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Looking back 60 years: How the Great Alaska Earthquake compares

Geophysical Institute
March 27, 2024
The 1964 event dwarfs all subsequent U.S. quakes. Of all individual and combined earthquakes greater than magnitude 5, 70.6% of the energy...
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Research professor Andy Mahoney of the University of Alaska Fairbanks Geophysical Institute, left, stands near the USS Hampton’s sail during Operation Ice Camp in March 2024. A civilian employee with the Navy’s Arctic Submarine Lab stands in front of the sail. Photo courtesy of Andy Mahoney

Ice experts aid US military in Arctic Ocean exercise

Geophysical Institute
March 22, 2024
Camping on an Arctic Ocean ice floe can be risky. Choosing a safe spot is critical in a setting where the surface can crack open. Preparing for...
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Denise Thorsen explains some of the work underway by students in the University of Alaska Fairbanks Space Systems Engineering Program earlier this year. Photo by Rod Boyce

UAF space engineering program director wins NASA prize

Geophysical Institute
March 19, 2024
The advisor of the University of Alaska Fairbanks space engineering program is one of 20 winners of a NASA prize to expand the agency’s...
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A theropod track lies in rock near the west bank of the Kukpowruk River. Photo courtesy of Anthony Fiorillo

Alaska dinosaur tracks reveal a lush, wet environment

Geophysical Institute
March 8, 2024
A large find of dinosaur tracks and fossilized plants and tree stumps in far northwestern Alaska provides new information about the climate and...
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Four laser beams rise from the Lidar Research Lab at Poker Flat Research Range. The three yellow beams are the sodium resonance wind-temperature lidar and the green beam is the Rayleigh density temperature lidar. Photo by Skylar Sellers

New UAF lidar will add to space weather research capability

Geophysical Institute
March 4, 2024
University of Alaska Fairbanks scientists are developing a new light detection and ranging instrument to help gain a better understanding of...
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The debris field from an October 2015 landslide extends over the toe of the Tyndall Glacier and into Taan Fjord in spring 2016. Photo by Chris Larsen.

New detection method aims to warn of landslide tsunamis

Geophysical Institute
February 21, 2024
University of Alaska Fairbanks researchers have devised a way to remotely detect large landslides within minutes of occurrence and to quickly...
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Students demonstrate their satellite in front of judges at their January presentation in New Mexico. Photo by Jessie Perkins, Air Force Research Laboratory.

UAF students win funds from Air Force to build a nanosatellite

Geophysical Institute
February 20, 2024
A team of University of Alaska Fairbanks students will build the Air Force a nanosatellite roughly the size of an ordinary loaf of sliced bread...
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 Ice fog covers the landscape below an overlook on the West Ridge of the University of Alaska Fairbanks Troth Yeddha’ Campus on Feb. 2, 2024. The ice fog layer traps pollutants at ground level. UAF photo by Leif Van Cise.

Study finds home heating fuel is direct source of sulfate in Fairbanks winter air

Geophysical Institute
February 19, 2024
University of Alaska Fairbanks professor William Simpson, an atmospheric/environmental chemist and co-author of the paper, said the research...
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A recently created beaver dam creates a pond on the Baldwin Peninsula near Kotzebue, Alaska, in August 2022. A beaver lodge sits on the pond edge to the right. Photo by Ken Tape.

Scientists, others to discuss impact of beaver movement into Arctic

Geophysical Institute
February 16, 2024
Scientists and others from remote communities across western Alaska and northern Canada concerned about the migration of beavers into the Arctic...
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