A sign welcomes visitors for free guided summer tours of the Geophysical Institute, which start at the Elvey Building on UAF's West Ridge. UAF/GI photo by JR Ancheta.

Geophysical Institute, Poker Flat offer free summer tours

June 19, 2023
The University of Alaska Fairbanks Geophysical Institute is offering free public family-friendly tours through Labor Day. Tours began on Memorial...
Read more  
Graduate student researchers Claire Puleio and Valerie Wasser of the UAF Geophysical Institute take ground carbon dioxide measurements and ground and atmospheric readings on a Kruzof Island beach. Photo by JR Ancheta.

International science team explores gassing of Mt. Edgecumbe volcano

June 6, 2023
Three pairs of scientists began walking purposefully on one end of a curving Kruzof Island beach on a cloudy, cool and damp Monday, then stopped...
Read more  
A grizzly is seen from a helicopter bringing scientists to a predetermined study area on Kruzof Island in Southeast Alaska on Sunday. Photo by Taryn Lopez.

Mt. Edgecumbe volcano research starts with a bear encounter

June 6, 2023
The first volcano scientists of an international team deposited on a Southeast Alaska island by helicopter Sunday quickly learned they had an...
Read more  
The community of Chignik Bay on the Alaska Peninsula. Photo by Chris Maio.

UAF group receives philanthropic grant to aid Chignik region communities

May 22, 2023
A University of Alaska Fairbanks coastal organization has received a $590,000 philanthropic grant to map rapidly changing watersheds of the...
Read more  
Research assistant professor Louise Farquharson works at an ancient raised marine shoreline on the north shore of Teshekpuk Lake near Alaska’s Arctic Ocean coast in 2013. The ancient shoreline is believed to have formed due to an ice shelf pressing down on the Beaufort Sea coast. Photo by Ben Jones.

UAF scientists to hunt for clues about Arctic Ocean glaciation

May 19, 2023
Evidence indicates a thick ice sheet, not annual sea ice and icebergs, covered the Arctic Ocean at some point during the last 140,000 years. Now...
Read more  
The map shows infrasound stations and earthquakes considered in this study. Not all stations operated contemporaneously, but all were active for some period between 2018 and October 2022. Image from research paper.

Scientists find novel way to aid earthquake magnitude determination

May 18, 2023
Sensors that detect changes in atmospheric pressure due to ground shaking can also obtain data about large earthquakes and explosions that exceed...
Read more  
Ph.D. student Sebin John presents his research on observing the impact of ocean storms and sea ice on seismic background noise across Alaska. Photo by Mike West

UAF researchers show work at Seismological Society of America meeting

April 25, 2023
Fifteen people from the Geophysical Institute attended the annual meeting of the Seismological Society of America annual meeting in person in San...
Read more  
The venue of the European Geosciences Union annual meeting in Vienna, Austria, is shown prior to the start of this week’s meeting. Photo courtesy EGU.

Geophysical Institute research on display at European science meeting

April 25, 2023
Research by several University of Alaska Fairbanks Geophysical Institute scientists is being presented this week at the annual meeting of the...
Read more  
This still photo from the Poker Flat Research Range's all-sky camera on the night of Saturday, April 15-16 shows a spiral in the sky resulting from the the SpaceX rocket's gas exhaust. Photo courtesy Don Hampton

Giant spiral appears in Alaska sky

April 18, 2023
Aurora watchers in Alaska were startled early Saturday morning when a huge spiral appeared in the sky. People quickly posted photos on social...
Read more  

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.

The University of Alaska is an equal opportunity/equal access employer and educational institution. The university is committed to a policy of nondiscrimination against individuals on the basis of any legally protected status.

UA is committed to providing accessible websites. Learn more about UA’s notice of web accessibility.

Please report any problems or feedback concerning this website to uaf-gi-public-info@alaska.edu.

©2025 Geophysical Institute, University of Alaska Fairbanks.