Page 24 - ARUBA TODAY

A24 SCIENCE
Monday 22 January 2018

Unseasonable warmth creates hazards in rugged rural Alaska

By RACHEL D’ORO stretch of the Kuskokwim tence lifestyle and normally January was 28.6 degrees, he said. “And sea ice, of
Associated Press that’s part of Alaska’s fa- would be out looking for far above the 30-year av- course, is a real poster child
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) mous Iditarod Trail Sled Dog caribou, beaver and otter erage of 18.3 degrees, ac- for this.”
— Winter is off to a late start Race, prompting concerns this time of year to supple- cording to Thoman. As in the Bethel area, the
in parts of the nation’s larg- among organizers about ment their cache of salmon “That would be 10.3 de- changes are disrupting life
est — and usually coldest the route between two ru- and moose meat. grees warmer than nor- and hunting patterns in
— state. ral communities. The race But some hunters are wait- mal,” he said. “That’s really northern communities such
Months of higher-than- starts in March. ing for better conditions, quite remarkable.” as Point Hope, an Inupiat
normal temperatures in “I don’t think right now — said Boris Epchook, who has The sustained warmth whaling village built on a tri-
areas of rural Alaska have today — that we could lived most of his 54 years in speaks to the continuing angular spit surrounded by
opened dangerous gaps in the Chukchi, Arctic Ocean
frozen rivers that residents and a large inlet.
use to travel from village Lifelong Point Hope resident
to village and to hunting and former Mayor Steve
grounds since there are no Oomittuk said the changes
roads. have been significant over
One troublesome ice high- the past decade, most
way is the half-mile-wide dramatically in the last five
(0.8-kilometer-wide) Kus- years. The sea ice used as
kokwim River, where a man platforms by prey animals
died New Year’s Eve after like walrus and seals is slow-
he and five family mem- er to form, making it more
bers — traveling on a snow- dangerous for hunters to
mobile and sled — fell into venture out, Oomittuk said.
a gaping hole. The others The warming also affects
survived. Search and res- ancient traditions. For ex-
cue teams in the southwest ample, people bring out
Alaska commercial hub of fermented bowhead-
Bethel have been marking whale tails to feast and cel-
holes on the Kuskokwim, ebrate the first forming of
but there were so many, slushy ice along the coast.
they ran out of the $300-a- It’s a tradition historically
roll reflective tape. While observed in late Septem-
they wait for more supplies This January, 2018 photo provided by Bethel Search and Rescue shows a portion of the Kuskokwim ber or early October in the
to be shipped, residents in River near Bethel, Alaska, that is not covered by as much ice as it usually is this time of year. community of 700. But the
villages along the river and Associated Press past couple of years, the
its tributaries have been whale tails have come out
marking the openings with run the Iditarod between the Yup’ik Eskimo village of effects of climate change, much later — in November.
tree branches. Nikolai and McGrath on Kwethluk, east of Bethel. which have escalated in This season, they stayed in
It’s a role switch of sorts the normal river trail,” race He added glassy ice has a region many consider a villagers’ ice cellars until
with much of the lower 48, marshal Mark Nordman replaced snow in places, harbinger of global warm- three days before Thanks-
where dangerously cold said. “But we have a sec- which is hard on snowmo- ing. Erosion and flooding giving, Oomittuk said.
temperatures have been ondary route.” biles and four-wheelers. are nothing new for many Residents worry about all
blamed for dozens of To the south, the soggy Epchook said he has seen remote Alaska commu- the changes.
deaths. trails complicated travel for dramatic environmental nities, which are increas- “The cold, the ice, the ani-
The unseasonable warmth many recently wanting to changes in the past two ingly vulnerable to melt- mals is everything to us,”
in parts of Alaska is a fac- visit relatives and friends in decades, but never to ing permafrost and shorter Oomittuk said. “We’ve al-
tor in making last month other villages to celebrate this degree. “These are a periods of coastal ice that ways lived in the cold.”
the warmest December on Slaviq — a hybrid Russian lot more holes on the river historically protected them The state is shifting to a
record for the entire state, Orthodox Christmas and (than) I’ve seen and heard from powerful storms. Far- cooler trend this week.q
experts say. The statewide Alaska Native spiritual tradi- of over the years,” he said. ther north, warm weather
average temperature for tion that developed gen- “The weather patterns slowed the formation of
the month was 19.4 de- erations ago in parts of the have definitely changed sea ice above the Arctic
grees, far higher than the state from deeply rooted this year.” Weather Service Circle, including the Chuk-
historical average of 3.7 ties with Russians, including data bears that out. Bethel, chi Sea, which didn’t freeze
degrees, according to Rick missionaries. representative of the re- over until Dec. 31, Thoman
Thoman, climatologist for The splotchy ice highways gion, had the warmest fall said. “This is part of this on-
the National Weather Ser- also are creating challeng- and early winter on record. going arctic amplification,
vice’s Alaska region. es in reaching traditional The average temperature where things are changing
Open water also marks hunting grounds. Most area for the period between much more rapidly in high
a 22-mile (35-kilometer) residents rely on a subsis- Oct. 1 and the first week of latitude than farther south,”