Arctic

Celia Hunter flew a war-surplus plane to Alaska in 1947 and built a wilderness life near Denali; 54 years later, at 82, her final night was spent fighting to protect the Arctic Refuge

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Celia Hunter flew a war-surplus plane to Alaska in 1947 and built a wilderness life near Denali; 54 years later, at 82, her final night was spent fighting to protect the Arctic Refuge

Celia Hunter flew a war-surplus plane to Alaska in 1947 and built a wilderness life near Denali Celia Hunter spent the final evening of her life writing urgent letters to US politicians, asking them to oppose oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. It brought an end to a 54-year campaign to protect Alaska’s … Read more

Alaska used rotenone to eliminate invasive pike from an entire lake; the pike vanished, and 6,836 Arctic char were later stocked to rebuild the native fishery

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Alaska used rotenone to eliminate invasive pike from an entire lake; the pike vanished, and 6,836 Arctic char were later stocked to rebuild the native fishery

In a remote corner of Southcentral Alaska, state biologists carried out a dramatic restoration: they treated an entire lake with rotenone, a plant-derived piscicide, to wipe out an invasive population of northern pike. After the treatment, post-surveys confirmed the pike were gone. The next step was rebuilding what had been lost. In June 2013, the … Read more

Antarctica froze 25 million years before the Arctic, and scientists now think the answer lies beneath the continent

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Antarctica froze 25 million years before the Arctic, and scientists now think the answer lies beneath the continent

For a long time, the story seemed simple. As carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere drop and the Earth cools, large ice caps are beginning to spread across the polar regions. However, there’s one awkward detail that doesn’t quite fit. About 34 million years ago, Antarctica was covered by a large amount of ice, while … Read more