Alaska Arctic Observatory and Knowledge Hub

06/03/2026

Good afternoon! We have several observations and photos to share for the beginning of June, including west winds up north, lots of migratory birds, a polar bear sighting, and fishing updates and ice conditions around Kotzebue Sound:

6/3 in Utqiaġvik: “ Finally 30f temperatures in Barrow! Some open water but closed up very fast as westerly winds and currents from the south worked together to bring the ice in. The migratory birds have arrived to nest, the usual time for birds to lay eggs near Barrow is around June 6th and this year we still have much snow around so timing for gathering eggs could mean that the event could be delayed. Once again it is good to see healthy birds and very enjoyable to hear their joyful songs upon their arrival. Stay safe and remember to be respectful to the birds and animals as they are replenishing the populations this time of the year.” - Billy Adams

6/3 in Wainwright: “the rains have arrived and the melt is fast today wsw 10-15 mph 34f today the crews went out boating for a few hours they seen a few herds of walrus on the ice flows almost time to switch season and put away whaling gear

Live to hunt another day” - Jase Ahmaogak

6/2 in Point Hope: “Good morning. 42⁰ clear skies calm winds yesterdays forecast and pictures. Good day out in the ocean” - Guy Omnik

6/1 in Utqiaġvik: “The fog and light westerly winds comes to play to bring in polar bears to the shorefast ice and to shore for looking for resident seals that have made breathing holes and lairs throughout the winter on the shorefast ice, the bears also are opportunistic to find any kind of carcasses that have washed ashore during the summer and fall to feed on, bears are also curious what they smell in communities . Here is a young healthy bear approximately a 7 footer that has made its way to land. “ - Billy Adams

6/1 in Kotzebue: “Gooday Donna. Nice photos of the Chukchi and Kotzebue Sound ice. The Kobuk Channel is still closed as no new cracks in the Kotzebue Sound has formed. Looks to be quite solid yet. So does the Eastern Chukchi save broken ice near the shore. The rest of the Chukchi is open water from Kivalina North. Amazing.

I.m back in Kotzebue. Time to do my yearly maintenance on my outboards as Ugruk hunting and subsistence crabbing is just around the corner. Oh, In haste to catch the charter two weeks ago, I forgot my iphone therefore didn't have a camera to record the Spring activities at camp. But, I did go and catch a few Pike and Shee. I caught a 40 inch Shee and it was starving to death. It had nothing in its stomach and it was, by far, the skinniest large Shee I have seen. The herring usually bless the lake with their presence by this time but, for the first time that I can remember, no Spring herring showed up in the lake. The Shee showed up to meet them but, their prized meal did not show. I have a gut feeling that the herring took a beating during last Fall storms just as the smelt and tomcod. All three species of forage fish may have been decimated by these storms. I use "may" loosely as this is my best guess. Logic based on my observations. Not proven by scientific research.” - Bobby Schaeffer

05/26/2026

Good morning! We have observations and photos to share from Kaktovik, Point Hope, Point Lay and Kotzebue this week, including lots of wildlife spotted, bird hunting and blowing snow. We also included here MODIS images from 5/25 for Kotzebue Sound and the North Slope:

5/25 in Kaktovik: “May 24th and I was camping at First Fish Hole about 30 miles up along the Hula Hula River! Usually this is the weekend that the Ukpiilak River goes out and we can no longer cross over to head up the Hula Hula River. There is more ponds and melt run off in the island than up inland. A lot of ground blowing snow still happening, whiteout conditions with freezing rain/snow. Lots (like a hundred) of ptarmigans on the island. A male polar bear has been coming into town during the day ( 3 days now) looking for food. He has long legs, and lean looking(not skinny).
Unusual conditions: The Hula Hula is flowing real strong but hasn’t pushed out all the ice yet and the Ukpiilak River hasn’t even overflowed yet, or at least it hasn’t reached where we cross over to the Hula Hula. There is so much snow yet and and we haven’t seen any ponds or melted water yet on the ground other than the Hula Hula River.
Other notes: 28F, east winds 23 mph, overcast and blowing snow with whiteout conditions, Amauligruaq (Common Eider), Avatalik (Snow Bunting), Brown birds, Kaŋuq (Snow Goose), Nauyaq (Gull), Niġliq (Goose), Qargiq (Ptarmigan), Quagak (Duck), Tulugaq (Raven), Ukpik (Snowy Owl), Nanuq (Polar Bear), Tiġiganniaq (Arctic Fox), Tuttu (Caribou), Umiŋmak (Muskox) and Iqalukpik (Arctic Char) sighted.” - Carla SimsKayotuk

