Cheryl Katz's Avatar

Cheryl Katz

@ckatz99.bsky.social

Freelance journalist covering science and the environment, with special interest and extensive reporting experience in the Arctic. Bylines Smithsonian, NatGeo, Eos, Yale360, Hakai Mag and more. https://CherylKatz.com

294 Followers  |  379 Following  |  45 Posts  |  Joined: 29.09.2023  |  2.1362

Latest posts by ckatz99.bsky.social on Bluesky

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Interesting new study finds polar bears aging faster due to stress caused by #ClimateChange. Age advancing by a year for each degree of #Arctic warmingβ€”which is now up to +3 C. (Note: report in preprint) www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... πŸ§ͺ❄️

30.09.2025 16:19 β€” πŸ‘ 33    πŸ” 11    πŸ’¬ 3    πŸ“Œ 3
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Research | Watershed Futures Initiative | British Columbia Research paper by Marta Ulaski, et al "Barriers and opportunities for the effective management of cumulative effects in salmon ecosystems in British Columbia, Canada"

New report on the β€œthousand cuts” behind Pacific salmon’s population plungeβ€”and some solutions: www.watershedfuturesinitiative.com/research/ula....
My story about this complex dilemma and its tragic impacts on the Salmon People, for Smithsonian Magazine: www.smithsonianmag.com/science-natu...

09.09.2025 17:03 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0
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Svalbard Archipelago Lost 1% of Glacial Ice During Summer 2024 Heat Wave, New Study Finds Record-level temperatures battered Svalbard during summer of 2024. Researchers have now quantified the damage the heatwave caused: One percent of the archipelago’s ice had disappeared by the end of th...

Last summer’s record heat wave sent 1% of Svalbard’s ice down the drain.(Well not exactly, but you known what I mean…)❄️πŸ§ͺ
www.highnorthnews.com/en/svalbard-...

26.08.2025 17:16 β€” πŸ‘ 5    πŸ” 1    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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Svalbard winter warming is reaching melting point - Nature Communications The Arctic winters are changing fast. In February 2025, Svalbard endured rain, thawing tundra, and pooling meltwater. The Comment by Bradley and coauthors describes how winter warming is reshapin...

Winter temps in Svalbard above freezing for half of Feb.; new @nature.com paper shows the impacts. β€œWhen winter warming crosses the 0 °C threshold, it marks more than just a warm anomaly β€” it signals a fundamental shift in Arctic winter dynamics.” πŸ§ͺ❄️ www.nature.com/articles/s41...

21.07.2025 16:23 β€” πŸ‘ 7    πŸ” 5    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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Scientists urge global action to prevent industrial activity in Central Arctic Ocean A coalition of over 1,000 scientists has taken the occasion of this week’s U.N. Ocean Conference in Nice to call for a global agreement that would prevent industrial activities in the Central Arctic O...

www.rcinet.ca/eye-on-the-a...

16.06.2025 15:19 β€” πŸ‘ 3    πŸ” 2    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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Super-rich Russians plan big party on North Pole - ArcticToday Rock band Leningrad will perform and popular DJs, stand-up comedians and fitness celebrities will entertain. A group of well-connected Russians will on August 21 board the French luxury yacht Le Comma...

Waiting for my invite…
www.arctictoday.com/super-rich-r...

13.06.2025 16:00 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

β€œAnother year, another record… It’s sad.” β€”Ralph Keeling thehill.com/policy/energ...

11.06.2025 17:54 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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Public Domain | Substack Investigative reporting on public lands, wildlife and government. Click to read Public Domain, a Substack publication with thousands of subscribers.

Hidden inside β€œbig, beautiful” bill β€” opening 1000s of acres at edge of Minnesota’s irreplaceable Boundary Waters wilderness to mining. www.publicdomain.media?utm_source=n...

09.06.2025 16:39 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 1    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

πŸ§ͺ

03.06.2025 16:50 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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Salmon and related fish in global decline since 1980, Concordia study shows - Concordia University A new database covering over 1,000 rivers and streams reveals a sharp drop in the biomass of salmon, trout and similar species

Worldwide, populations of salmon and related species have dropped nearly 40 per cent since 1980, a new study finds: www.concordia.ca/cunews/stori... My recent @smithsonianmag.bsky.social story about the tragic impacts on Pac NW tribes: www.smithsonianmag.com/science-natu...

