A round outdoor thermometer mounted on a snow-covered tree reads about minus 45 degrees Fahrenheit in a quiet, snow-blanketed forest of tall trees. Long blue shadows stretch across the deep snow under a clear sky. The image shows extreme cold conditions at a home in Two Rivers, Alaska.

Alaska climate report: March 2026 saw dangerous weather

April 21, 2026
March brought a series of dangerous and disruptive weather events across Alaska. Severe cold combined with powerful storms to affect communities...
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Cover of the book “Journey Through the Heliosphere." The design features a dark background with a bright, symmetrical, mandala-like illustration in warm colors (orange, red, and yellow) representing the sun and solar system processes.

UAF, NASA create fact-filled coloring book about the sun

April 20, 2026
A new sun-based and science-focused coloring book produced by the University of Alaska Fairbanks in collaboration with NASA is now available. The...
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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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Explore

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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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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