GI Press Releases
A suitcase-size camera designed 20 years ago is still ahead of the game when it comes to capturing the beautiful colors and fluid motion of the aurora. Technology moves at a phenomenal rate, yet the camera designed with the aid of employees at the Geophysical Institute continues to outshine any competitors with its extreme low-light sensitivity. This special camera is the crux of the Aurora Color Television Project (ACTP), which has provided true-to-life images of the aurora to audiences around the world for two decades. 
Public tours will resume at Poker Flat Research Range in August. The public is invited to tour portions of the lower-range with guides from the Geophysical Institute Information and Education Outreach Office. Tours are scheduled for Aug. 5, and Aug. 19. The tours will begin at 1:30 p.m.
Public tours of Poker Flat Research Range are cancelled throughout the month of July. Fire crews continue to work on hot spots located on the upper-range and the surrounding area. For safety reasons, tours are suspended until further notice.
Staff from Poker Flat Research Range helped secure crucial imagery of wildfires raging through Alaska, including those in their own backyard.
Altair, an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) equipped with extensive imaging capabilities, provided real-time information on fire locations, fire movement, and previously unidentified hot spots on a mission flown July 9. Poker Flat Research Range staff initiated this effort and provided airspace planning and mission support for the flight.
A surveillance RADAR facility and two Connex storage containers at Poker Flat Research Range were lost to the Boundary Fire on June 30, 2004. The surveillance RADAR facility was used to detect small aircraft in the range's flight zone before launching sounding rockets. A replacement value for it, and the two storage containers, has not yet been determined.
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.
Whether it's learning more about the aurora, or dispelling myths on Alaska wolves, Fairbanksans are eager to learn more when it comes to science. Proof comes from a surge in attendance at the Science for Alaska Lecture Series.
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 top honor at the National Radio Science Meeting’s 2004 Student Prize Paper Competition was awarded to Fernanda São Sabbas, a former graduate student working with Professor Davis Sentman at the Geophysical Institute at the University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF). The announcement was made last week in Boulder, Colorado.
The second largest geomagnetic storm on record has allowed people in mid-latitudes to see the aurora borealis and could possibly make for outstanding aurora viewing over Alaska through Saturday, November 22.
