Has the moon seemed exceptionally noticeable this winter? There’s a reason: The full moon currently never sets for many Alaskans. During the winter of 2023-2024, we are passing through a period when the moon is at one extreme in its precession cycle. The full moon is now higher in the sky than it will be […]
This year, like the years and decades before it, again showed the strength and significance of the University of Alaska Fairbanks Geophysical Institute as a leader in research, especially in Arctic research. Geophysical Institute scientists — research faculty, graduate students and undergrads — study permafrost, ice, snow, sea ice, the depths of the Arctic Ocean, […]
PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — When it comes to greenhouse gases, methane is one the biggest contributors. Not only is it massively abundant — it’s about 25 times more potent than carbon dioxide at trapping heat in the atmosphere. That makes tracking methane emissions critically important, and nowhere more so than in the Arctic, which is […]
SAN FRANCISCO — In December 2006, I sat in a similar carpeted room in this city and listened to scientists talk about an Alaska-size chunk of sea ice that was no longer floating on the northern oceans compared to previous years. That meant that the “refrigerator of the northern hemisphere” was much less powerful than […]