In Alaska, ice is infrastructure. For example, the Kuskokwim River, which runs over 1,100 kilometers across southwestern Alaska, freezes so solid that it becomes a marked ice road connecting dozens of communities spread over 300 kilometers<\/a>. In sparsely populated interior Alaska, frozen rivers are indispensable for transporting goods, visiting family, and delivering kids to school basketball games.<\/p>\n Along Alaska\u2019s west coast, the frozen waters of the Bering Sea also act as infrastructure. Each winter, frigid air transforms much of the Bering between Russia and Alaska into sea ice. As it fastens to shore, the ice provides platforms for fishing and hunting, and safe routes between communities. It also prevents wave action and storm surges from eroding the shores of coastal villages.<\/p>\n The steady decline of sea ice is old news, but 2019<\/a> brought exceptional conditions. In January, a series of warm storms began breaking apart the ice, which had formed late and was thinner than usual. By late March, the Bering Sea was largely open, at a time when the ice usually reaches its maximum for the year, which historically has been as much as 900,000<\/a> square kilometers (more than twice the size of the province of Alberta). In April, US federal scientists reported<\/a> coverage was even lower than the unprecedented low extent of 2018<\/a>. By mid-May, ice that should have persisted into June was almost entirely gone.<\/p>\n In March 2019, the Bering Sea had much less ice than usual. Photos by the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration<\/p><\/div>\n Declining sea ice and melting permafrost are having devastating impacts on Alaskan villages. Since 2003, the United States Government Accountability Office has identified at least 31 communities<\/a> at risk, with erosion imperiling homes, roads, and drinking water sources. Three villages\u2014Kivalina, Newtok<\/a>, and Shishmaref\u2014must relocate soon or cease to exist, a traumatic reality brought into sharper focus by the warm 2019 winter.<\/p>\n In an added hardship, disappearing ice cuts off access<\/a> to hunting and fishing routes, and the warming ocean is changing where fish and marine mammals can be found. This has real nutritional<\/a> consequences in a land where many residents still rely on subsistence hunting and fishing. Commercial crab, cod, and pollock fleets also wrestle with the changes<\/a>.<\/p>\n Beyond the immediate impacts on people and infrastructure, less ice in the Bering and in the neighboring Chukchi Sea to the north have far-reaching atmospheric effects in Alaska. As Thoman explains, the massive area of newly open water creates warmer air temperatures and provides more moisture to storms. It can increase coastal erosion and winter rain or even produce heavier snow far inland. Researchers are also investigating whether disappearing sea ice is affecting<\/a> continental weather patterns.<\/p>\n![\"comparison](\"https:\/\/hakaimagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/comparison-alaska-warming-1200x675.jpg\")
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