The Oshoro Maru in port on July 23, 2013. (Audrey Carlsen/KUCB)
The R/V Oshoro Maru stopped by Unalaska to refuel on Tuesday after spending three weeks in the Arctic. While they were in port, several of the onboard scientists hopped off to talk about their research.
The 239-foot ship is a regular visitor to Unalaska because of its affiliation with UniSea’s Japanese parent company. The ship is owned by Hokkaido University, where many of the 45 scientists aboard work. This summer, they were in the Bering and Chukchi Seas researching a variety of topics, including plankton and seabird migration, and testing a new underwater remote-operated vehicle.
The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has upheld restrictions on fishing in the western Aleutians to protect an endangered stock of Steller sea lions.
Environmental groups hope the ruling will convince the federal government to change their management strategies, while industry is concerned that it doesn't bode well for the future. KUCB’s Stephanie Joyce reports.
Top view of the family's eco-friendly sailboat, the Pachamama. (Courtesy of Dario Schwörer)
In 1999, a Swiss climatologist and his wife embarked on a four-year voyage to sail around the world. Their goal was to climb the tallest peak on every continent and to raise awareness about the dangers of global climate change.
Fourteen years, five continents, and four children later, they’re still sailing. The family arrived in Unalaska over the weekend and, as KUCB’s Audrey Carlsen reports, they’re determined to finish what they started.
A Coast Guard helicopter dropped an elite team of explosives experts near Chignik last week. Their mission: to detonate a suspicious bomb that washed up on a remote beach.
On paper, it was a standard assignment for the Army's explosive ordnance disposal team. But as KUCB's Lauren Rosenthal reports, the case still managed to turn up some surprises.
The eruption at Pavlof Volcano, on the Alaska Peninsula, has picked up again. The volcano is spewing ash to 28,000-feet, the highest it’s reached since the unrest started in early May.
That’s not high enough to interfere with international air traffic, but it does have communities in the region on alert.
In the village of King Cove, there were reports of ash fall this morning, but resident Pam Mitchell says it wasn’t particularly noticeable.
Pavlof Volcano, on the Alaska Peninsula, spewed a 26,000-foot ash cloud early Tuesday morning. That’s the largest plume the volcano has put up since it started erupting in early May.At that elevation, it isn't interfering with international air traffic passing over the region, but it is proving problematic for regional air service.
According to the terminal agent in Cold Bay, PenAir turned around a cargo run to the community this morning, and canceled its passenger flight as well. Unalaska's passenger flights are running as scheduled, according to station manager Lowell Crezee, and shouldn't be impacted by the eruption.
Peninsula communities still aren’t reporting any ashfall from Pavlof Volcano's newest eruption, which started on Tuesday.
PenAir isn't taking any chances, though. To avoid all contact with volcanic ash, the airline cancelled its flights to Cold Bay on Wednesday and Thursday. PenAir representative Missy Anderson says about 60 people are currently waiting to fly into Cold Bay from Anchorage.
The ongoing eruption at Pavlof Volcano is disrupting regional air travel.
Pavlof stirred back to life Tuesday morning, and has since sent up numerous ash clouds. There’s been no reported ashfall in any nearby communities, and none of the clouds have reached above 19,000 feet, but PenAir cancelled its flights to the Peninsula community of Cold Bay Wednesday because of concerns about drifting ash. On Tuesday, they canceled an afternoon flight to Sand Point.
After a week-long respite, Pavlof Volcano on the Alaska Peninsula has sent up another ash plume. Pilots flying past the volcano Tuesday morning were the first to spot the cloud, which they estimated at 19,000 feet.
PenAir flight operations manager Lloyd Seybert says the airline cancelled its afternoon flight into Sand Point as a result, but the plume hasn’t affected any other PenAir routes.
Alaska Volcano Observatory geologist Michelle Coombs says this pattern of fluctuating activity is pretty standard for Pavlof, but that it can make monitoring difficult.
