Everywhere around the world is being influenced by climate change, but how exactly is our warming climate changing the place we live in? In a report made by the partnership of the University of Alaska, the International Arctic Research Center, and the Alaska Center for Climate Assessment and Policy in 2019, it details exactly what is written in this article, and more. So, how is Alaska changing?

For one, our seasons have changed. In 2006, the start date for wildfire responses was changed from May 1 to April 1, a whole month earlier, and wildfires have grown increasingly strong; wildfire seasons with more than one million acres burned have increased by 50% since 1990. To visualize, an acre is about the size of a football field, and the smallest state, Rhode Island, has a size that only covers 78% of a million acres. 

While fires burn, river break-up has happened earlier and earlier in the spring, within the year 2019 was where the Tanana River at Nenana broke up 6 days earlier than usual. Ice jams from river break-up can put Alaskan communities along rivers at risk of flooding, and as this happens even earlier, the chances for flooding become more likely.

In Fairbanks, the amount of freezing rain has more than doubled than what would be expected for the 1930s to 2000s. Freezing rain can produce an invisible layer of ice on roadways, and the weight of ice from freezing rain can sometimes even break power lines. The worst of this is that some caribou have died during these winters due to being unable to access vegetation that is covered in ice.

Continuing on the topic of ice, ice in the water has shrunk. Sea ice in the Chukchi Sea has only become 10% of what it was in the 1980s during the summer, and as of September, the ice edge is now hundreds of miles away from the Alaskan coast.

Despite how much freezing rain there is, 90% of Alaska’s glaciers have been melting largely due to the warming temperatures, causing the ice to melt more than it can be replenished. If all of Alaska’s glaciers were to melt into the sea, the sea level would be raised by 1.5 inches to give you a better visual.

Temperatures have been also rising in more than just the air; summer sea temperatures in Alaska have become much warmer, with waters getting 4-11ºF than normal. The warming of seawater has had consequences, with one being algal blooms in the summer; algal blooms sometimes produce harmful toxins.

A bigger consequence of these warm waters has been taking its toll on salmon, thousands of which have died in June and July of 2019 when migrating to western Alaska. The temperature of the water has become too hot, stressing salmon and containing less dissolved oxygen that helps the fish to breathe. The less oxygen means that the fish burn more internal energy, giving parasites and some fungi room to grow and weaken salmon even more.

Furthermore, you’re also less likely to find snow during the winter as, since the 1990s, Alaska becomes 50% covered in snow about a week later than normal in October. Along with that, the time for snow-off (when snow coverage drops below 50%) is now two weeks earlier, which means that there’s less time for winter recreational activities, along with overland travel by snow machine or dog sled.

Alaska is being affected more by climate change than the rest of the world, and keep in mind that the report was only made in 2019. The effects of climate change have grown worse since then, and I hope this article will interest you enough that you learn more about climate change, and how we can overcome it.