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Alaska's Pristine Waterways Are Turning Orange

Some of Alaska's clear, icy blue waterways are turning a startling rust orange – so intense it's visible from Earth's orbit.

After first noticing the problem in 2018 from river banks and fly-overs, National Park Service ecologist Jon O'Donnell, Poulin and their colleagues used satelliteimagery and public reports to identify over 75 remote streams recently tainted this unusual orange color, across almost 1,000 kilometers (1,610 miles) of Alaska's Brooks Range. Samples from some of these waterways collected between June and September 2022 contained high concentrations of iron and other toxic metals, including zinc, copper, nickel, and lead, when compared to nearby healthy streams. "Our working hypothesis is that the thawing of permafrost soil is allowing water to infiltrate deeper and interact with minerals that have been locked away for thousands of years," explains Poulin.

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