Into the Thaw: Witnessing Wonder amid the Arctic Climate Crisis (by Jon Waterman)

Forty years ago, park ranger Jon Waterman took his first journey to Alaska’s Noatak River.


Click here to learn more about the effects of climate change on the Arctic with interactive maps from ESRI.

He was astonished by the abundant wildlife and the strange Arctic landscape and its otherworldly light, so he continued on dozens of explorations throughout the north. After a 30-year absence, Waterman returned to the Noatak in 2021 and 2022.

He observed brush grown over the tundra, teardrop-shaped landslides, or thermokarsts, caused by thawing permafrost, and an increasing loss of sea ice. Waterman, a photographer and published author, captures both the villages and the rarely visited landscape, because “it’s high time that we truly understand the Arctic,” he writes, “lest we forget what it once was.” Waterman shows how the Arctic can confer grace on those who pass through and also creates a narrative of hope: He suggests actions we can all take to slow the thaw and preserve what is left of this remarkable, vast frontier.