UAF Geophysical Institute

10/08/2026

🍿🎬 It’s premiere night! We at UAF Geophysical Institute are proud to invite you at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 7, to enjoy our new 17-min film, “Listening to Alaska,” at the Walt & Marita Babula Planetarium at UA Museum of the North.

Tonight, watch the film and stay for a great Q&A session with Alaska State Seismologist Michael West, director of the Alaska Earthquake Center. Ask him anything about their work on earthquakes, tsunamis, landslides, and hazard monitoring.

🎟️Capacity is limited to 65 seats, so buy your tickets early at the museum, or when doors open at 6:30 PM tonight before the film starts at 7 p.m.!

Can’t make it tonight? Visit our website for info on four additional premiere nights on Oct. 17, Oct. 28, Nov. 4, and Nov. 11 with new featured speakers. All shows are Wednesdays at 7 p.m. More info here: https://www.uaf.edu/museum/planetarium/shows/lta-lecture-series.php

10/07/2026

Join the University of Alaska Museum of the North and the Geophysical Institute for an exciting premiere of the new 17-minute film “Listening to Alaska” at the Walt & Marita Babula Planetarium, paired with a talk and Q&A with a scientist on one of the topics featured in the film.

Earthquake scientists are featured in this new film, and tonight, Oct. 7, Dr. Michael West, Alaska State Seismologist and director of the Alaska Earthquake Center will share how his team monitors earthquakes across Alaska. Doors open at 6:30 PM, and the film premiere and talk start at 7 PM.

Tickets for a "Listening to Alaska" premiere event are $16 for adults, $12 for youth (17 and under)/UA faculty, staff and students, and $8 for museum members. Tickets are available now for purchase at the museum, in-person only, 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Planetarium capacity is limited to 65 people, so please consider purchasing your tickets in advance of the show to ensure you get a seat! You may also purchase tickets at the door.

This series is in-person only. Minors must be accompanied by an adult. All presentations in the series are on Wednesdays starting at 7 PM:
– Oct. 7: Seismology, Michael West
– Oct. 14: Launching Rockets at Poker Flat, Don Hampton
– Oct. 28: Permafrost, Dmitry Nicolsky & Colby Wright
– Nov. 4: Paleontology, Patrick Druckenmiller
– Nov. 11: Archaeology/Ethnology & Bus 142, Angela Linn & Josh Reuther

10/07/2026

NASA's chief came to town to explore UAF's space places!

NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration Administrator Jared “Rook” Isaacman visited the University of Alaska Fairbanks on Monday and took in a lot of what UAF has to offer in space and aeronautics.

He visited an Alaska Space Grant Program Science Fair, the Walt & Marita Babula Planetarium at the University of Alaska Museum of the North and the NASA-funded Alaska Satellite Facility antenna on top of the Elvey Building.

He held a chilly, hibernating arctic ground squirrel, had an in-depth tour of Poker Flat Research Range, and took questions from the media.

At a well-attended town hall with students in UAF's Schaible Auditorium, Administrator Isaacman touched on the future of space exploration, innovation, technology and the opportunities available to the next generation before taking questions from the audience.

This event was part of NASA’s “Inspiration Tour” to celebrate the nation's strengths in space exploration and aeronautics.

We're glad you came to see us, Administrator Isaacman!

Maybe come up in winter, too, to see one of Poker Flat's incredible rocket launches!

University of Alaska

10/03/2026

Alaska has 6,700 miles of coastline, including its islands, and much of it is vulnerable to a devastating .

A new and interactive tsunami hazards tool created by the Alaska Earthquake Center at the University of Alaska Fairbanks Geophysical Institute brings evacuation information, hazard maps and other community-specific resources into a single online location.

“A tsunami might not happen during our lifetime, maybe not even in our children's lifetime,” said Elena Troshina, the Alaska Earthquake Center’s tsunami scientist who led the project. “But a tsunami will happen.”

National Tsunami Warning Center
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)
University of Alaska

A new and interactive tsunami hazards tool created by the Alaska Earthquake Center brings evacuation information, hazard maps and other community-specific resources into a single online location.

10/01/2026

Alaska Science Forum
No. 2,809
Oct. 1, 2026

Time capsule: The secret life of a red fox family
By Ned Rozell

Note: At the start of every walk, my dogs try to sneak away to “fox town,” a fox den on the other side of the pond near my cabin, and we often see the adult foxes trotting through the neighborhood. Hearing one of them bark the other evening, I was reminded of this March 26, 2020, story by Ned Rozell. He recently reported that foxes still use the den, but did not occupy it in summer 2026. — Sara Wilbur

One year ago, in a world with the same mountains and valleys but feeling very different, we made a discovery.

My wife, daughter, two neighbor kids, three dogs and I were out enjoying the freedom of crust skiing, when cold overnight temperatures freeze a melting snow pack. A hard top layer allows skiing anywhere, not just the trail system.

