Firefighters conduct a burnout operation along the trans-Alaska oil pipeline at the Aggie Creek Fire northwest of Fairbanks in 2015. Photo by Phillip Spor

Hot topic: Forecasting wildfires in Alaska

December 12, 2018
Researchers at the University of Alaska Fairbanks soon may forecast the likelihood of Alaska wildfires more accurately, just in time for the...
Read more  
UAF researcher Vladimir Romanovsky poses near Fairbanks, Alaska in a place where permafrost has thawed, causing a surface disruption. Photo courtesy V. Romanovsky.

Study: Degrading permafrost puts Arctic infrastructure at risk by mid-century

December 11, 2018
Seventy percent of the current infrastructure in the Arctic has a high potential to be affected by thawing permafrost in the next 30 years. Even...
Read more  
Pavlof Volcano erupts on March 27, 2016. Photo courtesy of Robert Caporn.

Seismic ‘streams’ may reveal volcanic secrets

December 10, 2018
A volcano is like a stream. It might sound like a Zen proverb, but it’s a useful comparison for University of Alaska Fairbanks Geophysical...
Read more  

Why the 7.0 earthquake was felt differently across Anchorage

December 2, 2018
The 7.0 earthquake just north of Anchorage on Friday morning shredded the earth with 2 million tons of explosive force, and generated 650...
Read more  
This artist’s rendition illustrates what the meteorite might have looked like as it approached Earth. Illustration by Brian Monroe/NASA

Massive impact crater discovered in Greenland

November 14, 2018
An international team including a researcher from the University of Alaska Fairbanks Geophysical Institute has discovered a 31-kilometer-wide...
Read more  
One of the Alaska Satellite Facility’s antennas sits atop the Elvey Building, home of the University of Alaska Fairbanks Geophysical Institute. ASF uses its antennas to downlink data for NASA. UAF photo by JR Ancheta.

Five-year Alaska Satellite Facility contract worth $48.6 million

October 25, 2018
NASA has awarded a $48.6 million contract to the University of Alaska Fairbanks to continue operating the Alaska Satellite Facility’s synthetic...
Read more  
Seismologist John Power, with the U.S. Geological Survey and the Alaska Volcano Observatory, transfers data from the campaign broadband seismometer AU14 on the northeast flank of Mt. Augustine. A debris fan below the northeast chute is visible in the upper right of the image. Photo by Max Kaufman, AVO/UAF GI

New funding will improve Alaska volcano monitoring network

October 8, 2018
The Alaska Volcano Observatory will upgrade its volcano monitoring network throughout Alaska due to a $12 million budget increase through the U.S...
Read more  
WATC Lead Engineer Jay Helmericks explains on-campus infrasound array components to NATO Deputy Secretary General Rose Gottemoeller.

Geophysical Institute eligible for long-term defense research funding

October 1, 2018
The University of Alaska Fairbanks Geophysical Institute has received a Defense Department designation to research topics important to national...
Read more  
The UAF Alaska Center for Unmanned Aircraft Systems Integration will use Responder aircraft such as this in some of the first missions beyond an operator’s eyesight. Photo courtesy of ACUASI.

UAF gets approval for new unmanned aircraft flights

September 25, 2018
The University of Alaska Fairbanks and its partners can now routinely fly unmanned aircraft out of their operators’ eyesight during commercial...
Read more  
Lava flows from Hawaii’s Kilauea Volcano, which is being studied with help from researchers from the University of Alaska Fairbanks. Photo by Jeff Freymueller.

Kilauea Volcano provides hot research opportunities

July 3, 2018
Though Kilauea Volcano is more than 3,000 miles away, researchers at the University of Alaska Fairbanks are helping study the ongoing eruptions...
Read more  
Students assemble unmanned aircraft at a camp offered by the University of Alaska Fairbanks and the Federal Aviation Administration in June. The students practiced flying the aircraft and, on the camp’s last day, took them home. Photo by Patty Eagan

FAA and UAF spark interest in drones at camp

June 25, 2018
Twenty-one middle school students built, learned how to operate and took home their own small unmanned aircraft at a camp taught by pilots and...
Read more  
Photo by Carl Tape. University of Alaska Fairbanks doctoral student Kyle Smith installs a T120 posthole seismometer at a site in the Minto Flats of central Alaska in September, 2015.

Scientists find pre-earthquake activity in central Alaska

June 5, 2018
Earth scientists consistently look for a reliable way to forecast earthquakes. New research from University of Alaska Fairbanks Geophysical...
Read more  
Dale Pomraning

Dale Pomraning: Academic tool (in the best possible way)

June 1, 2018
Dale Pomraning carries enough tools to repair most anything. Upon request, he starts pulling them from pockets in his khaki shirt, game vest and...
Read more  

Life recovered quickly after asteroid impact that killed dinosaurs

May 30, 2018
Life returned to the asteroid-blasted Chicxulub crater much sooner than at some other sites far from the impact point 66 million years ago...
Read more  
Icefog in front of the Geophysical Institute

Scientists plan study of northern cities’ air quality

May 24, 2018
Atmospheric scientists at the University of Alaska Fairbanks have launched an effort to better understand urban air quality problems in northern...
Read more  

Kansas joins unmanned aircraft test range run by UAF

May 14, 2018
Kansas has joined the unmanned aircraft system testing range managed by the University of Alaska Fairbanks. Testing programs overseen by Kansas...
Read more  
A Responder unmanned helicopter, owned by the ACUASI. ACUASI, part of the University of Alaska Fairbanks Geophysical Institute, will participate in a new federal program to help merge drones into the nation’s airspace. Photo courtesy ACUASI.

UAF selected for new federal drone program

May 8, 2018
The University of Alaska Fairbanks will join a new federal initiative aimed at shaping the future of drones in America. The U.S. Department of...
Read more  
UAF Geophysical Institute researchers will use this ice-drilling system to cut a hole through Antarctica’s Thwaites Glacier to the ocean below. The system is shown here disassembled during an earlier project. Photo by Martin Truffer.

UAF scientists will help gauge how Antarctic glacier could collapse

April 30, 2018
University of Alaska Fairbanks researchers will take part in an international collaboration to understand when Antarctica’s Thwaites Glacier will...
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.

©2026 Geophysical Institute, University of Alaska Fairbanks.