BY ANNELIESE MOLL For the UAS Whalesong We live in a greenhouse. The life we see around us depends on the energy we receive from the sun. Only about half of the light from the sun that reaches the Earth passes through the atmosphere. Once it’s through it’s absorbed and radiated back up in the…
BY ANNELIESE MOLL For the UAS Whalesong Kelp forests are important for a wide variety of reasons. These amazing forests provide habitats for many species of marine organisms and are one of the most productive ecosystems in the world. They have a dramatic impact on the strength of currents within an area because of the…
BY ANNELIESE MOLL For the UAS Whalesong On November 5th, a group of students taking a ‘Discussions in Marine Mammalogy’ class went to Sitka, Alaska, to attend the 19th annual Sitka Whalefest. Unlike other years, the symposium was held on the Sheldon Jackson campus rather than the Harrigan Centennial Hall. Many UAS students left early…
BY ALEXA CHERRY For the UAS Whalesong Starting around this year, if you haven’t already, you may start hearing people talk about “getting sad.” This sounds perfectly normal, especially for the interim between midterms and leading up to finals. But as we descend into the winter months, and especially here in Alaska, the word “sad”…
BY DANIELLE REDMOND For the UAS Whalesong This December, world leaders will be meeting in Paris for what may be humanity’s last chance to prevent catastrophic climate change! It sounds like the plot of a cheesy action/adventure film but sometimes reality is stranger than fiction. Come explore the issue in the lead-up to Paris with…
While is El Niño may not be enough to help California, there have been some particularly interesting for many Alaskan fishermen and scientists over the course of this last summer.
Today the existence of frogs around the world is being threatened. There are 6,565 recorded species of frogs and toads, but that number is steadily falling. There are several major factors that play a part in their decline: climate change/loss of habitat, pollution, and especially Chytridiomycosis.
The various speakers and panelists throughout the conference brought the problems that we face in the Arctic into focus. In one of the morning sessions the mayor of the Northwest Arctic Borough, Reggie Joule, showed us that 86% of the borough’s communities faced erosion. At least four communities in Alaska like Newtok and Kivalina are currently planning to relocate because their villages are literally falling into the water. After the rest of the presentations the panelists discussed where the resources to combat this widespread threat will come from and how they will be deployed.
