State and federal scientists are trying to identify a mysterious orange substance that washed up on the shore of a village in northwestern Alaska this week.
Residents on Wednesday noticed an orange sheen in the lagoon in front of Kivalina, Alaska, and clumps of the substance on the beach, city manager Janet Mitchell said.
An orange sheen could be seen in the lagoon.
The stuff on the shore had "an oily feel to it, like baby oil," resident Mida Swan said Friday. She said she detected no odor from the substance.
The substance also may have rained down on the village Wednesday evening, because it was found in buckets that some residents used to collect rainwater that night, Mitchell said.
The state Environmental Health Laboratory is preparing to send samples to scientists at various labs, including a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration laboratory, said Emanuel Hignutt, the EHL's analytical chemistry manager.
Hignutt said it's not immediately clear what the substance is.
"There doesn't appear to be any evidence of a release of oil or hazardous substances at this time, but we're continuing to investigate and try to get lab determinations on what exactly the material is," Hignutt said.
"What it is - an algal bloom, or something inorganic - that's what we're working to get some more information on," he said.
Mitchell said the substance also was found in the Wulik River, which flows into the lagoon and is a source of the village's drinking water. She said the village would delay topping off its water storage tanks, which it does every summer so that it has enough water for the winter, until the substance is identified.
Kivalina, a village of about 430 people, is about 650 miles northwest of Anchorage, Alaska.
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"an oily feel to it, like baby oil," resident Mida Swan said Friday. Yeah.... I'd probably not be touching the mysterious orange goo that came from the sky and/or washed ashore.
sorry guys, it was me. ate some funky stuff and the shore was the closest place to do number 2.
semen from aliens..
I called it first!
First thing I'd do is test for radioactivity...you never know...
Looks like Syracuse Orange men football team jerseys took a swim.
Sponge Bob???
Raining goo? Sounds like an airplane or UFO dumped something overhead. However, doesn't sound safe to live in that area. Especially if the water supply has been contaminated. I'd pack up and move to a safer place.
Can you see Russia from there?? Drill Baby Drill!!
Drill, baby, drill made it land in BUCKETS sitting outside, huh? Massive gusher that went into the stratosphere?
Or is it only your idiocy that reaches to stratospheric heights?
I'm thinking the latter.
Hey CSinSC.. Over here!!! See me ? I see you!!
Well, Kraft did say they were splitting into two companies... Maybe this is where their 'Cheese' is relocating to.
Hey, will you guys visit HelpFaye.ORG a friend of mine is fighting for her life... Thanks
She'd doing a pretty impressive job, fighting for her life 10 years after her DEATH.
Who you gonna call, Ghostbusters!
Palin yeast infection got out of control
I've seen this stuff before. It leaks from airplanes. I live near San Francisco and we are directly underneath many air planes on their way to SFO. Once or twice a year this strange oily orange/yellow goop will fall down from a plane. It kills everything. It even burned through the astro turf we have in the front yard.
And it falls from an airplane? What on earth could fall from an airplane that can burn astro turf?
It's a variety of algae that is not uncommon to the region. They get it in Canada and even in Yellowstone.
Even money the spores came in on rain and landed wherever water could collect. Streams, the ocean, puddles and buckets, then did what algae do, grow.
Going off of memory, it's non-toxic. But, one can easily have it tested for toxins, just in case my memory is playing tricks on me.