The gear building where the SALVO team prepares for a trip to their snow research site. Photo by Rod Boyce

SALVO: Studying how snow melts on tundra and sea ice

April 20, 2024
The five University of Alaska Fairbanks researchers didn’t mind the constant wind that gusted to about 30 mph across the flat whiteness on...
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Citizen science photos (a, b) show a large open water zone on Dec. 20, 2020, on the Tanana River near Rosie Creek. The photos confirm the synthetic aperture radar classifications (c) from the same date. Red, blue and black arrows point to the same landmarks in all panels. Image from research paper.

New radar analysis method can improve winter river safety

April 12, 2024
University of Alaska Fairbanks researchers have developed a way to use radar to detect open water zones and other changes in Alaska’s frozen...
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UAF/GI photo by Eric Marshall

New GINA satellite antenna gets lifted into place at UAF

April 8, 2024
A crane hoisted a new 3-meter antenna atop the University of Alaska Fairbanks’ engineering building Saturday, increasing the capability of the...
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University of Alaska Fairbanks Facilities Services employees Mckinley Hearns, left, and Shae Patterson assemble the reflector dish of the new Geographic Information Network of Alaska antenna on Wednesday, April 3, 2024. Photo by Bryan Whitten

New rooftop antenna to be installed on UAF Usibelli Building

April 5, 2024
A new 3-meter antenna will be installed atop the University of Alaska Fairbanks’ engineering building as early as Saturday. The antenna is for...
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A solar flare flashes in the sun’s corona on Feb. 21, 2024. The image shows a blend of 171 Angstrom and 131 Angstrom light, subsets of extreme ultraviolet light that highlight plasma loops in the corona and extremely hot material in flares, respectively. Photo by NASA/Solar Dynamics Observatory

NASA rockets to gather sun data in rare daytime Poker Flat launches

April 4, 2024
Two rockets are set to launch within minutes of each other from Poker Flat Research Range this month in NASA’s first campaign to study solar...
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Chris Maio, director of the UAF Arctic Coastal Cooperative, speaks on the first day of a weeklong meeting of participants in the Alaska Coastal Cooperative for Co-producing Transformative Ideas and Opportunities in the North. Photo by Rod Boyce

Alaska communities take next steps in UAF-led climate change response

April 2, 2024
About 50 people from Alaska and Canada gathered in Anchorage on Monday to begin a weeklong retreat. Their goal is to accelerate the work of...
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Alaska Earthquake Center chart

Looking back 60 years: How the Great Alaska Earthquake compares

March 27, 2024
The March 27, 1964, Great Alaska Earthquake remains the second-largest ever recorded in the world. Each earthquake releases energy when rock...
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Research professor Andy Mahoney of the University of Alaska Fairbanks Geophysical Institute, left, stands near the USS Hampton’s sail during Operation Ice Camp in March 2024. A civilian employee with the Navy’s Arctic Submarine Lab stands in front of the sail. Photo courtesy of Andy Mahoney

Ice experts aid US military in Arctic Ocean exercise

March 22, 2024
Camping on an Arctic Ocean ice floe can be risky. Choosing a safe spot is critical in a setting where the surface can crack open. Preparing for...
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Denise Thorsen explains some of the work underway by students in the University of Alaska Fairbanks Space Systems Engineering Program earlier this year. Photo by Rod Boyce

UAF space engineering program director wins NASA prize

March 19, 2024
The advisor of the University of Alaska Fairbanks space engineering program is one of 20 winners of a NASA prize to expand the agency’s...
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A theropod track lies in rock near the west bank of the Kukpowruk River. Photo courtesy of Anthony Fiorillo

Alaska dinosaur tracks reveal a lush, wet environment

March 8, 2024
A large find of dinosaur tracks and fossilized plants and tree stumps in far northwestern Alaska provides new information about the climate and...
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Four laser beams rise from the Lidar Research Lab at Poker Flat Research Range. The three yellow beams are the sodium resonance wind-temperature lidar and the green beam is the Rayleigh density temperature lidar. Photo by Skylar Sellers

New UAF lidar will add to space weather research capability

March 4, 2024
University of Alaska Fairbanks scientists are developing a new light detection and ranging instrument to help gain a better understanding of...
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The debris field from an October 2015 landslide extends over the toe of the Tyndall Glacier and into Taan Fjord in spring 2016. Photo by Chris Larsen.

New detection method aims to warn of landslide tsunamis

February 21, 2024
University of Alaska Fairbanks researchers have devised a way to remotely detect large landslides within minutes of occurrence and to quickly...
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Students demonstrate their satellite in front of judges at their January presentation in New Mexico. Photo by Jessie Perkins, Air Force Research Laboratory.

UAF students win funds from Air Force to build a nanosatellite

February 20, 2024
A team of University of Alaska Fairbanks students will build the Air Force a nanosatellite roughly the size of an ordinary loaf of sliced bread...
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Ice fog covers the landscape below an overlook on the West Ridge of the University of Alaska Fairbanks Troth Yeddha’ Campus on Feb. 2, 2024. The ice fog layer traps pollutants at ground level. UAF photo by Leif Van Cise.

Study finds home heating fuel is direct source of sulfate in Fairbanks winter air

February 19, 2024
Use of residential heating fuel is the main contributor of primary sulfate pollution in Fairbanks’ wintertime air, according to research...
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A recently created beaver dam creates a pond on the Baldwin Peninsula near Kotzebue, Alaska, in August 2022. A beaver lodge sits on the pond edge to the right. Photo by Ken Tape.

Scientists, others to discuss impact of beaver movement into Arctic

February 16, 2024
Scientists and others from remote communities across western Alaska and northern Canada concerned about the migration of beavers into the Arctic...
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The audience listens to one of several brief science presentations in The Pub at the University of Alaska Fairbanks at the start of the 2023 Science for Alaska talk series. The 2024 talk series begins Thursday, Feb. 1, at The Pub. UAF/GI photo by Rebecca Beltran.

UAF announces 32nd annual Science for Alaska series

January 26, 2024
Free public talks in the next few weeks will explore Mount Edgecumbe volcano, the peaking sun cycle’s boost to aurora viewing, Alaska’s role in...
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Girls take photos of a dragonfly at Creamer’s Field Migratory Waterfowl Refuge during summer camp. Photo by Perrin Teal Sullivan

Local items boost students’ connection to science

January 26, 2024
Using local items in science lessons for K-12 students is especially important for teaching science in the North, according to new research...
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The time and temperature sign on Alumni Drive on a frigid January 2021 morning on the UAF Troth Yeddha’ campus in Fairbanks. UAF photo.

International Arctic weather workshop to be held at UAF

January 12, 2024
An international group of nearly 140 military personnel and civilians with an interest in improving Arctic weather forecasting will gather at the...
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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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