When permafrost is perma-lost, the global carbon cycle is altered and coastal ecosystem are affected In a first-of-its-kind study, a team of researchers led by geoscientist Michael Rawlins at the University of Massachusetts Amherst has shown in fine-grained detail what happens when Arctic permafrost thaws. Focusing on a Wisconsin-sized area of Alaska’s North Slope containing hundreds […]
MANLEY HOT SPRINGS — It’s so quiet in these spruce hills and tamarack swamps that 27 hours and 50 miles passed between when Forest Wagner and I said goodbye to one human being at Old Minto and hello to the next near Baker. Space is in ample supply here on these pressed-in snow trails […]
A brilliant flash of light and a stream of directed flame generating 25,000 pounds of thrust pushed a NASA sounding rocket skyward north of Fairbanks early on Jan. 30. Up it went from Poker Flat Research Range, carrying the PolarNOx aurora research payload on a successful mission. Scientists were happy. In-person and online rocket […]
Sea ice is sticking to Alaska’s northern coast for less time each year, according to 27 years of data analyzed by University of Alaska Fairbanks scientists. Such landfast ice, which stays attached to the shoreline instead of drifting with winds and currents, also has covered less total area in recent winters. The work led […]