The combination of snowfall, snow water equivalent (SWE), and precipitation rate measurements from 39 Snow Telemetry (SNOTEL) sites in Alaska are used to assess the performance of various precipitation products from satellites, reanalysis, and rain gauges. Observation of precipitation from two water years (2018-2019) of the high resolution radar/rain gauge data (Stage IV) product was also utilized to add insights into scaling differences between various products. The outcomes were also used to assess two popular methods for rain gauge undercatch correction. It was found that SWE and precipitation measurements at SNOTELs, as well as precipitation estimates based on Stage IV data, are generally consistent and can provide a range in which other products can be assessed. Time-series of snowfall and SWE accumulation suggests that most of the products can capture snowfall events; however, differences exist in their accumulation. Reanalysis products tend to overestimate snow accumulation in the study area, while current combined passive microwave remote sensing products (i.e., IMERG-HQ) underestimate snowfall accumulation. We found that corrections factors applied to rain gauges are effective in improving their undercatch, especially for snowfall. However, no improvement in correlation is seen when correction factors are applied, and rainfall is still estimated better than snowfall. Even though IMERG-HQ has less skill in capturing snowfall than rainfall, analysis using Taylor plots showed that the combined microwave product does have skill in capturing the geographical distribution of snowfall and precipitation accumulation, so bias adjustment might lead to reasonable precipitation estimates. This study demonstrates that other snow properties (e.g., SWE accumulation at the SNOTEL sites) can complement precipitation data to estimate snowfall. In the future, gridded SWE and snow depth data from GlobSnow and Sentinel-1 can be used to assess snowfall and its distribution over broader regions.

The air quality monitoring network in Alaska is currently limited to ground-based observations in urban areas and national parks leaving a large proportion of the state unmonitored. The use of MODIS aerosol optical depth (AOD) to estimate ground-level particulate pollution concentrations has been successfully demonstrated around the world, and could potentially be used in Alaska. In this work, MODIS AOD measurements at 550 nm were validated against AOD derived from AERONET ground-based sunphotometers in Barrow and Bonanza Creek to determine if MODIS AOD from the Terra and Aqua satellites could be used to estimate ground-level particulate pollution concentrations. The MODIS AOD was obtained from MODIS collection 6 using the dark target Land and Ocean algorithms from 2000 to 2014. MODIS data could only be obtained between the months of April and October; therefore, it could only be validated for those months. Individual and combined Terra and Aqua MODIS data were considered. The results showed that MODIS collection 6 products at 10 km resolution for Terra and Aqua combined are not valid over land but are valid over the ocean. On the other hand, the individual Terra and Aqua MODIS collection 6 AOD products at 10 km resolution are valid over land individually but not when combined. Results also suggest the MODIS collection 6 AOD products at 3 km resolution are valid over land and ocean and perform better over land than the 10-km product. These findings indicate that MODIS collection 6 AOD products can be used quantitatively in air quality applications in Alaska during the summer months.

To assess the presence of organochlorine pollutants (OCP) in Alaskan sub-Arctic latitudes, we analyzed ice core and meltwater samples from Jarvis Glacier, a polythermal glacier in Interior Alaska. Jarvis Glacier is receding as atmospheric warming continues throughout the region, increasing opportunity for OCP transport both englacially and into the proglacial watershed. Across all meltwater and ice core samples we identify the pesticides DDT, DDE and DDD, α- HCH and ϒ-HCH. OCP concentrations in ice core samples were highest at the 7-14 m depth (0.51 ng/L of DDT) and decreased gradually approaching the bedrock at 79m. Meltwater concentrations from the proglacial creek slightly exceeded concentrations found in the ice core, potentially indicating aggregate OCP glacial loss, with peak OCP concentration (1.12 ng/L of DDD) taken in July and potentially associated to peak melt. Ongoing use of DDT to fight Malaria in Asia, and the extended atmospheric range of HCH may account for concentrations in near-surface ice, correlating with use and atmospheric transport. The opportunity for biota bioaccumulation of OCPs, or human uptake of OCPs from glacial meltwater, may increase as glacial melt continues.

The novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, the causative agent of COVID-19, emerged in the human population in December 2019 and spread worldwide within a few short months. Much of the public health focus for preventing and mitigating the spread of COVID-19 has been on individual and collective behaviors, such as social distancing, mask-wearing, and hygiene. Yet it is equally important to recognize that these behaviors and health outcomes occur within broader social and environmental contexts. Factors within local communities, regional policy, race, history, personal beliefs, and natural- and built environmental characteristics affect underlying population health and the spread of disease. For example, COVID-19 has renewed attention to secure water and sanitation services and their importance in protecting human health. Many remote Alaskan communities are particularly vulnerable because of inadequate water and sanitation systems. In this paper, we describe how inadequate water and sewer services may place the inhabitants of remote Alaskan communities at higher risk of COVID spread. We argue that insufficient water security and inadequate sewer systems, along with household overcrowding, multigenerational residences, limited transportation options, limited medical facilities, and higher prevalence of chronic diseases could lead to a greater potential of COVID-19 transmission and to more severe disease outcomes in these communities.

