The polar willow (Salix polaris) may not seem like much when you look at it—just a jumble of tiny green leaves in a dense mat that pokes out of the tundra.

Some Alaskan soils harbor elevated concentrations of heavy metals that can harm human health, but critical data gaps impede understanding of exposure risks for Arctic communities. Clarice Perryman of the University of New Hampshire, Durham, and colleagues present these findings in the open-access journal PLOS ONE on June 3, 2020.

Arctic coastal watersheds are some of the most threatened regions on Earth, having undergone substantial climatic, physical and biological changes with the warming of the Earth, scientists have found.

The multinational team on the biggest Arctic research mission ever undertaken were prepared for problems from polar bear attacks to major snowstorms or even issues with building a runway on ice.

Among the Earth's biggest allies in the fight against global warming are the world's oceans. Since the industrial revolution, the burning of fossil fuels has caused carbon dioxide, the dominant greenhouse gas, to be released into the atmosphere. Approximately 25% of that carbon dioxide is taken each year from the atmosphere by the world's oceans—without which, the earth's atmosphere would have a higher greenhouse gas concentration and temperature.