muestras de campo provenientes de Alaska muestran cómo la luz solar y el hierro convierten el carbono del permafrost en dióxido de carbono. Los modelos climáticos ignoran este proceso.
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 inNews
Experiments Reveal How Permafrost Carbon Becomes Carbon Dioxide
Field samples from Alaska show how sunlight and iron convert permafrost carbon to carbon dioxide. Climate models ignore this process.
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.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Methane-Releasing Tundra Soils Freezing Later Each Year
Scientists find links between delayed freezing of Alaskan soils and higher atmospheric methane concentrations during the cold season.