Posts Near Utqiaġvik Map Timeline

Alaska's North Slope experienced unprecedented heat with temperatures nearing 90 degrees, alongside the state's wettest July and other climate impacts.

The article describes a Utqiagvik family's significant milestone in catching the first bowhead whale of the spring season, amidst challenges posed by climate change affecting sea ice stability.

The highly pathogenic influenza that just claimed its first known polar bear victim continues to circulate in the world’s wild populations.

The storm brought winds up to 40 mph to communities from Wainwright to Kaktovik, weather officials said. High waves damaged a road in Utqiagvik, affecting around five houses, residents reported.

About five beluga carcasses were left at the NARL Boat Dock on Aug. 8, causing smell and potential wildlife hazard in the area. The bones were cleaned the same day but the city reminded residents they can get help with cleanup after susbsitence hunting.

The average temperature in July was 48.4 degrees — 6.7 degrees above normal, with 11 hot days in a row. Such extreme warmth can accelerate the greening and permafrost thaw on the North Slope.

A wayward walrus calf, just one month old, was rescued from the North Slope. Workers on the North Slope spotted the baby walrus on tundra, about four miles inland from the Beaufort Sea.

Object shot down by US Air Force, ordered by Biden, over North slope of Alaska.

Backyard Buoys project will give residents real time data such as wave height to whaling crews and communities throughout the North Slope. A system of buoys will be displaced across the slope this summer.

The lack of winter sea ice is keeping temperatures warm. Climatologist Rick Thoman says it's a "very clear climate change signal."

There are new signs that killer whales, which are swimming farther north and staying for longer periods of the year in Arctic waters, are increasingly preying on Alaska’s bowhead whales. A newly published study found that 2019, an especially warm year in the region, also seems to have been an especially dangerous year for bowheads.

Iñupiat communities have been looking for alternatives to traditional ice cellars. Some households switched to using manmade freezers, which can be effective but they affect the taste and the quality of the food, Nelson said. Additionally, power outages, frequent in the villages, can make this storage method unreliable. So the search is on for creative ideas to preserve traditional ice cellars.

Forecasters say they are expecting significant coastal erosion from Utqiagvik to Unalakleet from the second severe-weather event to hit the region in three weeks.

Officials are still examining the substance in a lab to determine what it is, but DEC suspects it’s black tar or asphalt.

The open ocean off Utqiagvik in fall and early winter is evidence of climate change. Remarkably, bowhead whales appear to be thriving, although there are new challenges. Kidney-worm infections have been detected in bowheads, possibly brought by other species of whales coming north. And then there are the killer whales, a natural predators of bowheads now venturing north.

Alaska Department of Fish and Game records show two other unusually wayward moose hunts: One in 2016 taken north of Teshekpuk Lake along the Arctic coast, and another in 2014 on the Kokolik River near Point Lay.

After 100 highs, Utqiagvik marks record low temperature

The United States’ northernmost city plummeted to a bone-chilling minus 20 degrees Wednesday morning, beating out the previous daily record set in 1973.

It's been a challenging year for whalers in Utqiagvik. Crews started going out in September, but found the bowheads weren't appearing in their usual concentrations in the waters closer to shore. On the water Nov. 16 Panigiuq Crew landed the first whale of the season for Utqiagvik, later than many people can remember ever bringing one in before.

Aerial surveys this September and October show the bowheads aren’t where they usually are.

When temperatures soar this high above the Arctic Circle, it’s an attention-grabber.

“I think it was a little more stable, and there was a little bit more assurance that the ice you were on was not going to disintegrate on you that easy,” said whaling captain Gordon Brower.

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.

Unusual Stellar sea lion (Eumetopias jubatus) sighting in Utqiaġvik.

"These ridges that we’re standing on, there would have been more of them, and they would have been bigger," ice researcher Andy Mahoney said. "The features that we now see, they’re something of a shadow from the past." Listen now

Sea ice has shrunk, but scientists are seeing signs that Alaska's bowhead whales are flourishing.

The ice conditions are similar to last year (with) lots of young ice and close leads," said Captain Frederick Brower. "We all went out and broke trail to the edge, but a high west wind came along and added about three-quarters to 1 mile of ice and (we) had to break trail through that and began whaling from the new edge ... . The conditions were not favorable but we made due with what we had and continued on with our whaling season."

The roughly 300 miles of hard-packed snow roads were constructed under the Community Winter Access Trails (CWAT) project, headed by the North Slope Borough.

With the average temperature hovering north of negative this winter, Utqiaġvik and much of the Arctic once again broke records with a season that didn't match up to historic expectations.

Late December and early January starts to the off-road season have become normal as warmer temperatures continue to mark the winter months across most of the Arctic. While industry has had to adapt to changes, many locals are still struggling to find a new normal amidst the shifting seasons.

A September storm caused damage in Utqiagvik, and Gov. Bill Walker declared a disaster there last month.

This November in Utqiaġvik was the hottest on record, averaging 17.2°F. It was so warm that NOAA's quality control algorithms flagged the data. “When we look out on the ocean right now we see a few icebergs,” Thomas said. “Normally we would see white to the horizon in the past, and in this case we’re seeing dark water to the horizon.”

