Knowing Our Changing Home
Alaska’s climate is changing and the 13 stories in Knowing Our Changing Home explores what that means — not just in data or degrees, but in the lives and stories of people who feel it most.
These stories share what the science is telling us and how individuals are adapting to a rapidly changing landscape. They highlight not only the science explaining the changes but also the voices of those who know this place best.
Explore all stories in the 2026 Edition of Knowing Our Changing Home
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70,000 Walrus, Seals and Sea Ice
The loss of Arctic sea ice has cycled through headlines for decades, rising and falling in public attention as new records are broken. But for researchers like Maeghan Connor and Donna Hauser, sea ice loss is not a trending headline, it is the focus of their lives’ work.
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Changing Ice and Rising Waters: Glacial Floods in Juneau’s Mendenhall Valley
It was one of those rare cloudless days in Juneau when the Mendenhall Valley felt like a playground. Kids pedaled along trails, families hiked beside the lake, and lawns buzzed with summer chores. But beneath the glacier, a hidden force was building, and it would soon surge into the city.
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Caribou Herds in Arctic Alaska Tundra Areas are on Opposite Trends
The Western Arctic Caribou Herd, once the biggest in Alaska, is faltering, having fallen from a high of 490,000 animals in 2003 to only 152,000 as of 2023. But to the east, the Porcupine Caribou Herd appears to be thriving, with an all-time high of 218,00 animals recorded at the last census.
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Ice science from pre-k to gray
Father Thinh Van Tran knows about ice. A Catholic priest who serves the Diocese of Fairbanks, he’s spent time in the remote rural Alaska communities of Nulato, Koyukuk, Galena and Kaltag, deep in Interior Alaska. During that time he’s come to appreciate how river ice serves as a major transportation corridor for these communities.
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Rivers of Change: The Impact of Climate Shifts on Salmon Habitats in Southeast Alaska
Water is the thread that weaves Lingít Aaní or Southeast Alaska together. It falls from the sky as relentless rain, clings to mountains as snow and collects in ice fields and glaciers. It trickles through peat-rich muskegs and carves deep fjords that open into the sea.
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Sentinels of the Northern slopes: Mountain Goats, Avalanches and Ceremonial Robes
To be a mountain goat is to live where no one else dares. High above the treelines of Southeast Alaska, the alpine mammals creep along ridgelines and mountainsides through dense snow in search of bare ground where they can forage for food.
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Berry-stained Science in a Changing Climate
Up the Taku River, a washtub sank under the weight of red jewels, glittering in the sunlight. A family skiff held thousands of ripe nagoonberries and strawberries, evidence of a long day of harvest.
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Reading Rings: Subfossil Wood Reveals a Glacier’s Climate History
In 2023, research ecologist Jeremy Litell, along with students and staff from the Juneau Icefield Research Program, skied miles across glaciers and ice ridges to follow up on a report of a five-needle pine tree dwelling in the gnarled, patchy, treeline, known as an alpine ecotone, that lined the Llewellyn Glacier.
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In Alaska’s tundra desert, freshwater fish survival depends on a lesser-known — and thinning — permafrost feature
On the North Slope, all eyes are on aufeis.
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Studying a Melting World: Seventy Years of Glacier Records Threatened
Changing routes, inaccessible weather stations and an uncertain future.
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What Happens When a Community Passes ‘Peak Water’? Cordova and Kodiak Tell Two Stories of Energy and Industry
In many of Alaska’s small, coastal communities, the same old joke has danced on residents’ tongues, and stuck in their noses, for generations: You smell our town before you see it.
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When it rains, it snows – precipitation changes across Alaska
The end of 2025 will remain fresh in Juneauʼs collective memory as historic amounts of snow fell across the town, blanketing rooftops, boats and roadways, disrupting everyday life and making national news.
About this publication
Stories that go beyond the science
Knowing Our Changing Home is the first in an ongoing series from the Alaska Climate Adaptation Science Center. It features stories about how communities are adapting and how science is informing decisions.
