More ships than ever are operating in the Bering Strait and off the north coast of Alaska, but many of the nautical charts for the region haven’t been updated in more than a century. Now, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is trying to fix that. The research vessel Fairweather sets off Wednesday for a surveying trip in the Arctic.
On the back deck of the 231-foot Fairweather, Operations Officer Caryn Zacharias is showing off a 10-foot long piece of equipment that looks like a torpedo with wings.
The last time Greenpeace was in Unalaska, they didn’t exactly get a warm welcome. The environmental group has in the past positioned itself against trawling in the Bering Sea, earning the ire of the local fishing industry. But when the Greenpeace vessel Esperanza came into port this week to prepare for a campaign against Arctic drilling, industry opposition to the group wasn’t as fierce.
Greenpeace is heading north as part of its campaign against Arctic drilling.
The motor yacht Esperanza is in Kodiak until Friday, and is scheduled to stop in Unalaska next week. The vessel had previously been in Seward for repairs.
According to Greenpeace Campaign Director Dan Howells, the 237-foot rainbow painted boat will then travel on to the Chukchi Sea and study marine life in the region.
Following up on last week’s major eruption, Cleveland Volcano rumbled again Tuesday morning, sending up a small ash cloud that dissipated quickly. Scientists at the Alaska Volcano Observatory say satellite imagery shows a new lava dome growing in Cleveland’s crater, so the pyrotechnics probably aren’t over yet. The volcano has been erupting since last July, with period ash emissions.
Four years ago, Rat Island’s namesake rodents were eradicated. Now, the name is being done away with as well.
Earlier this month, the U.S. Board on Geographic Names officially dubbed the remote Aleutian island Hawadax (Ha-WA-thaa), an Unangan word meaning "entry" or "welcome." That was the island's traditional name, before a Japanese shipwreck in 1780 unleashed a plague of rodents.
Some Unalaska residents felt a little shaking Friday morning. At 10:49 a magnitude 3.4 earthquake struck 31 miles south of town. Relatively speaking that’s not a very large quake, but because the epicenter was so close to town, it was perceptible.
Whale-watching is usually a late summer pastime in Unalaska, but this year’s icy weather has turned it into a spring activity, too.
Humpbacks have definitely been spotted in Unalaska Bay, and other species could be stopping in soon. Right now, gray whales are making their way back to Alaska after mating in California. Their usual route takes them through Unimak Pass, across the Bering Sea, and up into their Arctic feeding grounds.
On the off chance that there are clear skies in Unalaska on Sunday, residents may a get a choice view of the millennium’s first annular eclipse.
According to NASA, the eclipse should begin at 2:50pm, reach its peak at 4:24pm, and then wrap up at 5:54pm. Because Unalaska lies less than 200 miles from the path of the eclipse’s shadow, nearly 90 percent of the sun will be covered up. The sun will appear as a crescent tucked behind the moon. Residents of Adak and Atka could be able to see an almost perfect ring of fire around the moon, since those islands are closer to the shadow.
Two weeks ago, American and Russian researchers kicked off the largest seal survey ever conducted in the Bering Sea. The goal of the project is to get baseline data about the various seal species that depend on sea ice for their survival. KUCB’s Stephanie Joyce caught up with one of the researchers on St. Paul Island to find out how things have been going.
