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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Laura Conner (left) in discussion with Laura Oxtoby and Suzanne Perin, both postdocs, discussing Bright Girls activities at the Mendenhall Glacier near Juneau. Photo by Cathy Connor

Laura Conner joins GI administrative team

September 12, 2023
Laura Conner was recently appointed associate director of the Geophysical Institute, joining Jessica Larsen in that role. Conner is research...
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The Pogo Mine Road Fire burns on Saturday, Aug. 5, 2023. Photo by Duane Morris/Alaska Division of Forestry

UAF helps present air quality data on popular Alaska wildfire website

September 12, 2023
Getting information about where wildfire smoke is headed in Alaska has become easy for the public, thanks to collaboration between the University...
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A 100-meter beaver dam, left, creates a large beaver pond on the Seward Peninsula in western Alaska. A beaver lodge is visible in the pond in this August 2021 photograph. Photo by Ken Tape.

Beaver activity in the Arctic increases emission of methane greenhouse gas

September 7, 2023
The climate-driven advance of beavers into the Arctic tundra is causing the release of more methane — a greenhouse gas — into the atmosphere...
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The research vessel Akademik Tryoshnikov sails in the Arctic Ocean on a 2021 science cruise in the Nansen and Amundsen Basins Observational System program. A science cruise aboard the U.S. Coast Guard icebreaker Healy began in August 2023 to research in the same area. Photo courtesy of Igor Polyakov

New research explains “Atlantification” of the Arctic Ocean

August 31, 2023
New research by an international team of scientists explains what’s behind a stalled trend in Arctic Ocean sea ice loss since 2007. The findings...
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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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