![Arctic Bering Land Bridge in the fall](/subjects/aknatureandscience/images/ArcticEcosystems.jpg?maxwidth=650&autorotate=false)
![A caribou skull in the Oolah Valley of Gates of the Arctic.](/common/uploads/grid_builder/aknatureandscience/crop16_9/ED2042BC-1DD8-B71B-0B954BCDE8936561.jpg?width=640&quality=90&mode=crop)
Learn more about the Arctic region, its ecosystems, people, and history.
![Sockeye salmon in spawning colors.](/common/uploads/grid_builder/aknatureandscience/crop16_9/1D10C5E1-9D29-4440-EFD7535877711A25.jpg?width=640&quality=90&mode=crop)
The Arctic is increasingly warmer, less frozen, and wetter, with regional extremes in weather, climate patterns, and ecosystem responses.
![An archaeologist takes notes at a dig high in the Brooks Range.](/common/uploads/grid_builder/aknatureandscience/crop16_9/D0AA1EF0-90CC-448B-863B9F3E9515C415.jpg?width=640&quality=90&mode=crop)
Inupiaq and Athabascan people and their ancestors traveled long distances over rough terrain throughout the central Brooks Range.
![A snowshoe hare is perfectly camoflagued in the snow.](/common/uploads/grid_builder/aknatureandscience/crop16_9/D0D123DC-B55E-FD0E-2A6861E2EC6F7908.jpg?width=640&quality=90&mode=crop)
Wildlife in the Arctic are particularly adapted for the climate and environment.
![The winter twilight of the coast of Cape Krusenstern](/common/uploads/grid_builder/aknatureandscience/crop16_9/EDD73C3A-1DD8-B71B-0BF0F5E1917038DA.jpg?width=640&quality=90&mode=crop)
The ecosystems along the Arctic coast are biologically diverse and culturally important.
![Exposed yedoma permafrost along an eroding coastline.](/common/uploads/grid_builder/aknatureandscience/crop16_9/EB6287D3-1DD8-B71B-0BCB6D2E9DDDE15B.jpg?width=640&quality=90&mode=crop)
Permafrost underlies Alaska's Arctic parks and parts of other interior parks; it influences many facets of park ecosystems.
![A polar bear on a chunk of ice in the Beaufort Sea.](/common/uploads/grid_builder/aknatureandscience/crop16_9/4494556E-9D79-79B1-5E5D339E04FF8EB3.jpg?width=1300&quality=90&mode=crop)
The Arctic is warming more than twice the global average. Learn more about the many facets of a warming climate and its impacts.
Last updated: December 14, 2023