Smoke from nearby wildfires creates a haze on the University of Alaska Fairbanks Troth Yeddha’ Campus in June 2022. UAF photo by Eric Engman

Method rapidly determines surface air quality during Alaska wildfires

October 23, 2024
A method of quickly determining surface air quality during Alaska’s sometimes intense wildfire season will benefit urban and rural communities...
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Comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS passes by the sun (blocked by center circle) on Oct. 10, 2024, in this image from the Solar & Heliospheric Observatory. The observatory launched in December 1995 as a joint mission of NASA and the European Space Agency. Image courtesy of the Solar & Heliospheric Observatory

UAF to offer comet viewing — if the weather cooperates

October 11, 2024
The University of Alaska Fairbanks invites the public to view a celestial visitor that hasn’t traveled near Earth in at least 80,000 years. Comet...
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Kevin Galloway, left, and Mike Steinhauer of the Geophysical Institute’s Research Computing Systems unit attach cabling in August 2024 for the final and largest GPU node to be installed. Photo by LJ Evans

UAF’s high-performance computing resources just got a lot smarter

October 3, 2024
University of Alaska Fairbanks staff upgraded the university’s most powerful high-performance computer this summer to significantly increase its...
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Kyra Bornong. Photo courtesy of Kyra Bornong

2024 UAF Geophysical Institute Schaible Fellowship winners announced

September 17, 2024
Students in geology and space physics are the recipients of 2024 Geophysical Institute Schaible Fellowships. Kyra Bornong of Minnesota and Zack...
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Ice fog over Fairbanks as seen from the University of Alaska Fairbanks. Debby Dean photo

New research has implications for Fairbanks winter air quality improvement

September 4, 2024
Work led by University of Alaska Fairbanks and Georgia Institute of Technology researchers shows that the effort to improve Fairbanks' wintertime...
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The Mirror Lake offramp on the Glenn Highway near Chugiak, Alaska, shows damage after the Nov. 30, 2018, earthquake. Photo courtesy of Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities

UAF scientist’s method could give months’ warning of major earthquakes

August 29, 2024
The public could have days or months of warning about a major earthquake through identification of prior low-level tectonic unrest over large...
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Several participants in the Alaska Defense Forum visited the hangar of the UAF Geophysical Institute’s Alaska Center for Unmanned Aircraft Systems Integration on Monday, Aug. 26, 2024. Tour groups visited several of the university’s research facilities. Photo by Brittany Smart

UAF sponsoring Alaska Defense Forum to assist with nation’s security needs

August 27, 2024
The University of Alaska Fairbanks is a title sponsor this year of the Alaska Defense Forum, underway this week through Wednesday at the Westmark...
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Elementary school students digging in the ‘Permafrost Exploration Sled’ while at the BARC Science & Culture Fair in August 2024. Photo by Serina Wesen

SALVO team connects with rural students in Utqiaġvik

August 20, 2024
The Snow Albedo Evolution, or SALVO, field campaign's third — and final — phase was completed this spring. The field campaign was conducted by...
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A field engineer of the Wilson Alaska Technical Center at the UAF Geophysical Institute services a portable infrasound monitoring station near Palmer Station, Antarctica. Photo courtesy of the Wilson Alaska Technical Center.

UAF receives funding to enhance nuclear proliferation detection

August 19, 2024
The University of Alaska Fairbanks has been named to a group of 12 universities tasked by the federal government with improving and expanding the...
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The graphic shows the propagation paths of specularly reflected (SR) and magnetospherically reflected (MR) whistler waves. The Earth-ionosphere boundary at about 55 miles is not drawn to scale. Illustration adapted from the research paper

UAF scientists discover phenomenon impacting Earth’s radiation belts

August 16, 2024
Two University of Alaska Fairbanks scientists have discovered a new type of “whistler,” an electromagnetic wave that carries a substantial amount...
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Ice fog blankets parts of Fairbanks as seen from the West Ridge viewpoint at the University of Alaska Fairbanks on Feb. 2, 2024. UAF photo by Leif Van Cise

UAF will buy instruments to expand Fairbanks air studies

August 7, 2024
A $702,000 National Science Foundation grant to the University of Alaska Fairbanks will pay for two science instruments to expand the study of...
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Exhibit panels on display at the Museum of the Aleutians in Unalaska describe storms and tsunamis. Photo courtesy of Chris Maio

Museum exhibit, video series to explain Aleutian Island storm history

August 2, 2024
A 2022 science cruise to the Aleutian Islands to learn about ancient storms and tsunamis has generated a traveling museum exhibit and video...
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Research associate professor Pavel Izbekov photographs students on the return from a day hike with Novarupta in the background. Photo by Seth Adams

UAF volcano field school explores 20th century’s biggest eruption

August 1, 2024
In the southern mountains of Katmai National Park and Preserve sits Novarupta volcano, which in 1912 belched the 20th century’s largest eruption...
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Franz Meyer receives the Education Award at the Geoscience and Remote Sensing Society meeting in Athens, Greece, in July 2024. Photo courtesy of Franz Meyer

UAF remote sensing scientist receives international award

July 24, 2024
Remote sensing professor Franz Meyer of the University of Alaska Fairbanks has been honored by an international society for his education and...
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Pavlof Volcano, on the Alaska Peninsula, emerges from clouds on Aug. 20, 2021. Photo courtesy of Ben David Jacob.

UAF researcher creates way to detect elusive volcanic vibrations

July 23, 2024
A new automated system of monitoring and classifying persistent vibrations at active volcanoes can eliminate the hours of manual effort needed to...
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Photo by Andy Aschwanden

International Summer School in Glaciology 2024 — A great success

July 9, 2024
Twenty-eight graduate students from nearly a dozen countries gathered in the small Alaska community of McCarthy in mid-June to participate in UAF...
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Research Professor Craig Heinselman. Photo by Bryan Whitten

UAF physicist receives top honor from European science association

July 8, 2024
Research Professor Craig Heinselman of the University of Alaska Fairbanks Geophysical Institute has been named the recipient of the 10th Beynon...
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Sergey Marchenko stands off the Nome-Council Road on the Seward Peninsula during one of his early Alaska fieldwork travels. Photo courtesy Vladimir Romanovsky.

Remembering Sergey Marchenko: Internationally known geocryologist

July 2, 2024
The Geophysical Institute lost a longtime member of its permafrost team last week with the death in Fairbanks of Research Associate Professor...
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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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