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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Discussion in a tent at a remote lake led to a new look at Alaska tectonic activity 75 million to 50 million years ago, a period spanning the Late Cretaceous through the early Paleogene. The two geologists determined that the concurrent events of the Western Alaska rotation and Southeast Alaska metamorphism from the addition of crust created the curvature seen today — an orocline in geologic terms. It can be seen in the arc of the Alaska Range mountains, Wrangell Mountains and St. Elias Mountains and the southern coastline.
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A new view of old Alaska

January 9, 2026
Discussion in a tent at a remote lake led to a new look at Alaska tectonic activity 75 million to 50 million years ago, a period spanning the...
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The West Ridge research area at the University of Alaska Fairbanks is nestled against the frosted woodlands in November. Photo by Eric Marshall

Alaska climate report: November anything but normal

December 9, 2025
November brought two wildly differing snow stories to Alaska, according to the monthly summary from the Alaska Climate Research Center at the...
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In this photo taken from an aircraft, the atmosphere glows after the United States detonated a nuclear device 250 miles above the Pacific Ocean on July 9, 1962. Photo courtesy of Los Alamos National Laboratory

Research offers defense against energized space electrons

December 9, 2025
Research at the University of Alaska Fairbanks Geophysical Institute is advancing the ability to quickly clean up Earth’s radiation belts from a...
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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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