03.06.2025 16:02 β€” πŸ‘ 6    πŸ” 4    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0
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Trump Has Cut Science Funding to Its Lowest Level in Decades The lag in funding extends far beyond D.E.I. initiatives, affecting almost every area of science: chemistry, computing, engineering, materials and more.

www.nytimes.com/interactive/... πŸ§ͺ

28.05.2025 15:51 β€” πŸ‘ 7    πŸ” 3    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 2
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Salmon in the Pacific Northwest Are Facing a New Threat: Booming Populations of Seals and Sea Lions The mammals' return to the region represented a conservation success story, but their appetite for endangered fish is upsetting the balance of a delicate ecosystem

β€œManaging an endangered species that is preyed on by another endangered species is a complex thing.”
My latest, on the conservation conundrum in the Pacific Northwest, for @smithsonianmag www.smithsonianmag.com/science-natu... πŸ§ͺ

20.05.2025 20:08 β€” πŸ‘ 10    πŸ” 1    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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The Weather & Climate Livestream | Speakers Information for potential speakers at the Weather & Climate Livestream

Don’t miss the Weather & Climate Livestream, 5/28-6/1: a 100-hour nonpartisan talkathon about climate science and why it matters for everyone: wcstreamathon.netlify.app Scientists - sign up to speak and help Save America’s Forecasts πŸ§ͺ

19.05.2025 16:00 β€” πŸ‘ 2    πŸ” 1    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

Roar!
πŸ§ͺπŸ”­πŸ’‘πŸŒŽβ„οΈπŸ§¬

16.05.2025 15:35 β€” πŸ‘ 16    πŸ” 2    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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AGU and AMS join forces on special collection to maintain momentum of research supporting the U.S. National Climate assessment Congressionally mandated, the NCA draws on the latest scientific research to evaluate how climate change is affecting the United States. The new special collection does not replace the NCA but instead...

Kudos to @agu.org and @ametsoc.org for stepping up to fill the National Climate Assessment void! πŸ§ͺ
news.agu.org/press-releas...

02.05.2025 16:41 β€” πŸ‘ 4    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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Trump slaps bizarre tariffs on Arctic islands with almost no export The uninhabited volcanic island of Jan Mayen and the Svalbard archipelago are among the strangest places Trump has imposed tariffs on.

Tariffs on Svalbard and Jan Mayen? Just about the only thing these remote Arctic islands export is science…πŸ§ͺ
www.thebarentsobserver.com/news/trump-s...

03.04.2025 15:49 β€” πŸ‘ 12    πŸ” 2    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 1
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Arctic sea ice has shrunk to a new record low this year @nsidc.bsky.social reports. Meanwhile, Arctic winter temps have been running up to 2 C above average. πŸ§ͺ

27.03.2025 20:17 β€” πŸ‘ 12    πŸ” 5    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0
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Trump cuts target world-leading greenhouse gas observatory in Hawaii | Honolulu Star-Advertiser The Trump administration is considering canceling the lease of the support office for a renowned Hawaii climate research station, sources said, raising fears for the future of key work tracking the im...

β€œIt looks like our monitoring program will soon be dead.”https://www.staradvertiser.com/2025/03/11/breaking-news/trump-cuts-target-world-leading-greenhouse-gas-observatory-in-hawaii/ πŸ§ͺπŸ”­

12.03.2025 16:02 β€” πŸ‘ 17    πŸ” 12    πŸ’¬ 4    πŸ“Œ 3
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Burning at both endsβ€”global daily sea ice hit new low in Feb., @copernicusecmwf.bsky.social reports, and Antarctic seasonal ice cover remains near record low, @nsidc.bsky.social shows. nsidc.org/sea-ice-toda...

sites.ecmwf.int/data/c3sci/b...

06.03.2025 17:10 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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Help Denmark Buy California – Because Why Not? Buy it from Trump, the bigliest crowdsourcing ever

As a Californian, I’m all for this: denmarkification.com I’m especially excited about the smΓΈrrebrΓΈd! πŸ‡©πŸ‡°

14.02.2025 16:59 β€” πŸ‘ 2    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

Best wishes to my favorite β€œUndesirables.” Keep up the great work, @thebarentsobserver.com!!!