5/23 in Point Hope: “35*north at 5mph cloudy. Pictures from a couple days ago at my camp. Brought my mix lab out to camp and he got my geese for me. He surprised me that day, he deserved and extra scooby snack, ha!” - Guy Omnik

5/22 in Point Lay: “This has been the windiest spring whaling for point lay. Crew has put their whaling gear away due to river water flowing into our lagoon. Hunters are out there inland hunting geese.
Unusual conditions: windy windy windy
Other notes: -3F, NE winds 22 mph, blowing heavy snow, Niġliq (Goose), Qiŋalik (King Eider), Quagak (Duck) sighted" - Robert Lisbourne

5/21 in Kotzebue: “The clouds have moved in and it is raining. This should speed up the melting process. I flew over Kobuk Lake a few days ago and it still looks solid. The only water was next to the beaches and the open water on the Little Noatak-Pike Spit channel. Most of the tundra is now snow free. The Kobuk River is breaking up a is making its way down river. It won't take very long to reach the Kobuk Lake. Folks up the Kobuk River are now out hunting via boat. Lucky folks.” - Bobby Schaeffer

05/21/2026

Good afternoon! We have observations, photos and satellite images to share this week for Kotzebue, Point Hope and Wainwright:

5/21 in Kotzebue: “The clouds have moved in and it is raining. This should speed up the melting process. I flew over Kobuk Lake a few days ago and it still looks solid. The only water was next to the beaches and the open water on the Little Noatak-Pike Spit channel. Most of the tundra is now snow free. The Kobuk River is breaking up a is making its way down river. It won't take very long to reach the Kobuk Lake. Folks up the Kobuk River are now out hunting via boat. Lucky folks.” - Bobby Schaeffer

5/20 in Point Hope: “Gm. 32* calm winds. Foggy. Yesterdays geese hunt... may 16 pho landed its 8th whale of the season, i think there is 1 more strike ..” - Guy Omnik

5/18 in Wainwright: “winds ene 15-18 mph temp 27f white out conditions what a cold spring but the geese have arrived once we warm up it will all melt fast wainwrights second whale was landed 2 days ago been a busy few days her in ulguniq” - Jase Ahmaogak

05/12/2026

Good afternoon! It has been a busy and bustling spring for us this season. We have observations to share from Point Hope, Kaktovik and Wainwright today, including successful bowhead harvests and lots of wildlife sightings. Wishing all the crews a safe and bountiful spring whaling season!

5/11 in Point Hope: “Good evening. Yesterday around 35* mostly sunny calm winds. Today cloudy 34* north 10-15 mph. Yesterday pho caught its 7th whale of the season.” - Guy Omnik

5/9 in Kaktovik: “These last 2 weeks we have seen the sun, rain and snow blow. Today it is a combination of fog and wind and clear weather. The geese are flying. The Hula Hula River is overflowing but has also refrozen in certain areas. Last weekend a group of 8-12 went up to first and caught over 20 arctic char.
Other notes: 23F, NE winds 21mph, blowing snow, overcast, visibility up to 1 mile, start of breakup on lakes, lagoons and rivers, and bears foxes and waterfowl sighted” - Carla SimsKayotuk

5/9 in Wainwright: “wainwrights 1st whale has been landed 2 days ago we had beautiful weather light winds overcast ne winds 5-10 temp 31f we have a few days to recouperate today winds ese 20-25 mph temp 27f overcast causing white out conditions

Live to hunt another day” - Jase Ahmoagak

5/7 in Wainwright: “temp 30f winds ne 5-10 current coming from the south what we call qaisagniq we are 21 miles north of the village in our whaling camp boats are out scouting as i type lots of ring seals playing around near camp

Live to hunt another day” - Jase Ahmaogak

05/01/2026

04/30/2026

📢📢 We have big news!! Support AAOKH today to sustain your impact for generations!

AAOKH launched the Alaska Arctic Observatory & Knowledge Hub Endowment Fund aimed at sustaining and strengthening Indigenous self-determination in Arctic research and Indigenous-led stewardship of the Alaska Arctic environment.

You can support and help us build on a collaborative network of Inupiaq observers across coastal Arctic Alaska, engage the next generation of Indigenous and allied scholars at UAF, and spark new research by mobilizing over 12,000 environmental observations made by community-based Indigenous observers since 2006!

