Mount Edgecumbe (L’úx Shaa), viewed from a helicopter in summer 2023, rises from forests on Kruzof Island about 15 miles west of Sitka. Photo by Ronni Grapenthin, Alaska Volcano Observatory/ University of Alaska Fairbanks Geophysical Institute

Alaska-developed volcano monitoring system will expand across U.S.

February 20, 2025
A new radar-based volcano monitoring system developed by the University of Alaska Fairbanks and U.S. Geological Survey will expand across the U.S...
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The second of two rockets in the Ground Imaging to Rocket investigation of Auroral Fast Features mission launched on Feb. 8. Photo by Eric Marshall/UAF Geophysical Institute

First rocket campaign of 2025 concludes at Poker Flat Research Range

February 12, 2025
Two NASA rockets successfully launched from Poker Flat Research Range this month in search of answers about forms of rapid auroral behavior. The...
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Multiple glacial streams carry turbid glacial runoff into Kachemak Bay in this aerial view looking southwest from the head of the bay toward Homer on June 30, 2021. Photo by Martin Stuefer

Research reveals extent of Kachemak Bay’s surface cloudiness

January 30, 2025
Scientists have produced the first remote sensing analysis of how water clouded by sediment in glacier meltwater moves on the surface of Kachemak...
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This image is from a video that accompanies the unmanned aircraft systems courses and includes the history of drone flight.

UAF offers free online courses about unmanned aircraft systems

January 28, 2025
The public can learn the history, basics and engineering of unmanned aircraft systems through two free online courses offered by the University...
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Thaw-driven subsidence can lead to thermokarst and formation of thermokarst ponds and thaw ponds. UAF Ph.D. student Nick Hasson looks at a thaw pond just north of the University of Alaska Fairbanks main campus. It is forming in an area underlain by massive ice wedges. Photo by Louise Farquharson

Thawing permafrost causes ground to sink in cold regions; scientists urge action

January 24, 2025
More needs to be done to better understand rapidly changing Arctic landscapes that are sinking as climate-driven permafrost thaw penetrates...
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UAF professor Franz Meyer presents “Launching NISAR: NASA's Biggest Earth Observation Mission” as part of the 2024 Science for Alaska talk series. The 2025 talk series begins with a kickoff event on Thursday, Jan. 30, at Black Spruce Brewing Co. UAF/GI photo by LJ Evans

33rd annual Science for Alaska talks and outreach events announced

January 21, 2025
The University of Alaska Fairbanks Geophysical Institute will host free public science talks over the next few weeks, featuring Alaska stories...
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Two of three payloads being prepared to investigate three types of aurora sit inside the payload assembly area at Poker Flat Research Range on Friday, Jan. 10, 2025. Photo by Bryan Whitten

Three rockets will ignite Poker Flat’s 2025 launch season

January 16, 2025
Three NASA sounding rockets are set to launch from Poker Flat Research Range as early as Tuesday to learn more about three types of aurora —...
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Unraveling the aurora's birth

December 20, 2024
More than a week of waiting for the right conditions in a short nightly launch window had come to this: a few remaining minutes on the final...
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New research shows that three sites spread along an approximately 620-mile portion of today’s Denali Fault in Alaska were once a smaller united geologic feature indicative of the final joining of two land masses. That feature was then torn apart by millions of years of tectonic activity.
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Big stretch on the Denali Fault

December 19, 2024
New research shows that three sites spread along an approximately 620-mile portion of today’s Denali Fault in Alaska were once a smaller united...
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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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