Forests are critical in regulating the world’s climate and they maintain overall Earth’s energy balance. The variability in forest canopy structure, topography and underneath vegetation background condition creates uncertainty in the estimation and modelling of Earth’s surface radiation particularly for boreal regions in high latitude. We studied seasonal variation in surface reflectance with respect to land cover classes, canopy structures, and topography in a boreal region of Alaska by fusing together Landsat 8 surface reflectance and LiDAR-derived canopy matrices. Our study shows that canopy structure and topography interplay and influence surface reflectance in a complex way particularly during the snow season. Topographic aspect and elevation control vegetation growth, type and structure. The southern slope is featured with more deciduous and taller trees having greater rugosity than the northern slope. Higher elevation is associated with taller trees for both vegetation types, particularly in the southern slope. In general, surface reflectance shows similar relationships with canopy cover, height and rugosity, mainly due to close relationships between these parameters. Surface reflectance decreases with canopy cover, tree height, and rugosity especially for evergreen forest. Deciduous forest shows larger variability of surface reflectance, particularly in March, mainly due to the mixing effect of snow and vegetation. The relationship between vegetation structure and surface reflectance is greatly impacted by topography. The negative relationship between elevation and surface reflectance may be due to taller and denser vegetation distribution in higher elevation. Surface reflectance in the southern slope is slightly larger than the northern slope for both deciduous and evergreen forest. The shadow effect from topography and tree crowns on surface reflectance play a different role for deciduous and evergreen forests. For deciduous forest, topographic shadow effect on surface reflectance is stronger than from tree shadowing in all seasons. For evergreen forest, shadow effects from topography and tree crowns on surface reflectance are both equally dominant, however tree shadow effect is more significant in March than in May and August. The generalized additive models (GAM) based on non-linear relationships between response (surface reflectance) and predictor (canopy structures and topography) variables confirms such observations. Our study not only provides accurate quantification of surface radiation budget but also helps in parametrization of climate change models.

A very strong earthquake of magnitude Mw8.2 struck the coastal zone of Alaska (USA), on July 29, 2021. This earthquake was felt around the Gulf of Alaska, on a wide offshore area belonging to USA and Canada. In order to identify an anomalous geomagnetic signal before the onset of this earthquake, we retrospectively analyzed the data collected on the interval June 17 - July 31, 2021, via internet (www.intermagnet.org), at the two geomagnetic observatories, College (CMO) - Alaska and Newport (NEW)-USA, by using the polarization parameter (BPOL) and the strain effect–related to geomagnetic signal identification. Thus, for the both observation sites (CMO and NEW), the daily mean distribution of the BPOL and its standard deviation (STDEV) are carried out using an FFT band-pass filtering in the ULF range (0.001-0.0083Hz). Further on, a statistical analysis based on a standardized random variable equation was applied to emphasize the following: a) the anomalous signature related to Mw8.2 earthquake on the both time series BPOL*(CMO) and BPOL*(NEW); b) the differentiation of the transient local anomalies associated with Mw8.2 earthquake from the internal and external parts of the geomagnetic field, taking the NEW observatory as reference. Finally, on the BPOL*(NEW-CMO) time series, carried out on the interval 07-31 July, 2021, a very clear anomaly of maximum, greater than 1.2 STDEV, was detected on July 22, with 7 days before the onset of Mw8.2 earthquake

Waste from fish cutting (heads, swim bladders, fins, skin, bones) is a high-value technological raw material for obtaining substances and products based on them with a wide range of properties. The possibility of using waste from cutting fish of the Gadidae family: the Alaska pollock (Gadus chalcogrammus) and the Pacific cod (Gadus macrocephalus), processed in the coastal zone, is scientifically substantiated. In this work, a technology has been developed for processing accumulated waste from fish cutting in order to obtain fish gelatin, which is characterized by high protein content (more than 80.0%) and a full set of essential and nonessential amino acids. We studied the quality of fish gelatin obtained from wastes from cutting the fish of the Gadidae family. The possibility of using fish gelatin as a component of fish products is shown; the dose of its introduction into the fish products is substantiated. The data obtained made it possible to recommend the use of fish processing waste products as a gelling component and a source of amino acids in multicomponent food systems.