MCMURDO STATION, ANTARCTICA-- The tiny stairs of the military transport airplane were difficult to descend in my giant plastic boots. The jet engines groaned and my goggles fogged with the first blast of Antarctic air...

SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA-- It’s not surprising that a trip to the bottom of the world might provoke thoughts of death. It’s true the risks we…

TOOLIK LAKE STATION, ALASKA-- Balsam poplar is the northern-most tree species in North America. In Arctic Alaska, it occurs sporadically in isolated stands often adjacent to perennial springs or on south-facing slopes. Join our field crew as we venture...

MOSS LANDING, CALIFORNIA– All Antarctic organisms have unique adaptations that allow them to survive the extreme freezing Antarctic environment. Antarctic fish, for example, have antifreeze proteins that keep their blood from freezing...

MOSS LANDING, CALIFORNIA-- Polar bears have become the icon of climate change, stirring people’s emotions and bringing awareness to the issue in an unprecedented manner. And yet, both in the scientific research community and the media there is disagreement and discrepancies over what the real impacts of climate change on polar bears are...

COLDFOOT, ALASKA-- After a weaving flight through the mountains beneath the cloud ceiling, we are back at Coldfoot, beer-in-hand and sun-in-face. Should it end any other way? Well, in fact, it shall...

MOSS LANDING, CALIFORNIA– Among the variety of challenges facing polar societies is the melting permafrost and its effect on people who have been surviving in the Arctic for millennia...

SUMMIT CAMP, GREENLAND– (By Lisa Strong-Aufhauser) We, but even more so, I, spent a lot of time in LC-130 Hercules transport planes operated by the U.S. Air National Guard out of Stratton Air Force Base in New York...

MOSS LANDING, CALIFORNIA-- “Not only has climate change begun, but we are seeing a significant impact,” said Wayne Pollard from McGill University in Montreal, Canada in his plenary talk on “The effects of climate change on polar landscapes"...

COLVILLE RIVER, ALASKA– The science has reached the home stretch now, as has the entire summer’s field effort. We got a break in the cloudy weather last night, and sat around a fire labeling sample bags and weighing/organizing samples...