07.02.2025 17:00 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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NSF reexamines existing awards to comply with Trump’s directives Normal operations have been disrupted as staff look for offending words

Self-censorship at NSF?
www.science.org/content/arti... πŸ§ͺ

05.02.2025 17:17 β€” πŸ‘ 3    πŸ” 2    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 1
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Could Trump Use the β€˜God Squad’ to Override Environmental Law? The president wants to convene the rarely used panel, which has the power to carve out exemptions to the Endangered Species Act. Here’s what to know.

Today’s alarming question: will the β€œGod Squad” be marshalled to wipe out endangered species? πŸ§ͺ
www.nytimes.com/2025/01/28/c...

29.01.2025 19:01 β€” πŸ‘ 4    πŸ” 3    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

1000s of Greenland lakes have abruptly shifted from carbon sinks to sources β€” driving CO2 output up 350%, new @umaine.bsky.social paper in @pnas.org finds. I accompanied the researchers in 2023 and wrote this report from the field: e360.yale.edu/features/gre... πŸ§ͺ

www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

24.01.2025 19:55 β€” πŸ‘ 49    πŸ” 8    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 1

Well hell β€” our home solar installation just finished yesterday, at the same time as this:

22.01.2025 16:49 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 1    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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In Boost for Renewables, Grid-Scale Battery Storage Is on the Rise Driven by technological advances, facilities are being built with storage systems that can hold enough renewable energy to power hundreds of thousands of homes. The advent of β€œbig battery” technology ...

The massive Moss Landing energy storage facility was largely destroyed by a battery fire this weekend β€” the 4th (including one at an adjacent site) since I wrote about the project in 2020: e360.yale.edu/features/in-... Could deal a major blow to grid renewable energy storage efforts. πŸ§ͺπŸͺ«πŸ’‘

20.01.2025 17:08 β€” πŸ‘ 3    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
Four polar stereographic maps showing Arctic sea ice thickness for the month of January in 1984-1993, 1994-2003, 2004-2013, and 2014-2023. Thickness is shown with colors from black at 0 meters to purple at 2.5 meters to white at 5.0 meters. Sea ice in thinning in all regions over time.

Four polar stereographic maps showing Arctic sea ice thickness for the month of January in 1984-1993, 1994-2003, 2004-2013, and 2014-2023. Thickness is shown with colors from black at 0 meters to purple at 2.5 meters to white at 5.0 meters. Sea ice in thinning in all regions over time.

Check out the changes in January #Arctic sea ice thickness by decade...

Data information: climatedataguide.ucar.edu/climate-data...

17.01.2025 15:44 β€” πŸ‘ 79    πŸ” 29    πŸ’¬ 2    πŸ“Œ 1
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Halfwit lawmaker says Russia should establish bases on Svalbard Andrei Gurylev, a member of the Defense Committee of the State Duma, told the Russia-1 channel it is necessary to move from joint development of Svalbard to a Russian option.

Love the headline on this important story about the escalating potential for land grabs in the Arctic:
www.thebarentsobserver.com/news/halfwit...

15.01.2025 16:47 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 1
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Just got back from the other end of the world to find LA burning, and now this: 2024 was the hottest year on record, new NASA report confirms www.nasa.gov/news-release..., with avg global temp up more than 1.5 C since pre-industrial times, according to @copernicusecmwf.bsky.social πŸ§ͺ🌑️πŸ”₯

10.01.2025 17:09 β€” πŸ‘ 8    πŸ” 2    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0
2024 Arctic Report Card documents rapid, dramatic change Among the changes, the Arctic tundra is now releasing more carbon dioxide to the atmosphere than it stores.

Circling back to the tundra, increasing #Arctic wildfires are spewing huge atmosphere-warming emissions. Across the polar region, fires have released on average 207 million tons of carbon per year since 2003, latest #ArcticReportCard shows. www.climate.gov/news-feature... πŸ§ͺ

10.12.2024 19:53 β€” πŸ‘ 8    πŸ” 1    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

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