Syun-Ichi Akasofu’s Alaska Journey
Syun-Ichi Akasofu has been advancing understanding of the aurora borealis for more than sixty years and was a critical part of the establishment of the International Arctic Research Center at UAF.
Author: Ned Rozell
Some Good News From the Thin Ice
A group of researchers have found a sliver of good news in the disappearing sea ice off Alaska’s west coast—the ocean floor around Bering Strait still seems to be capturing billions of bits of carbon that might otherwise lead to an even warmer planet.
Steller Sea Lions and Mercury
Graduate student Michelle Trifari is researching why Stellar sea lions located in the Western Aleutian Islands apparently carry more mercury than those closer to the mainland.
Message From a Lonely Alaska Island
In 2012, an 85-year-old scientist and his son-in-law pulled a cylinder of muck from a faraway island. They carried it home like a newborn baby, froze it, and mailed it to a researcher across the country.
A Bad Night in a Good Box
Early in his career, on a wet, windy, foggy night, Guy Tytgat checked into the loneliest hotel in the Aleutians. His room was four feet wide and five feet tall, made of fiberglass, and perched on the lip of a volcanic crater.
White Killer Whale Spotted in Southeast
Having studied killer whales during her undergraduate work in British Columbia, Stephanie Hayes knew they were witnessing something special.
Bears Alert Scientists to Secret Salmon Streams
Until recently, scientists did not know salmon swam up some of these waterways, nor that grizzlies were fattening up on them before entering hibernation.
Banana Slugs Ooze Over Coastal Alaska
Pacific banana slugs live on the floor of coastal rain forests all the way south to California. Down there, where frosts are rare as 90 degree days here, the slugs grow long as pencils.
Earthquake Adds Missing Piece to Puzzle
Late in the evening of July 21, State Seismologist Michael West heard a text alarm. His phone informed him of a large earthquake beneath the ocean, just south of the Alaska Peninsula, about 60 miles southeast of the village of Sand Point. His first thought was that this—the biggest earthquake on the planet so far in 2020—would cause a devastating tsunami. His second thought was that a longstanding earthquake mystery may have just been solved.
Granite Tors Evidence of Ice-Free Alaska
Twenty-thousand years ago, at the height of the last ice age, Alaska was connected to Siberia in a wide, grassy plain, the home of horses and bison.