Published Aug 31, 2023 by Alaska Magazine

The black spruce of the northern boreal forests are precisely where the wildfires are burning, and with increasing temperatures predicted by climate change, these forests will experience bigger, more intense, and longer wildfire seasons over the long term. Moreover, the forests are not returning the way they used to. Recent studies show that following fire, black spruce forests are not regenerating at all, or they are hosting incursions of new species such as birch and aspen.

The implications for the caribou are huge.

Much of the caribou’s winter diet is lichen, a slow growing plant that is sluggish to return following fire. Lichens grow in the understory of black spruce forests. A study funded by the USGS Changing Arctic Ecosystems Initiative and the University of Alaska Fairbanks concluded that as much as 21 percent of the lichen-producing habitat caribou use in winter will be lost by the end of the century. 

Published Aug 31, 2023

University of Alaska Fairbanks scientists will make several trips to Greenland over two years to study how meltwater and the ocean affect glacial ice loss.

The four-year research project, funded by a $565,000 National Science Foundation grant, will create a traveling museum exhibit about the drivers of Arctic climate change.

The exhibit will appear first at the University of Alaska Museum of the North, likely in 2026.

Ice loss from the polar ice sheets is the largest anticipated contributor to global mean-sea-level rise in the coming century.

Scientists need to better understand glacier behavior to improve predictions of sea-level rise.

At the study’s conclusion, the researchers will create software that others can use to analyze the effect of runoff and ocean interaction on any of Earth’s glaciers.