Alaskas

Artwork shows three mammoths being watched by a family of ancient Alaskans from the dunes near the Swan Point archaeological site, a seasonal hunting camp occupied 14,000 years ago. Credit: Julius Csostonyi. editedScientists have linked the movements of a 14,000-year-old woolly mammoth with early human settlements in Alaska. Analysis of the mammoth’s tusk revealed a journey that overlapped with human hunting areas, indicating a close relationship between these early settlers and mammoths.Researchers have linked the…

This satellite image from the Copernicus Sentinel-2 mission reveals the rapid retreat of Alaska’s Columbia Glacier. Since the 1980s, it has retreated over 20 km and lost about half of its volume. Credit: Contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data (2023), processed by ESA, CC BY-SA 3.0 IGOAlaska’s Columbia Glacier has significantly retreated over 20 km since the 1980s, with climate change being a major factor. Satellite imagery from 2023 highlights the glacier’s dramatic transformation and the advanced technology used for…

Satellite image of Tukpahlearik Creek captured on July 23, 2023, by the Operational Land Imager-2 on Landsat 9,In Alaska, streams are turning orange as permafrost thaws.Scientists are keenly aware that losing permafrost—the year-round frozen ground prevalent across the Arctic—generally does not bode well for the planet’s future. The thawing of this frozen layer releases the potent greenhouse gas methane, thereby feeding more warming and thawing, while also destabilizing the ground and potentially letting loose dormant…

Satellite image of Frosty Peak Volcano captured on April 22, 2023, by the Operational Land Imager-2 on Landsat 9.The Alaskan stratovolcano has not come to life in thousands of years.Frosty is a stratovolcano located in Alaska’s Aleutian Island chain. Although the volcano has been dormant for thousands of years, the rock below its glaciated peak tells a story of its lively past.The image above, acquired by Landsat 9’s OLI-2 (Operational Land Imager-2) on April 22, 2023, shows Frosty’s 5,670-foot (1,728-meter) peak and the…

It was a cloudy July afternoon in Alaska's Kobuk Valley National Park, part of the biggest stretch of protected wilderness in the U.S. We were 95 kilometers (60 miles) from the nearest village and 400 kilometers from the road system. Nature doesn't get any more unspoiled. But the stream flowing past our feet looked polluted. The streambed was orange, as if the rocks had been stained with carrot juice. The surface glistened with a gasolinelike rainbow sheen. “This is bad stuff,” said Patrick Sullivan, an ecologist at the…

Satellite view of Malaspina Glacier on the southeastern coast of Alaska captured on October 27, 2023, by the Operational Land Imager-2 on Landsat 9.An unexpected color palette reveals the features of an iconic glacial landscape in southeastern Alaska.To human eyes, glacial ice typically looks white tinged with blue. But in this false-color satellite image, the rippled ice of Alaska’s Malaspina Glacier appears more fiery than frosty.Satellite Imaging Reveals Unique HuesThis view of Malaspina Glacier on the southeastern…

Jason Fellman, acting director of the Alaska Coastal Rainforest Center, collects water samples from the outflow of the Mendenhall Glacier in Juneau, Alaska. Credit: Sonia Nagorski Understanding carbon transport can offer important information about a changing climate. For instance, it can help scientists measure ocean acidification or other threats increased carbon levels pose to aquatic ecosystems. But one major, and often…

By Emily Cassidy, NASA Earth Observatory July 24, 2023Credit: Wanmei Liang, using Landsat data from the U.S. Geological SurveyAsh from recent eruptions blackened the snow-covered flanks of the Alaskan volcano.After three years of calm, the Shishaldin volcano in Alaska’s Aleutian Islands erupted in mid-July 2023. Explosions from the volcano lofted ash several miles into the air, prompting aviation alerts.A Significant ExplosionMount Shishaldin is a cone-shaped stratovolcano located on Unimak Island and is one of the most…

Last year, Alaska tried something unique.It became the first state to use an election system that placed all candidates on the same ballot, with the four top vote-getters, regardless of party, moving to a runoff where voters ranked their preferences.(Go ahead, impress friends at your holiday barbecue by using the technical terms, blanket ballot and ranked-choice voting.)One purpose of the system, approved by voters in 2020, was to weed out extremists by making it harder for candidates to be elected simply by appealing to…

Weather is big news in Alaska. In a place where many people’s lives and livelihoods are directly tied to the environment, knowing what’s in the forecast is often a question of survival. Very soon though, the state’s most reliable source of meteorology media is set to disappear.Arctic Blast to Send U.S. into Dangerous Deep Freeze, Imperiling Holiday Travel“Alaska Weather,” a daily 30-minute TV show that has broadcast across Alaska for the past 47 years, is going off the air due to a lack of funds. In lieu of the news,…