A new project will make it possible for scientists to better track a suite of phenomena in Alaska ranging from earthquakes to wildfires to sea ice. The five-year, $6.9 million project funded by the National Science Foundation will enhance measurements of Arctic change across western and northern Alaska. It’s led by the Alaska Earthquake Center, […]
High summer is here in middle Alaska. North of Fairbanks, in bright sunshine, alder flycatchers are perched in spruce tops, just arriving from Bolivia and Peru. A few steps away, accompanied by the smell of sulfur, dozens of carrion flies buzz on and above a moose carcass. Permafrost expert Tom Douglas has led me […]
Venus was once Earth-like and maybe even habitable. Why is it so different from Earth now? This week NASA announced its selection of four finalists in its Discovery Program competition, and one of the selected groups hopes to help find an answer. UAF Geophysical Institute research professor Robert Herrick is a member of the science team for […]
For the 20th straight year, in December 2019 I carried a notebook into the halls of the Fall Meeting of the American Geophysical Union. Most of those years the conference was in San Francisco (as it was this year). Back in 1999, when one billion fewer people lived on Earth, the 5,000 scientists who […]
“This green line looks like the death of permafrost — it’s flatlining,” Louise Farquharson said to an audience of a few dozen scientists. Her quiet voice came through speakers over the muffled clicking of keyboards and occasional coughs in a dimly lit room at the 2019 American Geophysical Union fall meeting in San Francisco. […]
University of Alaska Fairbanks scientists presented their work at the American Geophysical Union’s fall meeting in San Francisco this week. Here are some research highlights from the world’s largest Earth and space science meeting. A decades-old research project on Alaska’s North Slope indicates that deciduous shrubs shift more carbon from the soil to the atmosphere […]
Image: This mummified ground squirrel, curled up at lower right in its nesting material, lived in Alaska about 20,000 years ago. Photo by Ben Gaglioti One fall day in Interior Alaska, a lion stalked a ground squirrel that stood at attention on a hillside. The squirrel noticed bending blades of grass, squeaked an alarm […]
[dropcap]W[/dropcap]ASHINGTON— Blue whales around the world are singing a little flat, and scientists may now have more clues as to the reason why. A new study finds there’s a seasonal variation in the whales’ pitch correlated with breaking sea ice in the southern Indian Ocean. The new research also extends the mysterious long-term falling pitch to […]
NUIQSUT — Snow whips through the streets, stinging the skin and piling up in dunes. It is springtime in Nuiqsut, blinding white, 1 degree Fahrenheit with a 30 mile-per-hour wind. A few dozen kids are not feeling the bite, as they play in the gym of the Nuiqsut School (home of the Trappers). They are […]