Audience members sit in reclined theater seats, looking up at a curved dome screen displaying a vivid space scene during a movie screening. The image shows the interior of the new planetarium, where attendees enjoy a pre-opening event March 31, with the immersive image filling the entire ceiling.

Let the show begin! New planetarium at UAF ready to open

April 14, 2026
The stars finally aligned to bring a planetarium to the University of Alaska Fairbanks. Now it’s ready for the public. The Walt and Marita Babula...
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A wide view of Columbia Glacier in Alaska shows a broad river of ice flowing between dark, rocky mountains, with snow-covered peaks in the distance and floating ice in the water at the glacier’s front.

Seismic record analysis can reveal a glacier’s past

April 10, 2026
The history of earthquake-like signals created by the crashing of glacial ice into the ocean can reveal how a glacier has changed over time...
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A small quadcopter unmanned aircraft system hovers above an M2 Bradley Infantry Fighting Vehicle on a dirt training range at Fort Hood, Texas, with trees in the background. The scene, captured Aug. 27, 2025, during Operation Return of the Condor, shows the drone positioned overhead in a test.

Project will use air pressure waves to remotely detect vehicles, aircraft

April 9, 2026
Researchers at the University of Alaska Fairbanks have launched a three-year effort to develop a new system to remotely detect and assess ground...
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Poker Flat Research Range cleans up what comes down

March 25, 2026
The launch site’s recovery program goes to great lengths to retrieve payloads and rocket parts — or as many as can be found in its expansive...
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This illustration shows the potential alert times provided by an early warning system for a magnitude 8.3 earthquake in Alaska’s Cook Inlet region. Circles show how many seconds of warning are possible. Colors represent expected shaking intensity. Graphic by Alex Fozkos, Alaska Earthquake Center

New funding advances earthquake early warning for Alaska

March 24, 2026
Alaskans are closer to having critical seconds of warning that shaking from a major earthquake is about to occur. Federal funding approved...
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Aerial view of Utqiaġvik, Alaska, showing a snow-covered coastal town bordered by sea ice. A long, narrow strip of open water called an open flaw lead cuts across the frozen ocean, separating the solid landfast ice attached to shore from the drifting pack ice offshore. Photo by Andrew Mahoney

New analysis shows continued loss of Arctic landfast sea ice

March 20, 2026
Sea ice is sticking to Alaska’s northern coast for less time each year, according to 27 years of data analyzed by University of Alaska Fairbanks...
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Participants in a 2022 international glaciology summer school walk on Root Glacier near McCarthy, Alaska, in 2022. Photo by Albin Wells

Research provides timely views of warming’s impact on Alaska glaciers

March 18, 2026
Alaska’s glaciers respond to climate change by melting for three additional weeks with every 1 degree Celsius increase in the average summer...
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Winter Carnival Field Day outdoor activities offered students an opportunity to try cross-country skiing, ice climbing, dog sledding, sledding and ice skating at the University of Alaska Fairbanks on Feb. 14, 2026. UAF photo

Alaska climate report: February marked by cold and dynamic weather

March 16, 2026
February provided a full Alaska winter weather experience: coastal blizzards, strong temperature swings, heavy snowfall and more deep cold in...
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Chart displaying Alaska’s average annual temperature from 1925 to 2025. Orange points show yearly temperatures that fluctuate between about 22°F and 32°F, while a blue trend line indicates steady warming of roughly 0.3°F per decade over the 100-year period.

Alaska climate report: 2025 ran warm

February 13, 2026
Alaska had one of its warmest years of the previous 100 in 2025, the Alaska Climate Research Center reports in its year-end summary. The Alaska...
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Description of three sounding-rocket missions launching four rockets from Poker Flat Research Range near Fairbanks between Jan. 30 and Feb. 10. The launches occurred within just four available launch days, showing the team’s efficiency and success.
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Launches x4: Multiple missions kept everyone busy at Poker Flat

February 12, 2026
Three missions with four rockets were sent skyward in an unusually short timespan at Poker Flat Research Range. That's a big success for the...
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Side-by-side views show two NASA sounding rockets lifting off 30 seconds apart from Poker Flat Research Range early Feb. 10, 2026, their bright trails rising past faint green aurora during a mission to investigate how the ionosphere influences visible auroral structures. Photos by Bryan Whitten

Third 2026 mission launches from Poker Flat Research Range

February 10, 2026
A tandem of NASA sounding rockets blasted off from Poker Flat Research Range at about 1:30 a.m. today on a mission to better understand how...
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Under a sky filled with green northern lights and stars, a second NASA sounding rocket launches from Poker Flat Research Range around 3:30 a.m., its brilliant plume rising above snow-covered ground in a mission to investigate black aurora.

Black aurora mission launches from Poker Flat

February 9, 2026
A second NASA sounding rocket launched from Poker Flat Research Range at about 3:30 a.m. today in a mission to study a form of northern lights...
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One of ACUASI's two new Windracers ULTRA MK1 aircraft at the ACUASI hangar in Nenana, Alaska, on Jan. 23, 2026. Photo by Bryan Whitten

ACUASI successfully tests parachute delivery with new drone

February 3, 2026
One of the University of Alaska Fairbanks’ two new twin-engine unmanned aircraft circled Nenana Municipal Airport, descended and turned toward a...
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A two-stage NASA sounding rocket launches from Poker Flat Research Range at 4:20 a.m. Jan. 30, 2026, as part of a Virginia Tech project studying nitric oxide produced by the aurora. Photo by Bryan Whitten

First rocket of 2026 takes flight at Poker Flat

January 30, 2026
A two-stage NASA sounding rocket shot skyward from Poker Flat Research Range at 4:20 a.m. today as part of a long-running project to learn more...
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Three missions, four rockets: Poker Flat is ready for launch

January 29, 2026
The 2026 Poker Flat Research Range launch season opens late Thursday night, Jan. 29, with the first of three missions studying the aurora and the...
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Retractable coverings — the blue rectangular structures — cover two of the four launchpads at Poker Flat Research Range north of Fairbanks. Photo by Bryan Whitten

Three missions, four rockets: Poker Flat ready for launches

January 27, 2026
The 2026 Poker Flat Research Range launch season opens this week with the first of three missions studying the aurora and the upper atmosphere...
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Graduate student researcher Emily Graham presents her research during the 2025 lecture series. Photo by LJ Evans

Science for Alaska talks and events announced

January 20, 2026
The University of Alaska Fairbanks Geophysical Institute will host free public science talks over the next few weeks, highlighting new climate...
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Ice fog shrouds a Fort Wainwright neighborhood near Fairbanks on Dec. 31, 2025. Photo by Sara Eliza Johnson

Alaska climate report: December’s deep cold, deep snow

January 14, 2026
The title page of the Alaska Climate Research Center’s monthly summary for December crisply explained what a busy weather month it was across the...
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About

Since it was established by an Act of Congress in 1946, scientists at the Geophysical Institute have studied geophysical processes from the center of the Earth to the surface of the sun and beyond, turning data and observations into information useful for state, Arctic and national priorities.

Contact info

The GI is located on the West Ridge of the University of Alaska Fairbanks campus.

2156 Koyukuk Drive
University of Alaska Fairbanks
Fairbanks, AK 99775

We acknowledge the Alaska Native nations upon whose ancestral lands our campuses reside. In Fairbanks, our Troth Yeddha' Campus is located on the ancestral lands of the Dena people of the lower Tanana River.

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