Rime ice covers brush on a hill above Toolik Lake, Alaska, on June 8, 2025. Photo by Julie Stricker

Alaska climate report: May 2025 kept its cool

June 10, 2025
The month of May was noticeably cooler around Alaska, but data from the Alaska Climate Research Center at the University of Alaska Fairbanks show...
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UAF graduate student researcher Kylee Branning was one of two people inside a windowless 40-foot shipping container converted into a high-tech science observatory near the southern edge of frozen Lake Torneträsk, Sweden’s sixth-largest.
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Snow, cold, reindeer and long hours

June 2, 2025
Wind blew viciously across this isolated spot of northern Sweden on Feb. 1, 2024, driving the snow near horizontal. Gusts of 30 to 40 mph whipped...
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A new and unique system of mini-observatories, which began operating in late 2024, allows scientists to map vastly larger areas of the far upper atmosphere while also providing greater detail.
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Wind at the edge of space

June 1, 2025
A new and unique system of mini-observatories, which began operating in late 2024, allows scientists to map vastly larger areas of the far upper...
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Matanuska Glacier, about 100 miles northeast of Anchorage, terminates in a lake in June 2024. UAF photo by Leif Van Cise

Study finds Alaska, rest of Earth, to lose most of glacier mass

May 29, 2025
An international study has found that Earth’s glaciers will lose 76% of their 2020 mass under current climate policy pledges made by nations...
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A glacier goes on the run in Greenland

May 28, 2025
Jakobshavn Glacier in Greenland is one of Earth’s fastest-moving glaciers and one of the Greenland Ice Sheet’s largest glaciers. It produces...
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UAF graduate student researcher Amy Jenson at one of the instrument sites on Jakobshavn Glacier. Photo by Martin Truffer

Fast-moving Greenland glacier has the attention of UAF scientists

May 28, 2025
A powerhouse of ice flows rapidly on Greenland’s west coast, heading toward the ocean. Some of Earth’s largest icebergs are produced here...
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Visitors at the 2022 HAARP open house walk to the facility’s 33-acre antenna array. UAF/GI photo

HAARP to hold fifth public open house Saturday, June 14

May 23, 2025
The public can learn how scientists study Earth’s ionosphere, the region between the planet’s lower atmosphere and the vacuum of space, at a...
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Roger Topp, right, and his team discuss the setup for a model of the antenna that sits atop the University of Alaska Fairbanks Elvey Building. UAF/GI photo by Bryan Whitten

New exhibit explores Earth’s changes and beauty through radar data

May 16, 2025
The University of Alaska Museum of the North and Alaska Satellite Facility are presenting a new exhibit to showcase how synthetic aperture radar...
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This aerial photo from June 2022 shows the extent of land surrounding the HAARP facility, located near Gakona, Alaska. UAF Geophysical Institute photo

Air Force completes transfer of HAARP land to UAF, Ahtna

May 9, 2025
The University of Alaska now owns the land beneath its upper atmospheric research facility near Gakona, nearly 10 years after acquiring the site...
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The train of 10 snowmachines snaked slowly across the snow-covered Arctic Ocean ice toward the small tent far ahead, a single drop of yellow paint on a textured white canvas whose edges couldn’t be seen. This place, just a few miles from the northernmost U.S. city of Utqiagvik, is a good place for the collection of University of Alaska Fairbanks scientists and technicians collecting data for the Lightweight Airborne Snow and Sea Ice Thickness Observing System, or LASSITOS, project.
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Frozen ocean, solid science

May 8, 2025
The train of 10 snowmachines snaked slowly across the snow-covered Arctic Ocean ice toward the small tent far ahead, a single drop of yellow...
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Wood and brush burn in controlled and monitored fire along the Wildfire Walk trail through the Yankovich Road Fire Site on the UAF Troth Yeddha’ campus April 14, 2025. UAF photo by Eric Engman

Alaska climate report: Wet April reduced drought talk, but wildfire risk remains

May 7, 2025
Alaska entered its legally designated wildfire season April 1, but the good news is that the month was exceptionally wet, according to the Alaska...
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Visitors on a tour view the iconic blue satellite dish on the roof of the Elvey Building, home of the Geophysical Institute. The rooftop is not a guaranteed stop on the tour. GI/UAF photo by Bryan Whitten

Geophysical Institute and Poker Flat Research Range announce summer tours

April 29, 2025
The University of Alaska Fairbanks Geophysical Institute is offering free public tours to showcase some of its science facilities. Two different...
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A mid-latitude system swirls in the Gulf of Alaska on Nov. 12, 2019. These systems tend to form within the Aleutian Low, which is a semi-permanent breeding ground for some of Earth’s strongest storms. Photo courtesy of National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

Vibrations so small you can’t feel them hold Alaska climate secrets

April 22, 2025
Tiny Gulf of Alaska ocean wave vibrations unnoticeable by humans reach as far north as the state’s Arctic coastline. These and other very low...
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UAF doctoral student Kaytan Kelkar in Denali National Park in March for work on continuing permafrost research. Kelkar rode a sled towed by a National Park Service dog team. Photo courtesy of Kaytan Kelkar

In Alaska, getting to a research site can be a bit different

April 21, 2025
You go where the science is. In Alaska, that can mean traveling by dog team. “I had never done that, and it was definitely more difficult than I...
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Lee Ann Munk samples the surface at a closed-basin brine in Argentina in 2023. Photo courtesy of Lee Ann Munk

UAF research provides a roadmap for soaring global lithium demand

April 15, 2025
New work by a University of Alaska Fairbanks professor fills some gaps in knowledge about Earth’s resources of lithium, a critical element...
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Into the hot zone by drone

April 11, 2025
Using unmanned aircraft to efficiently and safely measure soil gas emissions in potentially risky areas of an active volcano has great potential...
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Laguna Caliente, in one of Poás volcano’s three craters, is one of the world’s most acidic natural lakes. Photo courtesy of ACUASI

UAF drones enter the hot zone to make volcano research safer

April 11, 2025
The four-propeller drone sitting briefly on a rocky and dusty surface in Central America in early March had an impressive diameter of nearly 7 ½...
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The image shows the ice extent — defined as the total area in which the ice concentration is at least 15% — at its 2025 maximum, which occurred on March 22. NASA illustration by Trent L. Schindler

Alaska climate report: Record low maximum Arctic sea ice

April 9, 2025
Winter’s sea ice extent in the Arctic set a new record low as it peaked March 22, according to the Alaska Climate Research Center’s monthly...
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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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