Press Releases
The Geophysical Institute welcomes Kathryn Moran, an associate professor of ocean engineering and oceanography at the University of Rhode Island, to discuss findings from the 2004 Arctic Coring Expedition (ACEX) in a free public lecture on October 13. Cores collected from the Integrated Ocean Drilling Program's ACEX mission are surprising many who believed the Arctic Ocean lacked sufficient remains to record evidence of ancient climate. Now scientists are able to analyze Earth's previous conditions through ribbons of ocean floor sediment taken from depths as deep as 1,300-feet below the sea floor. 
From the Babylonian epic of Gilgamesh, to the biblical story of Noah and the flood, history is steeped in stories about an ancient, catastrophic flood that changed the world. Dr. Walter C. Pitman III, a geophysicist from the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University, has found
evidence of a gigantic flood that took place 7,600 years ago in the area where the Black Sea is located today. Pitman will describe his findings in a free public lecture. "Noah's Flood: Myth or Reality?" will take place Tuesday, April 26 at 7 p.m. in Schaible Auditorium on the University of Alaska Fairbanks campus.
On Monday, Nov. 29 the University of Alaska Fairbanks held a workshop on the International Polar Year (IPY) at the Geophysical Institute. At the workshop faculty pooled ideas for possible roles UAF would take in IPY, designated from 2007—2008. During this year, scientists from around the world will conduct research to better understand all aspects of the Earth's polar regions.
Each year more than 20 kids head to Alaska through the Make a Wish Foundation, usually to take part in summer activities. But this year, things are operating a bit differently. Chelsea Hodges, a teenager from Virginia, is traveling across the continent to see the aurora in Alaska’s Interior during the heart of winter.
The Geophysical Institute (GI) and affiliated staff have been tapped to share their knowledge on the aurora and help make Hodges’s wish to witness the northern lights, a reality. Neal Brown, director of the Alaska Space Grant Program at the University of Alaska Fairbanks and adjunct faculty member of the GI, will meet with Hodges and her family before they view the aurora from Chena Hot Springs Resort next week. He will explain how the aurora is formed, and why the Fairbanks area is such a fine spot for viewing the dazzling lights.