We skated between spruce trees to a cold spot about a mile from home, where a small hill of poplar trees and rose bushes rises from surrounding low tundra plants. There, we noticed a hole in the hill at knee level. The snow at the entrance to the opening was dirty, with tracks we couldn’t identify.

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🦊 🎥 Read the rest of this week's Alaska Science Forum on a red fox family near Fairbanks, Alaska: https://www.gi.alaska.edu/alaska-science-forum/time-capsule-secret-life-red-fox-family

10/01/2026

These seven gentleman are using the Geophysical Institute’s large globe to demonstrate the purpose of an experiment called Operation Barbizon, a collaboration between the Geophysical Institute and Los Alamos National Laboratory in 1971. The experiment was to use a shaped barium charge to illuminate Earth’s magnetic field line from Alaska to New Zealand. Hans Nielsen of the GI was one of the observers for the experiment, during which he was located on a small island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.

The experiment used a sounding rocket to take barium into the atmosphere and release it. The element barium oxidizes in air and reacts vigorously with water to form the hydroxide, releasing harmless hydrogen. Many experiments based at Poker Flat Research Range use barium to enable scientists to observe atmospheric conditions because the barium is visible once oxidized. In this case, the barium was released high enough in the atmosphere to be carried by Earth’s magnetic field all the way around the planet. It is only visible in the atmosphere at dawn and dusk, when the setting or rising sun shines on the hydrogen v***r released.

The gentlemen in the photo are, left to right, Neil Davis, GI; Milt Peeks, Los Alamos National Laboratory section leader and lead for the experiment; Wally Murcray; Hans Nielsen, GI; Russ Beach (standing on the chair); Col. Jim Wells, USAF and Los Alamos, one of the pilots of the three aircraft used in the experiment; and Gene Westcott, GI.

10/01/2026

SWEATing in the cold.

The ice tower of the UAF Alaska Center for UAS Integration at the University of Alaska Fairbanks Geophysical Institute is where research into wintertime drone flight happens.

Ice buildup on wings reduces lift, a dangerous occurrence for airplanes, helicopters — and .

The tower, formally called the Supercooled Water Experimental Arctic Tower, or SWEAT, is integral not only for research into the conditions that drones can encounter.

Check the story and vid clips here:

https://www.gi.alaska.edu/news/ice-flights

University of Alaska

The ice tower of the Alaska Center for Unmanned Aircraft Systems In...

09/24/2026

Alaska Science Forum
No. 2,808
Sept. 24, 2026

An update on fishhook chickadee beaks
By Sara Wilbur

Over 26 years ago, my friend Ned Rozell wrote about a startling new deformity seen in Alaska’s black-capped chickadees:

“In 1991, a man living in King Salmon noticed three black-capped chickadees with beaks curved like fishhooks,” Rozell wrote. “Since then, hundreds of people from Southcentral Alaska have seen chickadees with overlong beaks that make it difficult for the birds to feed. The drastic increase in sightings has biologists worried that something is very wrong in Southcentral.”

Since 1999, biologists with the U.S. Geological Survey’s Alaska Science Center have cataloged over 3,000 reports across Alaska of so-called avian keratin disorder in black-caps, which they cite as “the highest concentration of [visible] deformities ever recorded in a wild bird population.”

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🦠 Learn more about black-capped chickadees and avian keratin disorder in this week's Alaska Science Forum: https://www.gi.alaska.edu/alaska-science-forum/update-fishhook-chickadee-beaks

09/17/2026

Thank you to the University of Alaska Foundation Board of Directors for honoring our friend and former colleague Ned Rozell as the recipient of the 2026 Edith R. Bullock Prize for Excellence at your Fairbanks gathering this week. It was heartwarming to see the outpouring of gratitude for Ned's three decades of writing and one million words for the GI's Alaska Science Forum weekly column. We are wishing Ned happy trails and sunny skies in his retirement!

Read more about Ned and Edith in the UAF Foundation's 2026 Annual Report: https://alaska.mythoshq.com/site/FY26-UA-Foundation-Annual-Report/page/Stories-of-Impact-EdithBullock

09/17/2026

Alaska’s drone research program does it again!

The Alaska Center for Unmanned Aircraft Systems Integration at
the University of Alaska Fairbanks Geophysical Institute successfully completed a 1,000-kilometer test flight carrying human blood samples for the International Testing Agency.

The ITA investigates doping by athletes at the Olympics and other major sporting events.

ACUASI's 8-hour, 47-minute flight aimed to show that unmanned aircraft can rapidly deliver blood samples without degrading them. ACUASI is part of the University of Alaska Fairbanks Geophysical Institute.

University of Alaska

Alaska’s drone research program successfully completed a 1,000-kilometer test flight carrying human blood samples for the International Testing Agency, which investigates doping by athletes at the Olympics and other major sporting events.