Researchers at the University of Alaska Fairbanks’ Geophysical Institute are exploring the changing chemistry of the Arctic’s atmosphere to help answer the question of what happens as snow and ice begin to melt. The research, led by chemistry professor William R. Simpson, is concerned with the Arctic’s reactive bromine season, which is the period of […]
People travel north from all over for a chance to see the aurora. Soon, Chris Fallen will make his own. Sometime around the darkness of the September 19 new moon, the space physicist will travel to an antenna field off the Copper River. There, he will pulse transmitters on and off to create radio-induced aurora, […]
Reducing greenhouse-gas emissions is not enough to limit global warming to a level that wouldn’t risk young people’s future, according to a new study by a team of scientists who say we need negative emissions. Measures such as reforestation could accomplish much of the needed CO2 removal from the atmosphere, but continued high fossil fuel emissions […]
Plants and soil in the Arctic tundra absorb and store mercury released into the atmosphere by industry and mining in the Earth’s temperate regions, leading to soil mercury levels five times higher than in lower latitudes, according to a new study by researchers supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF). The research was published this […]