June 2013 in Fairbanks was third warmest on record
June in Fairbanks was warmer than normal, with a monthly mean temperature of 66.8 degrees Fahrenheit or 6.4 degrees above the long-term mean for the month. Only four days had a negative deviation from the normal. The highest temperature occurred the 25th and 26th, a sweltering 92 degrees was observed on both days. A new daily maximum record was set on the 25th, which broke the 1983 record by one degree.
Alaska Science Forum: Tiny, ancient life discovered in Southeast
By nrozell [at] gi [dot] alaska [dot] edu (Ned Rozell)
In a world crawling with insects, those billions of tiny bodies fall into just 30 major descriptive groups, known as orders. That’s why Derek Sikes, curator of insects at the University of Alaska Museum of the North, was disappointed with a graduate student when she failed to identify a creature that was wandering her plots on Prince of Wales Island.
New tool for reporting Alaska volcanic ash fall allows residents to assist scientific monitoring
Wilderness pilots, hikers, boaters and people in Alaskan communities can now report online to authorities if they witness falling ash or an ash cloud from anerupting volcano. The Alaska Volcano Observatoryhas developed a new online tool for reporting visible volcanic ash.
Alaska Satellite Facility debuts new image collection
A treasure trove of new images is now available through the Alaska Satellite Facility Distributed Active Archive Center.
PDF DownloadEven with lag, Alaska passing peak warmth
Sunset on the Yukon River.
Photo by Ned Rozell.
You may not have noticed it as you were scooping fish out of the Copper River or riding your bike through the tawny light of 10 p.m., but Alaska just made a left turn toward winter.
Tiny barbarians at the gate
A female mosquito.
Photo by Ned Rozell.
Mosquitoes and black flies, now stirring after a long winter, have probably helped assure that most of Alaska remains unpopulated, says an expert on those creatures.
“I’ve spent a lot of time in the far north — in Canada, Siberia, and Alaska,” said Peter Adler, a professor of entomology at Clemson University. “You can go down rivers for a month or two at a time and see no humans. Why is that? What’s keeping them out?’
“There are two main features that might play a role — bitterly cold winters and biting flies.”
Help to Stuart Creek 2 fire evacuees at UAF
The University of Alaska Fairbanks has showers and limited housing available to any students or employees that are displaced by the Stuart Creek 2 fire.
Girls on Ice: A unique, free mountaineering adventure and wilderness science education program for young women
The young researchers of the 2013 Girls on Ice program will give presentations on their findings after spending a week on Gulkana Glacier, Monday, July 1, 5:30-6:15 p.m., Elvey Auditorium.Each year two teams of nine teen girls and three instructors spend 11 days exploring and learning about mountain glaciers and the alpine landscape through scientific field studies with professional glaciologists, ecologists, artists and mountaineers.
Alaska Science Forum: Looking back in time at the world’s oceans
By molly [dot] rettig [at] gi [dot] alaska [dot] edu (Molly Rettig )
A time capsule of satellite imagery of the earth will become available to scientists this month.
Alaska Science Forum: Mammoths and microblades
By molly [dot] rettig [at] gi [dot] alaska [dot] edu (Molly Rettig)
On a small hill surrounded by boggy muskeg in the Tanana River Valley, prehistoric skin scrapers made of schist, polished slate tools and glass beads were uncovered in the last week.
