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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Recent retreat of McBride Glacier in Alaska has led to exposure of 5.25 miles of coastline, shown in green in this false color Sentinel-2 satellite image. Image courtesy of Jan Kavan

New assessment shows gain of coastline from receding glaciers

April 8, 2025
New research gives a detailed look at the extent to which receding glaciers in Alaska and elsewhere in the Northern Hemisphere are creating new...
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An AWESOME success

April 2, 2025
Two NASA sounding rockets that launched March 25 from Poker Flat Research Range north of Fairbanks ejected payloads that created a colorful...
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The third of three sounding rockets launches from Poker Flat Research Range at 1:33 a.m. March 29, 2025. Two other rockets in the same science mission launched from Poker Flat on March 25. UAF photo by Eric Marshall

Launch of third NASA rocket completes complex aurora mission

April 1, 2025
The third and final NASA sounding rocket in a mission to better understand how the aurora affects the upper atmosphere launched at 1:33 a.m...
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Graduate student researcher Austin Smith looks through one of three UAF cameras set up as part of the AWESOME mission. Orange enclosures on yellow tripods house cameras of Clemson University, which is a partner in the UAF-led AWESOME mission. Photo by Cameron Westerlund

UAF students play key role in the AWESOME rocket mission

March 27, 2025
Participating in a NASA sounding rocket mission in their geographic backyard is an extraordinary opportunity for student researchers at the...
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The second NASA rocket, the four-stage Black Brant XII, launches early on March 25, 2025, from Poker Flat Research Range on the second night of the AWESOME sounding rocket mission. Photo by Bryan Whitten

Two NASA rockets launch from Poker Flat, third rocket expected

March 25, 2025
Two NASA sounding rockets launched from Poker Flat Research Range north of Fairbanks early this morning in a mission aimed at learning more about...
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A NASA technician works on the payloads of one of the AWESOME mission’s three rockets at the space agency’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia. The rocket and payload components were then shipped to Poker Flat Research Range. Photo by Berit Bland/NASA

Poker Flat to launch three NASA rockets in single aurora experiment

March 21, 2025
Three NASA rockets are set to launch from Poker Flat Research Range in an experiment that seeks to reveal how auroral substorms affect the...
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Chief pilot Jason Williams of the Alaska Center for Unmanned Aircraft Systems Integration, at right, controls a drone carrying the science instruments during a test flight Jan. 17, 2025. Research assistant professor Társilo Girona watches. Photo by Eric Marshall

UAF drones to sample active Costa Rica volcano

March 10, 2025
A four-person University of Alaska Fairbanks team plans to land an unmanned aircraft in the crater of an active Costa Rica volcano this week to...
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From left, Coda Consulting CEO Mathieu Gibeault, Eyal Saiet of ACUASI, and Gislain Chevrette, also of Coda, stand atop the new icing tower at the University of Alaska Fairbanks on Feb. 5, 2025. Photo by JR Ancheta

UAF tower to help enable drones to fly in icing conditions

March 4, 2025
A new icing tower at the University of Alaska Fairbanks Geophysical Institute will help aerospace engineers figure out how to enable drones to...
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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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