Mystery of the dead caribou
Lightning strikes the hills northwest of the Yukon River.
Photo by Ned Rozell.
Forty years ago, an Army helicopter pilot flying over a tundra plateau saw a group of caribou. Thinking something looked weird, he circled for a closer look. The animals, dozens of them, were dead.
The pilot reported what he saw to the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. The caribou, 48 adults and five calves, were lying in a group. The way their carcasses rested showed no signs that the animals had been running from a predator.
Alaska Science Forum: The mystery of the dead caribou
By nrozell [at] gi [dot] alaska [dot] edu (Ned Rozell)
Forty years ago, an Army helicopter pilot flying over a tundra plateau saw a group of caribou. Thinking something looked weird, he circled for a closer look. Theanimals, dozens of them, were dead.
Alaska Weather Symposium: Venue for current research on state’s unique atmospheric conditions
Alaska Weather Symposium: A venue for current research on state’s unique atmospheric conditions
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: March 8, 2013
CONTACT: Amy Hartley, GI information officer, 907-474-5823, amy [dot] hartley [at] gi [dot] alaska [dot] edu
PDF DownloadThe Climate of Alaska 2012
The Climate of Alaska for 2012
By Gerd Wendler, Blake Moore and Kevin Galloway of the Alaska Climate Research Center at the Geophysical Institute, UAF
Alaska Science Forum: Alaska bucks the global temperature trend
By nrozell [at] gi [dot] alaska [dot] edu (Ned Rozell)
This just in: 2012 was the coldest year of the new century in Fairbanks, and the second coldest here in the last 40 years.
Alaska bucks the global temperature trend
Fairbanks, seen here at minus 40 during January 2012, is one of many Alaska places that — unlike most of the world — leaned to the cold side during the first decade of the 2000s.
Photo by Ned Rozell.
This just in: 2012 was the coldest year of the new century in Fairbanks, and the second coldest here in the last 40 years.
Fairbanks isn’t the only chilly place in Alaska. Average temperatures at 19 of 20 long-term National Weather Service stations displayed a cooling trend from 2000 to 2010, according a recent study written up by Gerd Wendler, Blake Moore and Lian Chen of the Alaska Climate Research Center.
Fairbanks 2012 Review: A look back
The mean temperature for Fairbanks in 2012 was 24.1 degrees Fahrenheit, 3.5 degrees below the long-term average of 27.6 degrees. This makes 2012 the coldest year of the new century and continues the cooling trend observed over the last decade.
White River ash made its way accross the globe
Duane Froese of the University of Alberta in forest of stumps smothered by the White River Ash around the year 843 AD. Froese is pictured in the Yukon Territory close to the Alaska border and Natazhat Glacier in an area downwind of the great White River eruptions, which spewed from somewhere near Alaska’s Mount Churchill.
Photo courtesy Duane Froese.
The White River Ash, blasted from giant eruptions somewhere in today’s Wrangell-St. Elias Mountains, drifted as far away as Ireland and Germany, said experts who attended the December 2012 Fall Meeting of the American Geophysical Union, held in San Francisco.
Alaska Weather Summary - December 2012
For December, temperatures were markedly colder than normal. All nine stations discussed in this summary reported below normal average temperatures. The greatest negative deviation was observed in Fairbanks at an astonishing minus 13.2 degrees Fahrenheit, followed by Delta Junction (minus 10 degrees), Juneau (minus 6.4 degrees), then King Salmon and Nome (minus 6.2 degrees).
