On August 15, 2011,scientists established that the mysterious orange mass that washed ashore in a remote Alaskan village from August 6-7, consisted of fungus spores. The unusual phenomenon triggered a wave of media speculation and troubled residents of tiny Kivalina, who feared contamination of their water and food.
Since then, samples shipped from the National Marine Fisheries Service Auke Bay Laboratories were examined by scientists at the National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science in Charleston, SC, who determined “the substance is consistent with” a tundra rust fungus spore that blew over the peninsular town from the mainland.
Additional information will be available on the Alaska Fisheries Science Center website.