GI Press Releases
FAIRBANKS, Alaska—Klyuchevskoy (pronounced Kloo-shef-skoy), a stratovolcano located in the north central region of the Kamchatka Peninsula, is blasting ash up to 32,000 feet in the air, and has diverted air traffic headed toward the Far East. This is the largest eruption to occur in the North Pacific in a decade, and is providing students at the University of Alaska Fairbanks a unique opportunity to collaborate with scientists, as well as state and federal agencies. 
FAIRBANKS, Alaska—Logging more than 18 hours of flight time in six separate flights, the Geophysical Institute’s unmanned aircraft system completed its first scheduled campaign of the year in the Stewart Creek Impact Area near Eielson Air Force Base June 21 to 24, 2007. During the flights, the UAS collected 30 color images per second of about 43 square miles of terrain. Soon, the images will be pieced together and analyzed by the U.S. Army Alaska Garrison to map wildfire fuels growing in the Stewart Creek Impact Area.
Thirty rural students will visit the University of Alaska Fairbanks for a two-day intensive program aimed at polishing their science and math skills. Students from the villages of St. Michael and Stebbins will visit research institutes, and participate in hands-on activities guided by scientists, as part of the annual Science & Math Enrichment Program.
After working for the past decade toward increased permafrost monitoring in Alaska, scientist Vladimir Romanovsky is going global due to funding from the National Science Foundation. For the next three years, Romanovsky, a professor of geophysics at University of Alaska Fairbanks, and a researcher in the Permafrost Lab at the Geophysical Institute, will use a $945,000 grant to establish a network of permafrost observatories in North America and Russia.
Weather is a hot topic here in Interior Alaska and a quick way to get anyone talking. Not a day goes by in winter months without some observations of temperatures, air inversions, or even a mention that the sun budged another degree above the horizon.
Weather is a hot topic here in Interior Alaska and a quick way to get anyone talking. Not a day goesby in winter months without some observations of temperatures, air inversions, or even a mentionthat the sun budged another degree above the horizon.
A NASA sounding rocket launched at 11:39 p.m. on Feb. 27, 2007 from Poker Flat Research Range
during a brilliant aurora display above northern Alaska.
Volcanoes give us important information about their behavior from their temperature. However, getting close enough to take a volcano’s temperature is often a dangerous undertaking. In the past, measurements required the volcanologist to get uncomfortably close to the activity. Recent advances in digital infrared imaging allow volcanologists to measure temperatures from a safe distance and over large areas with infrared cameras.
Although it's been more than a year since Mount Augustine had its memorable eruption, work continues for University of Alaska Fairbanks researchers. The work of Alaska Volcano Observatory employees from UAF's Geophysical Institute will be appearing in the upcoming issue of the journal Science.
The 2007 Science for Alaska lecture series, which takes place in Fairbanks, Anchorage, Juneau and Seward throughout January and February, draws to a close this week in Anchorage. Barbara Mahoney, a biologist with NOAA’s National Marine Fisheries Service’s Anchorage field office, will give an overview of Alaska’s beluga whales.
