A sounding rocket launches from Poker Flat Research Range on Nov. 8, 2023, carrying NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center’s Dissipation mission. NASA photo by Rachel Lense.

First NASA rocket of season flies high out of Poker Flat Research Range

November 8, 2023
A two-stage NASA sounding rocket flew skyward shortly after midnight Wednesday carrying science instruments to gather data about the solar wind’s...
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Serina Wesen of the Geophysical Institute teaches a small group of students about glaciers and how they formed the surrounding valley and Portage Lake. Photo courtesy KMTA.

GI helps young hands and eyes get a taste of science in the outdoors

November 7, 2023
Fifth graders, sleeping bags, campfires, s’mores. And science. It all rolled in together, along with much more, in a NASA-supported education...
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Principal investigator Mehdi Benna stands by the rocket assembled for his experiment. Photo by Danielle Johnson/NASA Wallops Flight Facility

Two launches to mark start of Poker Flat rocket range season

November 3, 2023
Testing a theory about cleaning up after a nuclear detonation in space and learning more about winds at the edge of Earth’s atmosphere are the...
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HAARP’s Ionospheric Research Instrument is a phased array of 180 high-frequency antennas spread across 33 acres. UAF/GI photo by JR Ancheta.

HAARP artificial airglow may be widely visible in Alaska

November 2, 2023
Alaskans and visitors may be able to see an artificial airglow in the sky created by the High-frequency Active Auroral Research Program during a...
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The Greenland Ice Sheet, shown here in June 2017, contains approximately 700,000 cubic miles of ice that would raise the global sea level by about 24 feet if it were to melt completely. Photo courtesy of NASA.

UAF scientists receive grant to improve study of rising sea levels

October 31, 2023
A $638,000 National Science Foundation grant to two University of Alaska Fairbanks researchers aims to accelerate innovative ways of studying...
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The Elvey Building, center, at the University of Alaska Fairbanks is home to the Geophysical Institute. Photo by JR Ancheta.

Schaible Geophysical Institute Fellowships application period now open

October 30, 2023
The application period for two new Schaible Geophysical Institute Fellowships at the University of Alaska Fairbanks Geophysical Institute is now...
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This illustration shows the interaction between the sun and Earth. NASA illustration.

UAF scientist to aid NASA’s space weather forecasting

October 27, 2023
A University of Alaska Fairbanks scientist will have a role in a new NASA center that aims to greatly improve space weather forecasting and...
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The map shows the worst-case flooding scenario for upper Cook Inlet, based on numerical modeling. Image courtesy of Elena Suleimani, Alaska Earthquake Center; Barrett Salisbury, Alaska Division of Geological & Geophysical Surveys; Dmitry Nicolsky, UAF Geophysical Institute

Upper Cook Inlet community meetings will address tsunami hazard

October 16, 2023
In a series of community meetings to be held Oct. 17–20, scientists and local emergency managers will answer questions about a new report of...
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Floodwaters flow over and erode the Dalton Highway on May 21, 2015. The flooding contributed to a slow subsiding of ground in the permafrost-rich region. Photo courtesy of the Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities.

Flooding that closed Dalton Highway also caused widespread ground sinking

October 11, 2023
The massive 2015 flooding of the Sagavanirktok River in northern Alaska had immediate impacts, including closure of the Dalton Highway for...
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The combined effects of climate change and infrastructure development on ice-rich permafrost in Point Lay have resulted in severe thaw subsidence and surface water ponding that is destabilizing homes. Photo by Jana Peirce.

Alaska coastal tribe leaders see hope in NSF-funded climate project

October 11, 2023
The National Science Foundation’s decision to fund a $13.9 million program to help several Alaska coastal communities respond to the effects of...
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The community of Chignik Bay, one of the project partners, is located on the Alaska Peninsula. Photo by Chris Maio.

UAF-led group gets $13.9 million to aid coastal climate resilience

October 11, 2023
The National Science Foundation is funding a $13.9 million program led by the University of Alaska Fairbanks to help multiple communities respond...
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This map, the first complete, cloud-free image of Antarctica, came from the Radarsat-1 Antarctic Mapping Project. Ohio State University/Canadian Space Agency photo.

NASA announces open availability of Radarsat-1 data at Alaska Satellite Facility

October 3, 2023
NASA has announced that all Radarsat-1 data archived at the Alaska Satellite Facility Distributed Active Archive Center are now open data and can...
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Syun-Ichi Akasofu in his office at the International Arctic Research Center. Photo by Ned Rozell

Aurora through the ages

September 26, 2023
Syun-Ichi Akasofu, a well-known international authority on the aurora, will present a lecture, “Aurora Through the Ages,” at 4 p.m. Tuesday, Oct...
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This conceptual image reveals what the Kasei Valles region on Mars may have looked like 3 billion years ago. White areas are glaciers and blue represents ocean. Image by F. Schmidt/NASA

New Mars gravity analysis improves understanding of possible ancient ocean

September 19, 2023
The first use of a novel method of analyzing Mars’ gravitational force supports the idea that the planet once had an extensive northern ocean. In...
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U.S. Undersecretary of Defense Heidi Shyu, center, listens to Alaska Satellite Facility Director Wade Albright on top of the Elvey Building on Aug. 24. Shyu toured the Elvey Building and also the Alaska Center for Unmanned Aircraft Systems Integration hangar. UAF/GI Photo by Courtney Holtzclaw.

Defense Department military, civilian leaders tour Geophysical Institute

September 19, 2023
Top Department of Defense civilian and military leaders visited the University of Alaska Fairbanks Geophysical Institute in late August and...
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Permafrost stores large amounts of carbon that may be released to ecosystems and the atmosphere when permafrost thaws. These bluffs are on the bank of Alaska’s Canning River in 2019. USGS photo.

Study: Near-surface permafrost will be nearly gone by 2100

September 15, 2023
Most of Earth’s near-surface permafrost could be gone by 2100, an international team of scientists has concluded after comparing current climate...
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UAF Geophysical Institute associate professor Ronni Grapenthin digs the seismometer hole at a new Alaska Volcano Observatory monitoring site on the northwest side of Mount Edgecumbe in late August 2023. Photo by Max Kaufman.

First seismic network installed on Mount Edgecumbe volcano

September 15, 2023
Mount Edgecumbe volcano in Southeast Alaska has become the latest addition to the Alaska Volcano Observatory’s ground-based monitoring network...
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The SeaHunter drone of the Alaska Center for Unmanned Aircraft Systems Integration flies from Fairbanks International Airport to Nenana on Sept. 7, 2023. A day later it flew from Nenana to Fairbanks International Airport, a first. Photo by Peter Houlihan.

ACUASI completes first drone flight from Nenana to Fairbanks International Airport

September 14, 2023
Alaska’s leading public uncrewed aircraft program made another significant advance Friday when a drone flew from the Nenana airport and landed at...
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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

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