Skip to main content
The northern lights adorn the sky over the UAF Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station early Sunday morning, April 21, 2024. UAF photo by Eric Engman

First results from 2021 rocket launch shed light on aurora’s birth

Geophysical Institute
December 19, 2024
Newly published results from a 2021 experiment led by a University of Alaska Fairbanks scientist have begun to reveal the particle-level...
Read more  
Associate professor Sean Regan holds a copy of the December edition of Geology, which features his latest research in its cover photo. Photo by Bryan Whitten

Denali Fault tore apart ancient joining of two landmasses

Geophysical Institute
December 19, 2024
New research shows that three sites spread along an approximately 620-mile portion of today’s Denali Fault were once a smaller united geologic...
Read more  
Setting up the UAF Research booth. Photo by Rod Boyce

What a week in D.C. for AGU24

Geophysical Institute
December 18, 2024
Nearly 90 University of Alaska Fairbanks Geophysical Institute researchers — faculty, students and staff — made just over 100 oral and poster...
Read more  
The ionosphere and aurora wrap around Earth, as seen from the International Space Station. Photo courtesy of NASA

NASA-funded project looks for answers about aurora’s energy

Geophysical Institute
December 3, 2024
Most electrons that create the aurora have a moderate amount of energy, but scientists want to know more about how electrons on either side on...
Read more  
A photograph made during fieldwork along the Yukon River in central Alaska in 2023 shows the four-toed track. Photo courtesy of Anthony Fiorillo

Fossil tracks push range of large bird northward

Geophysical Institute
November 4, 2024
Scientists from Fairbanks, New Mexico and Japan have discovered the first reported fossilized tracks of a large four-toed bird that inhabited...
Read more  
 Research assistant professor Florian Hofmann of the UAF Geophysical Institute’s Geochronology Lab works on the lab’s argon mass spectrometer. Photo by JR Ancheta

UAF aims to make Alaska a critical minerals hub

Geophysical Institute
November 1, 2024
The University of Alaska Fairbanks has a new research unit that aims to make Alaska a global leader in research and development of critical...
Read more  
Clusters of “fairy circles” in Western Australia have been found to seep hydrogen gas. The image was acquired by the Landsat 9 satellite on June 27, 2023. Landsat 9 is a partnership between NASA and the U.S. Geological Survey. Image courtesy of NASA Earth Observatory

UAF workshop will look at Alaska’s geologic hydrogen

Geophysical Institute
October 25, 2024
Reshaping Alaska’s energy future with geologic hydrogen is the subject of a three-day workshop next week hosted by the University of Alaska...
Read more  
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

Geophysical Institute
October 23, 2024
A method of quickly determining surface air quality during Alaska’s sometimes intense wildfire season will benefit urban and rural communities...
Read more  
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

Geophysical Institute
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...
Read more