Remote Sensing Group
The Geographic Information Network of Alaska (GINA) at the University of Alaska Fairbanks Geophysical Institute is collaborating with other agencies to provide near-real-time satellite data to the Bureau of Land Management's Alaska Fire Service. Armed with images taken from space, fire personnel will be able to track hot spots and fire movement, even under heavy smoke that may ground mapping aircraft. Data from Landsat 5 and MODIS satellites will be available to fire crews and other users in less than 24 hours through the GINA network. 
New information about the Martian terrain suggests the Red Planet's surface once had water. High levels of hematite, a mineral associated with liquid water on Earth, were discovered on Mars last year. This important find suggests the possibility of ancient lakebeds or seas on the planet's surface and increases the odds that Mars once harbored life.
Forest fire smoke was so thick in Interior Alaska on some days during the summer of 2004 that firedetection aircraft could not fly. On a few of those occasions, the Alaska Fire Service sent smokejumpers to fight fires that were detected only by satellites more than 400 miles above Alaska, using information processed by the Geographic Information Network of Alaska (GINA) at the University of Alaska Fairbanks.
Five scientists from the Geophysical Institute at the University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF) will lead sessions at the International Geophysical and Remote Sensing Symposium (IGARSS), September 20 through 24 at the Egan Convention Center in Anchorage.
People will go to great lengths in the name of science. One decided to hop on a bicycle and crisscross the continent for weeks. After accepting a position with the Geophysical Institute at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, Robbie Herrick, 39, set out on a 4,500-mile journey with nothing more than two bags and a bicycle.
The winds that swirl above the planet’s seas are packed with information. Scientists across the globe are using this wind information in studies as diverse as global weather patterns and seafood harvesting. Currently, information on sea winds is downlinked in the Interior at the Alaska Satellite Facility, a part of the Geophysical Institute.
The Geophysical Institute at the University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF) has appointed UAF alumna Nettie La Belle-Hamer as director of the Alaska Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) Facility. La Belle-Hamer earned her Ph.D. and Master of Science degrees in space physics at UAF in 1994 and 1988, respectively.
The Geophysical Institute at the University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF) has appointed UAF alumna Nettie La Belle-Hamer as director of the Alaska Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) Facility. La Belle-Hamer earned her Ph.D. and Master of Science degrees in space physics at UAF in 1994 and 1988,
respectively.
Scientists at the University of Alaska Fairbanks Geophysical Institute will be teaming with those at ten other institutions to take part in the Aeronomy of Ice in the Mesosphere (AIM) mission over the next six years. The mission, recently funded by NASA as part of the Small Explorer program, will
study clouds at the edge of space to resolve why they form and why they have been increasing over the last 30 years.
Near real-time, high-resolution optical satellite images supplied by the University of Alaskaʼs Geographic Information Network of Alaska (GINA) will soon aid firefighters to battle flames raging in Alaska.
