A belt of warm air is currently stretching from northern Greenland across the North Pole to the Laptev and East Siberian Seas north of the Russian mainland. Northeast of Svalbard from Franz Josef Land to Severnaya Zemlya see similar heat. On a recent November weekend the average temperature was 6.7°C above normal across the Arctic.

A massive ocean wave that was tracked off the west coast of Vancouver Island in 2020 is now considered the most extreme rogue wave ever recorded, according to scientists at the University of Victoria.

It was first reported, here, two months ago, that a pod of Killer Whales off the coasts of Spain and New Spain (i.e. Portugal) was exhibiting never-before-seen behavior in carrying out coordinated attacks on boats.

For the first time, cod and squid have been found deep in the water at the center of the ocean. The research by Pauline Snoeijs Leijonmalm, a professor at Stockholm University, was part of the Mosaic expedition, an icebreaker that spent a year trapped in the Arctic's ice.

“My boys told me my cabin went into the river,” said Rita Hulkill, who is 82. “My cabin had been there since the 70s. The water has never been that high ever.”

Starting on the night of Wednesday, November 4, and continuing through Friday, a major storm ripped through the Norton Sound region, causing widespread closures and some damaging flooding.

The species Japanese sea purse is found by divers in Stavanger harbour. "This is a plague we have been waiting for," says researcher Vivian Husa of the Institute of Marine Research. Now she particularly warns mussel breeders about the danger the species represents.

Late last week a strong Bering Sea storm hit the region, bringing winds up to 50mph, blowing snow, and high-water. Some communities saw significant erosion while others were mostly unscathed.

Pacific sand lance can be found along the Western and Southern coasts of Alaska, although their distribution is based on habitat availability. Computer models suggest that there is a low probability this habitat exists near Kivalina.

Coonstripe shrimp (Pandalus hypsinotis) can be found at a depth of 30-300 feet in Norton Sound. During a strong storm, some washed up on a beach north of their known range.

The Outer Hebrides are already suffering from the impacts of climate change including higher tides, longer storms and erosion.

On 2 November 2020, the Japanese invertebarate Didemnum vexillum was detected by diver and underwater photographer Erling Svensen at Engøyholmen in Stavanger harbor. The aim of a new monitoring project is to register occurrences of the presumed recently arrived D. vexillum in the delimited areas, and then to map how it spreads locally, and also what impact it has on the local fauna.

For the first time since records began, the Laptev Sea has not yet formed sea ice by the end of October. Scientists attribute the lack of ice to early summer warming and an extreme heatwave in Siberia, as well as warm Atlantic currents flowing into the Arctic.

The beaches of Namibia have been filled with thousands of seal fetuses. The problem was first detected in August, when observers began to see an unusual number of abortions and prematurely killed pups on the beaches of Pelican Point. Current estimates indicate about 5,000 have died in Pelican Point alone, although the precise reasons are still unknown.

After the Arctic Ocean recorded its second-lowest summer ice minimum last month, conditions have grown worse across the region. Large parts of the Arctic Ocean, which historically should be covered in new sea ice by now, remain largely ice free. 

The finding is prompting concerns that a new feedback loop that accelerates climate change may have already been triggered.

A tsunami warning was issued for areas along the Alaska Peninsula coastline following the 7.4 earthquake, which was centered 62 miles from Sand Point. In this post, you can find links to the US Tsunami Warning Centers, as well as information on creating home emergency kits during COVID. We hope everyone stays safe as this event unfolds, and welcome observations of conditions along the Alaska Peninsula.

Residents across the Bering Strait have continued to report unusual amounts of foreign trash washing up on their beaches. After months of working on the models, NOAA has been able to pin the source of the debris as likely somewhere southwest of St. Lawrence Island in the Gulf of Anadyr.

Residents of the coastal Chumikan village reported two adult whales and one baby on Wednesday afternoon, on a shore of the Uda River that flows into the sea. Alexei Paramonov spent hours protecting the pod from wild animals and poachers and saved the baby whale from hypothermia. 

A mass die off of fish and invertebrates has been reported in the Sea of Okhotsk, west of Kamchatka. Dozens of surfers reported symptoms including including poor eyesight, fever, diarrhea, nausea, vomiting, skin rashes and head and throat aches.