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A strong parade of storms has been making its way through the North Central Pacific Ocean, and the location of the jet stream has produced colder storms for Unalaska and the Aleutian region this year. That’s according to Rick Thoman, a climate specialist at the International Arctic Research Center with the University of Alaska Fairbanks.
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On April 1, a young humpback whale was found tied up in a probable fishing line and anchored down in a busy area in Iliuliuk Bay. Four days later, a group of whale entanglement experts carefully cut the line wrapped around the humpback's mouth and tail.
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Over 100 earthquakes were recorded at the Bogoslof volcano earlier this week, which is located 61 miles northwest of Unalaska.
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Archaeologists found brown and polar bear bones – some over 5,000 years old – at two dig sites on Unalaska and Amaknak Islands in the Aleutians during the early 2000s. Since then, the bones have puzzled scientists. There are no bears on either island today and no historical records of bears ever living there.
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A volcanic eruption on Unimak Island has triggered an air quality advisory in Unalaska, the first time Unalaska has been affected by Mount Shishaldin’s summertime eruptions.
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NOAA Fisheries has agreed to reevaluate right whale habitat in response to petition for more protected areas near the Aleutians and Alaska Peninsula.
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A Japanese whaling and research ship refueled in Unalaska over the weekend, on its way back to Japan following a 70-day cruise in the Bering Sea.
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The Center for Biological Diversity intends to sue the federal government over a new marine highway in Alaska. The environmental group sent a notice letter on Sept. 21 to the U.S. Maritime Administration, which designated the new highway. The letter contends that the federal agency is violating the Endangered Species Act for failing to consider possible harm to endangered wildlife along Alaska’s coast.
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A group of scientists from Colorado is using drone technology to keep an eye on activity in Makushin Volcano.
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Scientists aboard a federal research vessel may have discovered two new species in the Aleutian Islands this summer.
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Unalaska’s Alaska Native village corporation, Ounalashka Corp., is set to receive $1 million from the federal government to clean up contaminated land. The Ounalashka Corp. said it will use the grant money to remove soils contaminated with PCBs and conduct an initial round of soil and groundwater sampling at a WWII-era warehouse.
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The NOAA research vessel Okeanos Explorer recently stopped by Unalaska. The crew is mapping the floor of the Bering Sea as part of Seascape Alaska, a five-month project that started in May of this year.