Norbert Untersteiner passes away at 86
Norbert Untersteiner, known to many in the International Arctic Research Center and the Geophysical Institute, died in Washington on March 14, 2012. He was 86.
Untersteiner was an advisory board member for both the GI and IARC. Untersteiner led the IARC Science Advisory Board during IARC's formation.
Twenty feet of snow on Valdez Glacier
Anthony Arendt of the Geophysical Institute drives a snowmachine up Valdez Glacier. Researchers were able to drive almost the entire length of the glacier this spring due to outstanding snow conditions.
Photo by Alessio Gusmeroli.
After a winter of outstanding snow conditions, three scientists drove snowmachines up Valdez Glacier this spring, curious to see how far they could get.
Geophysical Institute Quarterly Report Volume 24, No. 4 now available
How the Amerasia Basin was created, the utility of infrasound and debris lobes on the move in northern Alaska -- all of these topics are covered in the latest edition of the Geophysical Institute Quarterly Report. You can access a pdf of Volume 24, Number 4 online here or retrieve hard copies from the Outreach Office in Elvey 611. Find out what your colleagues are up to!
Alaska Science Forum: Girls on Ice comes to Alaska
By nrozell [at] gi [dot] alaska [dot] edu (Ned Rozell)
After more than a decade on the glaciers of Washington, Girls on Ice is coming to Alaska.
Eroding islands, disappearing glaciers, lots of greenhouse gases
Kasatochi Island, pictured here one year after its 2008 eruption, is experiencing some of the fastest erosion on the planet, with about 3 feet of its muddy shoreline eaten away each day.
Photo by Ned Rozell.
The latest meeting of the American Geophysical Union in San Francisco in December 2011 featured hundreds of talks about Earth science, some of those relating to Alaska (and some of those comprehensible to a non-scientist). Here are a few items from the notebook I carried around the Moscone Center:
The giant waves of Lituya Bay
The largest splash wave ever recorded, in Southeast Alaska’s Lituya Bay, sheared a slope of trees and topsoil to a height of 1,740 feet above sea level.
Photo by Don Miller, U.S. Geological Survey.
One of the prettiest places in Southeast Alaska has felt some of nature’s most violent behavior.
Lituya Bay, on the Pacific coast about 100 miles southeast of Yakutat and 40 miles west of Glacier Bay, is the site of the largest splash wave ever recorded. In 1958, a magnitude 8.3 earthquake triggered a tremendous landslide into the ocean. The wave that followed reached 1,740 feet above sea level on a hill opposite the slide. The slide also triggered a wave more than 100 feet high that raced down the bay.
Glaciers no obstacle for Copper River and Northwestern Railway
The Million Dollar Bridge.
Photo by Ned Rozell.
Home of the trans-Alaska pipeline, Alaska has been the setting for a few epic engineering battles rendered against nature. The Million Dollar Bridge, spanning the lower Copper River, is a reminder of another improbable Alaska construction project.
Girls on Ice Calls for Applications: Due by Thursday, March 1st
Organizers announce that the Girls on Ice 2012 Expeditions are now accepting applications. The 2012 program includes two expeditions. The original North Cascades expedition on Mount Baker in Washington State will be held 29 July - 9 August 2012, and a new Alaska-based expedition will take place 15-25 July 2012.
Alaska Science Forum: Glaciers no obstacle for Copper River and Northwestern Railway
By nrozell [at] gi [dot] alaska [dot] edu (Ned Rozell)
Home of the trans-Alaska pipeline, Alaska has been the setting for a few epic engineering battles rendered against nature. The Million Dollar Bridge, spanning the lower Copper River, is a reminder of another improbable Alaska construction project.
UAF researchers use drones to evaluate sea ice thickness at Nome and aid incoming tanker
Jan. 10, 2012
By Reba Lean
Fairbanks Daily News-Miner
FAIRBANKS — Camera-equipped drones flew over Nome this week to help a Russian fuel tanker, the Renda, get a perspective on the sea ice near the town’s harbor.