The North Slope Borough will have access to help with recovery efforts for the autumn storm that pummeled the coastline earlier this year, causing more than a million dollars worth of damage.

The declaration gives the far-north community of Utqiagvik access to state money to help repair damaged infrastructure like roads.

The storm began Sept. 28 and continued for several days. A handful of Utqiaġvik’s roads were damaged or destroyed, and the community's freshwater source was nearly compromised.

Disaster funds are reserved for single events, and storms that collectively cause much damage aren't often individually large enough to count as disasters.

Cleanup and recovery from the recent storm that battered the North Slope coastline may carry a price tag exceeding $10 million.

HEALY, ALASKA—Bitter winters still dominate life in the Alaskan interior, but a practiced eye can spot the signs of a warming climate, particularly in the ground. Beneath the rolling fields of tussock scattered just north of the Alaska Range, what was once permanently frozen is starting to thaw. The impacts could ripple across the planet.

Thanks to warming winters and thawing permafrost, Arctic soil microbes are churning out carbon dioxide well after the end of the growing season ends. This extra source of atmospheric carbon may accelerate a regional warming trend that is already twice as fast as the global average.

Air emissions from Prudhoe Bay-area oil fields can have a big influence on the particles in the air in Utqiaġvik, the town formerly known as Barrow.

Every winter, a massive infrastructure project takes place on the North Slope one thats designed to disappear. Ice roads are built to minimize the oil industrys footprint on the sensitive tundra, and melt away in spring. Many of the oil industrys multi-million dollar projects on the North Slope cant be built until the ice roads are finished each year.

When a storm exposes human remains in Barrow, there isn’t an established protocol. They are usually given to the federally recognized Native Village of Barrow for repatriation.

4-29-14 Sea ice rescue - Barrow, Alaska, USA

11-11-13 Weather effects caribou migration and season - Barrow, Alaska, USA

6-26-13 Risky ice conditions for whaling - Barrow, Alaska, USA

6-5-13 Risky ice for whaling - Barrow, Alaska, USA

9-13-12 Unusual skate on Arctic beach - Barrow, Alaska, USA

8-24-12 Lynx in high Arctic - Barrow, Alaska, USA

The Far North's iconic polar bear appears to have joined the list of Arctic species afflicted with a mystery illness that causes hair loss, lesions and oozing sores. Six in Barrow and three in Kaktovik.

A mysterious disease, possibly a virus, has afflicted ring seals along Alaska's coast, killing scores of them since July, local and federal agencies said on Thursday.

As of June 16, 48 cases of highly pathogenic avian flu were detected across the state of Alaska, according to the Department of Environmental Conservation. None of these confirmed cases of highly pathogenic avian influenza are in the northernmost regions of Alaska.

A seawall planned for Utqiagvik is aimed at protecting residents from extreme storms while preserving their connection to the ocean.

With relatively calm summer weather, an Utqiagvik crew landed at least 11 beluga whales this season, Wainwright was lucky to caught 50, and Kotzebue Sound saw the second-highest harvest in more than a decade, according to local hunters.

The Permafrost and Infrastructure Symposium this month brought together over 50 scientists, engineers and residents this month, creating a space for them to exchange their perspectives on the effects of thawing permafrost in the Arctic.

Most of the humpbacks were seen near the Inupiat village of Point Hope, indicating a feeding hotspot in that area. While sightings farther north have been less numerous, there has still been an increase in recent years. The study suggests that climate change and the reduction of Arctic sea ice may be a factor in the expansion of humpback whale range.

This early in spring, the season usually only starts, but the weather patterns have been changing, and so has been the harvest time, Donovan said.

Warming soils beneath Utqiagvik are triggering erosion that threatens homes, infrastructure and cultural resources. The North Slope has seen some of the fastest changes in coastal erosion in the nation.

Officials are encouraging the public to be safe, report polar bears in the area and never approach the animals, which can be “dangerous and unpredictable.”

A U.S. Energy Department climate scientist visited Utqiaġvik to evaluate research progress on permafrost and climate change, highlighting the importance of accurate measurements and models in predicting future climate patterns in the Arctic.

Story telling provides a powerful tool in a changing climate. Epen Hobson has been experiencing the land and ocean through the perspective of an Inuit photographer and hunter. A recipient of the Arctic Resilient Communities Fellowship he shares, "We're an oral people, we tell stories, we teach by telling stories," The effects of climate change are concrete and dramatic for the Arctic communities such as Utqiagvik, and Hopson is hungry to see infrastructure and policy solutions to address them.

North Slope experts think Indigenous experts should take the lead on wildlife management. When it comes to belugas, caribou and ice seals, managing agencies and researchers are often in charge of setting hunting regulations and analyzing the animals.

In Utqiaġvik, where the coast is eroding at some of the fastest rates in the nation, storms, flooding and thawing permafrost damage houses, roads and cultural sites. Ice forms later each year and storms are becoming longer and more severe.

On the north slope, the whale brings together and sustains life for everyone. "We have a bond with the animals. They fed us, they clothed us, they sheltered us since time immemorial. Without them, we wouldn't survive the Arctic."