Taylor Roades (b. 1990) is a Canadian documentary photographer based in Victoria, British Columbia. Her work is grounded in place and the natural sciences, exploring our connection to land, culture, climate and the environment.
Taylor Roades (b. 1990) is a Canadian documentary photographer based in Victoria, British Columbia. Her work is grounded in place and the natural sciences, exploring our connection to land, culture, climate and the environment.
Photographed August 2023
Location: Western Brooks Range, Alaska, USA
Published: Scientific American Magazine, Dec 2023
Winner: Earth Photo, New Scientist Award 2024
Winner: Best Cause Related Photographer Applied Arts 2024
Winner: Pulitzer Centre Year in Photos 2024
Exhibited: Alaska’s Rust Rivers, Anchorage Museum, Mar 2025 - Feb 2026
Exhibited: Earth Photo, Royal Geographic Society, London England Jun 2024 -Aug 2024
In the remote Western Brooks Range of North West Alaska, the impact of climate change is impossible to miss. Permafrost the layer of soil that remains frozen throughout the year is thawing at an unprecedented rate and transforming what once were healthy rivers. These rivers and their tributaries are now flowing bright orange with oxidized iron and sulphuric acid, and scientist were there taking samples and accumulating data to determine exactly why.
2024 was the hottest year on global record and the Arctic is disproportionately affected by these elevated temperatures. Then Kobuk Valley National Park just next to the rivers you see here has recorded a 2.4-degree Celsius increase since 2006. This increase is enough to expose the pyrite-rich shale in the bedrock, which has been frozen underground since the last ice age to oxygenated water. The pyrite which until now has never caused a problem begins to breaks down into sulphites/iron2+ and is quite acidic (iron stays in solution at pH 2or3). It then flows over limestone in the area (carbonates) and neutralizes; pH raises to 7, iron comes out of solution and makes the rivers orange. The scary reality is that arsenic, lead, cadium, and other elements potentially present stay in solution at pH7 posing big environmental risks downstream.
The change to water quality, potential depletion of fish populations, and risks associated with metals in the water pose threats to the small communities that rely on these river systems. But the threat extend beyond these remote valleys as well, impacting biodiversity and animal populations in the region. Widespread permafrost thaw risks even larger repercussions. Permafrost is made up of animal and plant matter holding twice as much carbon as the atmosphere does. When permafrost thaws, microbes begin to digest this matter and emit carbon dioxide and methane; which further speeds up the rate in which our planet is warming.
The work that scientists do in these watersheds is crucial to our understanding of climate change and our ability to mitigate the effects on some of the world's most at risk places.
Dr. David Cooper testing pH levels. Scientists also measure temperature, and electric conductivity or the total dissolved solids. Later in the lab they will determine the exact elemental composition.
Fresh caribou tracks are found in the mud of the acid burn. While iron comes out of solution when exposed to oxygen at pH 7 and is an obvious mineral in orange deposits, copper and arsenic stay dissolved and are potentially very dangerous to human and animal populations. This acidic seep, rich with iron is hypothesized to be the newest scientist came across on this trip, because all of the vegetation around it is still alive. It was actively depositing minerals into the stream below.
2024 was the hottest year on global record and the Arctic is disproportionately affected by these elevated temperatures. Then Kobuk Valley National Park just next to the rivers you see here has recorded a 2.4-degree Celsius increase since 2006. This increase is enough to expose the pyrite-rich shale in the bedrock, which has been frozen underground since the last ice age to oxygenated water. The pyrite which until now has never caused a problem begins to breaks down into sulphites/iron2+ and is quite acidic (iron stays in solution at pH 2or3). It then flows over limestone in the area (carbonates) and neutralizes; pH raises to 7, iron comes out of solution and makes the rivers orange. The scary reality is that arsenic, lead, cadium, and other elements potentially present stay in solution at pH7 posing big environmental risks downstream.
The change to water quality, potential depletion of fish populations, and risks associated with metals in the water pose threats to the small communities that rely on these river systems. But the threat extend beyond these remote valleys as well, impacting biodiversity and animal populations in the region. Widespread permafrost thaw risks even larger repercussions. Permafrost is made up of animal and plant matter holding twice as much carbon as the atmosphere does. When permafrost thaws, microbes begin to digest this matter and emit carbon dioxide and methane; which further speeds up the rate in which our planet is warming.
The work that scientists do in these watersheds is crucial to our understanding of climate change and our ability to mitigate the effects on some of the world's most at risk places.