GI Press Releases
With just a few clicks, aurora watchers can go online and find out when to anticipate aurora activity and where they can see it. The Geophysical Institute Aurora Forecast Web page has undergone a major revamp to include a one-hour forecast, a 28-day forecast and much more, all found at http://www.gedds.alaska.edu/AuroraForecast. 
In celebration of the15th anniversary of its first synthetic aperture radar data downlink, the Alaska Satellite Facility will host an open house. The open house will be held at the Elvey Building on the University of Alaska Fairbanks campus on Saturday, August 26, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. The community is invited to come out and learn more about this facility that provides services worldwide.
It only weighs about 40 pounds, but the Insitu A-20, an unmanned aircraft system, will provide a hefty boost to a variety of research projects throughout Alaska. The new system purchased by the Geophysical Institute at the University of Alaska Fairbanks has a 10-foot wingspan and can fly more than 20 hours at a time. The aircraft is robotic and controlled by an operator through a computerized ground control system.
The University of Alaska Fairbanks Geophysical Institute, International Arctic Research Center, and Poker Flat Research Range will offer free public summer tours starting June 7.
Thirty-six rural students will visit the University of Alaska Fairbanks campus for a two-day intensive program meant to polish their science and math skills. Middle school students from Chalkyitsik, Beaver, Kaltag and Unalakleet will learn the basics of rocket science, climate and the water cycle as part of the Science &Math Enrichment Program (SMEP).
There is evidence that the McGinnis Glacier, a little-known tongue of ice in the central Alaska Range, has surged. Assistant Professor of Physics Martin Truffer noticed the lower portion of the glacier was covered in cracks, crevasses, and pinnacles of ice—all telltale signs that the glacier has recently slid forward at higher than normal rates. It has not been determined whether the glacier continues to surge.
Scientists believed comets were filled with ice, dust and perhaps the building blocks of life, but traditionally their make-up had been a mystery. It wasn’t until the 2005 NASA Deep Impact mission that scientists were finally allowed their first peek inside a comet.
As the Arctic climate warms, permafrost begins to thermally degrade. Transformation of this frozen layer of earth triggers changes in every aspect of surface water and energy in the Arctic. While the region experiences warming, permafrost becomes thinner, and its extent in the boreal forest shrinks.
Alterations to permafrost also influence the look of the northern landscape and the region's climatology. In short, warming climate and thawing permafrost create changes to the entire hydrological cycle in Alaska.
Students participating in a geology field camp with University of Alaska Fairbanks faculty found the fossilized footprint from a small meat-eating dinosaur in Denali National Park in June 2005. That fossilized footprint is the first concrete evidence that dinosaurs once roamed Alaska's Interior. What did the Interior and the rest of Alaska look like eons ago when dinosaurs covered the landscape? The answer lies within fossilized plants and the characteristics of rocks that contain fossil footprints.
At times, auroral activity occurring in the northern hemisphere is mirrored in the southern hemisphere. The swirls and ripples of auroral rays will occur in unison in each hemisphere. This phenomenon is known as the conjugacy of the aurora. For years, scientists at the Geophyscial Institute at the University of Alaska Fairbanks have studied this effect of the aurora. Although studies are shedding more light on the issue, there isn't a clear-cut formula for when, this mirroring occurs.
