GI Press Releases
August 23, 2004
Aurora Color Television Project celebrates 20 years
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.
July 30, 2004
Summer tours resume at Poker Flat Research Range
July 14, 2004
Poker Flat Research Range cancels tours for July
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.
June 3, 2004
New planetary geoscience professor bikes to Alaska
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.
February 20, 2004
Attendance numbers soar at Fairbanks lectures
February 13, 2004
Ocean wind data downlinked
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.
January 14, 2004
Graduate student from Geophysical Institute wins national prize
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.

