Greenhouse Gases, the Queen of England and Narwhals
Just last month, the International Maritime Organization, the United Nations agency tasked with regulating global shipping, celebrated its 70th anniversary at its headquarters in London, with a ceremony that included a d...
Greenhouse Gases, the Queen of England and Narwhals
President Trump and Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke are in a hurry to open Arctic waters to risky offshore drilling. Last week, they kicked off a planning process for a new oil and gas lease sale in the Beaufort Sea...
Rushing to Judgment in the Arctic
In the Arctic, starting in autumn, cold weather causes sea ice to form and grow throughout the winter. By March, sea ice has extended as far as it will for the year, also known as the sea ice maximum. When spring warmth...
When a Maximum is Minimum: What Low Sea Ice Extent Means for the Arctic
Nobody said it would be easy. Thank you for stepping up for our ocean! More than a year ago, we brought you some frightening news. The Trump administration had proposed a shocking $1 billion cut to NOAA, our nation’s pre...
The More You NOAA: Score One for Our Ocean
Some anniversaries are somber, not celebratory. That’s unquestionably the case as we approach the 29th anniversary of the disastrous Exxon Valdez oil spill. Just after midnight on March 24, 1989, the tanker Exxon Valdez...
Exxon Valdez: 29 Years Later
The ripples of President Trump’s decision to fire Secretary of State Rex Tillerson will undoubtedly impact U.S. policy initiatives around the globe. But there’s at least one place where continuity should prevail: the Arc...
A Changing State Department: Why Collaboration is Still Vital in the Arctic
A Bloomberg editorial described it as a “minor miracle” and Quartz magazine called it a “stunning victory” for global conservation in its 2017 retrospective. In December, 10 countries reached an agreement to prevent the...
Central Arctic Ocean: Next Steps on the Arctic’s Newest International Agreement
During winter in the high-latitude Arctic Ocean, sea ice reflects much of the sun’s energy until seasonal melting promotes a spectacular plankton bloom along floe edges and even beneath the ice. The annual explosion of A...
People of the Ice Bridge
This past Wednesday, I took part in the first full meeting of the Aleutian Islands Waterways Safety Committee in Anchorage, Alaska. Here are five things you should know about this new group: The Committee is brand new. I...
5 Things About the Aleutian Islands Waterways Safety Committee
Devastating 3,000 Gallon Spill of Heavy Fuel Oil Near Kodiak March 21, 2018 update: Although the nearest U.S. Coast Guard base is less than 50 miles away, due to bad weather, it took contracted Alaska Chadux responders f...