To give now to the AAOKH Endowment Fund, please go to: https://arctic-aok.org/support-us/ and click on ‘Give Now’.

You can also contact us directly if you have specific ideas about your interests in supporting AAOKH’s mission and vision.

Thank you for supporting AAOKH and UAF!!

04/30/2026

Here's yesterday's 4/29/26 MODIS satellite image of the NW and North Slope of Alaska. Lots of clouds affecting the view in places, but also starting to see tundra becoming exposed in the NW Arctic Borough.

Here's the updated observation from Bobby Schaeffer yesterday in Qikiqtagruk (Kotzebue):
"The seagulls have been here for over a week since the first thaw began. But, no report of waterfowl yet. With so much water on top of the ice, it's hard to travel safely. Could get stuck in deep water but, once the water soaks through the ice, travel is safe again. The evening temperatures dip below freezing and freezes the snow making snowmobile travel possible before the daytime heat starts to melt it again.It's melting quickly so most of the tundra is showing now however, the creeks and willow areas is still white.

The weather has been quite warm for this time of the year. With the hot sun and mid-thirties temperatures, there has been a tremendous amount of snow melt. The Buckland River area snow melt was so fast that the water from the melting snow caused the river to fill up with water and the water started to flow downstream on top of the ice. I saw a few pictures from upper Kobuk where the Kobuk River is filling up with water as well. The warm weather is to continue for the next week with high temperatures in the mid-thirties to low forties and evening temperatures in the mid-twenties. "

04/29/2026

Conditions are changing rapidly in the Kotzebue region.

28 April, Bobby Schaeffer sent pictures, sharing: "As you can see, the warm weather we are experiencing is melting the snow quite rapidly causing a lot of water on top the ice. Rain today. Going to melt the snow quickly. The Buckland River is already flowing. Water on top of the ice flowing. Snow melt is causing all the creeks to flow early."
Although the AAOKH team planned to visit Kotzebue on Monday to recover the ocean and ice monitoring equipment, we are grateful for Bobby and Vincent Schaeffer, who retrieved all the equipment last night. More soon on what data were collected under the ice this winter!

Conditions changed quickly compared to Bobby's Monday 4/27 observation: "Holy smokes, it was 47 degrees upcountry. Melting nicely. Some water under the snow on the ice but not bad traveling yet. Supposed to stay warm for the remainder of the week. Ice is still 4 ft thick in most places. May be an early Spring but, we shall see what the month of May brings"

04/28/2026

We have an update to share for the Arctic PISCES project. See the message below from Jim Thomson (University of Washington) on how to access the data:

"Spring buoy deployments have begun for Arctic PISCES. Yesterday we scouted the trail offshore of the NARL and talked with whaling crews, then deployed four buoys and one mooring. The next few days will be more deployments.

The buoys measure light, temperature, and motion. A few of them also measure the weather and the ocean currents. The moorings also measure temperature and light, along with sea floor pressure. The data arrive every two hours via satellite, and can be viewed on either backyard buoys or on the project website (links below). Working in parallel with the UAF sea ice radar, our goal is to understand when sections of landfast ice may breakout from the coast and become mobile.

Realtime data will be available from the project website
https://arctic.labworks.org/

and on Backyard Buoys
https://software.apl.uw.edu/proto/BackyardBuoys/app.php

04/27/2026

Good morning! We have whaling trail maps from our AAOKH trail mapping team to share. Matthew Druckenmiller and Josh Jones were able to complete the spring sea ice trail maps built by Utqiaġvik whalers, including a map of ice thickness along the trails. Use the QR codes to load these maps on your phone or other mobile device using the Avenza App.

Ice trails for spring whaling at Utqiagvik have been under construction for the last many weeks to months. Several trails to the north recently made it to the shorefast ice edge, while several trails to the south are either still in progress or have been paused. The trails encounter very rough and ridged ice that attached in late winter, indicated by the thickest (blue) ice values shown in the map. Hunters have noted some dangerous spots marked by big cracks and refrozen water on the ice. Also, many have reported finding few suitable locations at the edge for hauling up a harvested whale. Trail locations are likely to change some as ice conditions evolve this spring.

Quyanaqpak to the North Slope Borough Department of Wildlife Management and UIC Science for your continued support and collaboration on this project. Trail mapping activities this year were supported by the Alaska Ocean Observing System. You can learn more about our trail mapping project and explore other sea ice resources at our website: https://arctic-aok.org/sea-ice-data-and-resources/