Alaska and Russia Join Forces to Create 160-year Database of Walrus Haulouts.  When Russian explorers sailed that nation's northeastern coastline along the Chukchi Sea in 1852, they were startled when they encountered about 150 belligerent walruses crowding a flat rock.  As they sailed toward the animals, they heard a "loud roar" that was "similar to an elephant's voice," said Carl von Ditmar, a Baltic-German scientist on the expedition. As the mariners approached the rock, "Walruses only raised their heads, terribly snorting and glaring at us with their big yellow eyes," he wrote   in his book   detailing travels and experiences in Kamchatka from 1851 to 1855.  Alaska Dispatch News

 

New Knowledge About Ancient Arctic Life is Reshaping Understanding of Dinosaurs. Alaska's North Slope teems with Arctic wildlife, from bears and caribou to lightweight birds that migrate from as far away as South America to breed in the long daylight. Seventy million years ago, it was also teeming with Arctic wildlife - dinosaurs that thrived in polar conditions. As another exploration season gets underway, scientists hope to learn more those prehistoric creatures.  Since the first North Slope dinosaur bones were discovered by a petroleum geologist in 1961, knowledge has expanded exponentially, with a trove of bones producing new finds of previously unknown species. Alaska Dispatch News

 

Obama to Leave the White House a Nerdier Place Than He Found It.  President Obama   has started initiatives to study the brain and gene-based diseases. He has led attacks on the Ebola virus and antibiotic resistance. Last month, he wrote an academic article in a prominent medical journal.  But the science event many in the White House remember most powerfully was the kid with the marshmallow cannon.  "So would it, like, hit the wall up there?" Mr. Obama asked during the 2012 White House Science Fair when he came upon Joey Hudy, 14, standing before his homemade   Extreme Marshmallow Cannon.  New York Times

 

As Nighttime Skies Darken in Far North, Wispy Clouds 'On the Edge of Space' Become Visible.  By now, six weeks after the summer  solstice , those who live in the far north know the Midnight Sun will soon set for the first time in months. The Earth has moved to a point in its orbit where the sun finally dips below the horizon enough to allow nightfall and the opportunity to see celestial shows like the aurora borealis - and another sublimely spectacular phenomenon known as  noctilucent clouds . "Noctilucent clouds are night-shining clouds" says Richard Collins, a professor of atmospheric science with the University of Alaska Fairbanks. "They're clouds that form 50 miles high in the sky. They're composed of small ice crystals. They're clouds that are visible from Interior and Southcentral Alaska in the first two weeks of August every year."  KUAC 

 

Ocean Acidification Website Lauch. The Alaska Ocean Acidification (OA) Network launched a new website this week with resources for both scientists and the public.  The website includes background on ocean acidification, descriptions of monitoring projects around the state, research on impacts to marine species, a list of experts and their expertise, links to data, and more.  The Alaska Ocean Acidification Network was formed to expand the understanding of ocean acidification processes and consequences in Alaska, as well as potential adaptation and mitigations actions.  The network is the fourth regional ocean acidification network in the US, and will help connect scientists and stakeholder communities, recommend regional priorities, share data, and determine best practices for monitoring.  Please contact Darcy Dugan, [email protected] with questions. 

 

Alaska Ocean Acidification Network Seeks to Inform Public of Ocean Acidity. Climate change may get all the attention, but it has a less-talked-about but no less troubling twin: ocean acidification. And a growing chorus of Alaskans, from shellfish growers to fishermen, are fretting about the potential impacts to the state's waters. Now a new collaboration is aiming to bring ocean acidification into the spotlight - with the hope that better understanding it will better prepare the state to adapt. Alaska Public Radio

 

New Atlas Maps Alaska's Surface. The updated geochemical atlas was an outgrowth of another project. Geologists and surveyors were on a mission to find rare earth elements and minerals that could be strategically important to the country.  Melanie Werdon is the acting chief of the mineral resources section of the Alaska Division of Geological and Geophysical Surveys and one of the geological scientists who teamed up with the U.S. Geological Survey, or USGS, to investigate the state's minerals. Alaska Public Radio