Research professor Andy Mahoney of the University of Alaska Fairbanks Geophysical Institute, left, stands near the USS Hampton’s sail during Operation Ice Camp in March 2024. A civilian employee with the Navy’s Arctic Submarine Lab stands in front of the sail. Photo courtesy of Andy Mahoney

Ice experts aid US military in Arctic Ocean exercise

March 22, 2024
Camping on an Arctic Ocean ice floe can be risky. Choosing a safe spot is critical in a setting where the surface can crack open. Preparing for...
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Denise Thorsen explains some of the work underway by students in the University of Alaska Fairbanks Space Systems Engineering Program earlier this year. Photo by Rod Boyce

UAF space engineering program director wins NASA prize

March 19, 2024
The advisor of the University of Alaska Fairbanks space engineering program is one of 20 winners of a NASA prize to expand the agency’s...
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A theropod track lies in rock near the west bank of the Kukpowruk River. Photo courtesy of Anthony Fiorillo

Alaska dinosaur tracks reveal a lush, wet environment

March 8, 2024
A large find of dinosaur tracks and fossilized plants and tree stumps in far northwestern Alaska provides new information about the climate and...
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Four laser beams rise from the Lidar Research Lab at Poker Flat Research Range. The three yellow beams are the sodium resonance wind-temperature lidar and the green beam is the Rayleigh density temperature lidar. Photo by Skylar Sellers

New UAF lidar will add to space weather research capability

March 4, 2024
University of Alaska Fairbanks scientists are developing a new light detection and ranging instrument to help gain a better understanding of...
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The debris field from an October 2015 landslide extends over the toe of the Tyndall Glacier and into Taan Fjord in spring 2016. Photo by Chris Larsen.

New detection method aims to warn of landslide tsunamis

February 21, 2024
University of Alaska Fairbanks researchers have devised a way to remotely detect large landslides within minutes of occurrence and to quickly...
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Students demonstrate their satellite in front of judges at their January presentation in New Mexico. Photo by Jessie Perkins, Air Force Research Laboratory.

UAF students win funds from Air Force to build a nanosatellite

February 20, 2024
A team of University of Alaska Fairbanks students will build the Air Force a nanosatellite roughly the size of an ordinary loaf of sliced bread...
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Ice fog covers the landscape below an overlook on the West Ridge of the University of Alaska Fairbanks Troth Yeddha’ Campus on Feb. 2, 2024. The ice fog layer traps pollutants at ground level. UAF photo by Leif Van Cise.

Study finds home heating fuel is direct source of sulfate in Fairbanks winter air

February 19, 2024
Use of residential heating fuel is the main contributor of primary sulfate pollution in Fairbanks’ wintertime air, according to research...
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A recently created beaver dam creates a pond on the Baldwin Peninsula near Kotzebue, Alaska, in August 2022. A beaver lodge sits on the pond edge to the right. Photo by Ken Tape.

Scientists, others to discuss impact of beaver movement into Arctic

February 16, 2024
Scientists and others from remote communities across western Alaska and northern Canada concerned about the migration of beavers into the Arctic...
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The audience listens to one of several brief science presentations in The Pub at the University of Alaska Fairbanks at the start of the 2023 Science for Alaska talk series. The 2024 talk series begins Thursday, Feb. 1, at The Pub. UAF/GI photo by Rebecca Beltran.

UAF announces 32nd annual Science for Alaska series

January 26, 2024
Free public talks in the next few weeks will explore Mount Edgecumbe volcano, the peaking sun cycle’s boost to aurora viewing, Alaska’s role in...
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Girls take photos of a dragonfly at Creamer’s Field Migratory Waterfowl Refuge during summer camp. Photo by Perrin Teal Sullivan

Local items boost students’ connection to science

January 26, 2024
Using local items in science lessons for K-12 students is especially important for teaching science in the North, according to new research...
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The time and temperature sign on Alumni Drive on a frigid January 2021 morning on the UAF Troth Yeddha’ campus in Fairbanks. UAF photo.

International Arctic weather workshop to be held at UAF

January 12, 2024
An international group of nearly 140 military personnel and civilians with an interest in improving Arctic weather forecasting will gather at the...
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Bryant Chow in front of a seismic station deployed in Hawke's Bay, New Zealand. This station was part of the Broadband East Coast Network, which was deployed to improve data coverage for his imaging research. Photo courtesy Bryant Chow.

UAF scientist receives top honor from New Zealand geoscience society

January 11, 2024
Assistant Professor Bryant Chow of the University of Alaska Fairbanks has received the Geoscience Society of New Zealand's top honor for his...
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Graduate student researcher Emily Fedders sits on top of an ice island with the portable interferometric radar. The ice island is in landfast sea ice on Alaska’s Arctic coast near Utqiaġvik. Photo courtesy of Andy Mahoney.

2023: A year of continued research leadership by the UAF Geophysical Institute

December 21, 2023
2023, like the years and decades before it, showed the strength and significance of the University of Alaska Fairbanks Geophysical Institute as a...
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CeCe Borries-Strigle at the annual meeting of the American Geophysical Union on Thursday, Dec. 14, 2023, in San Francisco. Photo by Rod Boyce.

AGU research spotlight: New research benefits Arctic sea ice forecasting

December 14, 2023
Ocean temperatures in the Bering Strait and heat transport through the region have increased over the past 20 years. New modeling using a range...
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Darren Tan at a seismology station. Photo courtesy Darren Tan.

AGU research spotlight: New research helps detect elusive volcanic tremors

December 13, 2023
Earthquakes have a well-known and easily recognizable connection to volcanoes. The sudden onset of ground shaking can indicate near-term or...
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Opening day of the American Geophysical Union annual meeting in San Francisco. Photo by Rod Boyce.

More than 100 UAF researchers presenting work at national science conference

December 11, 2023
About 130 University of Alaska Fairbanks researchers will be presenting their work at the annual meeting of the nation's leading geosciences...
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Visitors gather at the University of Alaska Fairbanks exhibitor booth at the AGU Fall Meeting 2022 in Chicago, IL. UAF GI Photo by Kelly Eagan.

Geophysical Institute research at the American Geophysical Union 2023 Fall Meeting

December 11, 2023
Geophysical Institute researchers and students are attending the American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting 2023 from Dec. 11–15 in San Francisco...
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A four-stage NASA sounding rocket launches from Poker Flat Research Range on Nov. 9, 2023. The rocket was carrying instruments for the Beam-Plasma Interactions Experiment. NASA photo by Lee Wingfield.

Second NASA sounding rocket launches from Poker Flat Research Range

November 9, 2023
The second NASA sounding rocket of the season headed into Earth’s upper atmosphere from Poker Flat Research Range shortly after midnight Thursday...
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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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