In actuality, the orange tinted water is rust, released as the frozen ground in Alaska thaws out due to unchecked greenhouse gasses driving global warming. The day-glo rivers are also a bright orange flag that the Arctic is warming faster than the rest of the world. “Also transforming are the roles the Arctic plays in the global climate, economic, and societal systems.”Zooming back to Alaska, people started noticing the orange waterways in 2018, according to NPR. As temperatures heats up in the most remote parts of Alaska, permafrost — ground that usually stays continuously frozen — is melting, and that’s unlocking iron in the soil, which oxidizes from exposure to water and air, causing rivers and streams to turn orange. Surveys revealed that this contamination is far reaching, covering hundreds of miles of terrain in Alaska.