Kotzebue (/ˈkɒtsəbjuː/ KOTS-ə-bew) or Qikiqtaġruk (/kɪkɪkˈtʌɡrʊk/ kik-ik-TUG-rook, Inupiaq: [qekeqtɑʁʐuk]) is a city in the Northwest Arctic Borough in the U.S. state of Alaska.

Owing to its location and relative size, Kotzebue served as a trading and gathering center for the various communities in the region.

In addition to people from interior villages, inhabitants of far-eastern Asia, now the Russian Far East, came to trade at Kotzebue.

[4] In the words of the late Iñupiaq elder Blanche Qapuk Lincoln of Kotzebue: Iḷiḷgaaŋukapta tamarra pamna imiqaqtuq.

The radar site would be operated by on-site personnel until its deactivation in 1983 and the subsequent demolition of most of the station's structures.

The total installed capacity has reached 3-MW, displacing approximately 250,000 gallons of diesel fuel every year.

[9][10] Since 2016, the United States Coast Guard has deployed MH-60 Jayhawk helicopters to Kotzebue from the beginning of July to the end of October as part of Operation Arctic Shield.

[13] On December 3, 2018, Mike Dunleavy was sworn in as the 12th governor of Alaska in Kotzebue's high school gymnasium after inclement weather thwarted his plan to hold the ceremony in Noorvik.

[14] In November 2023, ProPublica and Anchorage Daily News released an investigative report of domestic abuse and potential murders in Kotzebue involving six indigenous women who had dated Mayor Clement Richards Sr's three sons, resulting in a total of 16 charges that were ultimately dismissed by local prosecutors or received minimum sentences by local judicial magistrates.

Kotzebue is a gateway to Kobuk Valley National Park and other natural attractions of northern Alaska.

[18] Kotzebue has a dry subarctic climate (Köppen Dfc), with long, somewhat snowy, and very cold winters, and short, mild summers; diurnal temperature variation is low to minimal throughout the year, with an annual normal of 11.6 °F (6.4 °C) and a minimum normal of 8.0 °F (4.4 °C) in October.

The CHAPs, who work in village-based clinics, are trained in basic health assessment and can treat common illnesses.

For more complicated cases, the CHAPs communicate with Maniilaq Health Center medical staff via phone, video-conference, and digital images.

[29] There is one private school run by the Native Village of Kotzebue called Nikaitchuat Iḷisaġviat.

University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF) operates their Chukchi Campus which offers classes, a library and other community services.

However, as National Geographic explains, the source of the toxins is not Kotzebue, but Alaska's Red Dog mine.

[30] Since the mine is located in a remote area in Alaska, the toxic release is linked to the nearest "city"— Kotzebue.

National Geographic says that, "All 756 million pounds of toxic chemicals attributed to "Kotzebue" on the TRI dataset came from one of the world's largest zinc and lead mines, the Red Dog mine, which is located about 80 miles north of Kotzebue.

"[30] At the county level the Northwest Arctic of Alaska leads the list with 756,000,000 pounds of toxins.