Flying robots revolutionize science in Alaska

Studying erupting volcanoes, thrashing winds and burning wildfires in Alaska are dirty and dangerous jobs, but they’re ones that can be done safely with unmanned aircraft. Researchers can send flying robots to get data in places where sending humans would be dangerous.

The next talk in the 2015 Science for Alaska Lecture Series explains how this is possible. “Flying Robots: How Drones are Revolutionizing Science in Alaska,” will be held Tuesday, Feb. 10, at 7 p.m. at the Gold Room in the Westmark Fairbanks Hotel. Speaker Sean Barberie, a University of Alaska Fairbanks graduate student, will discuss the science applications of unmanned aircraft in Alaska with a particular focus on emergency response and risk and disaster management.

Barberie describes his research as “small aircraft answering big questions.” He works on ways of using unmanned aircraft to look at the atmosphere, wildfires and volcanoes.

The lecture series is free and open to the public on Tuesday evenings through Feb. 24. This year, the Alaska Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research again joins the Geophysical Institute as a sponsor. The series, which began in the early 1990s, brings current scientific research to Alaskans.

ON THE WEB: Alaska Center for Unmanned Aircraft Integration Systems, http://acuasi.alaska.edu/; 2015 Science for Alaska Lecture Series, http://www.gi.alaska.edu/PublicInformation/SFALS2015

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