A scientific expedition connected community perspectives, landscape conditions, and coastal hazards across nearly 3,200 kilometers of Alaska coastline.
Alaska
Posted inResearch Spotlights
In Alaska, Wildfires Help Prevent Future Burns. Will That Feedback Loop Hold?
Without the suppressive effects of younger vegetation, Alaskan fire activity would be 5 times higher.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
What Will the Future of Alaskan Wildfire Look Like?
More and larger fires, including in areas of historically low fire activity, are likely but not a given.
Posted inEditors' Highlights
The Largest Ice Thickness Survey of Alaska’s Glaciers
A decade of NASA airborne radar surveys produces the most extensive inventory of glacier ice thickness for Alaska and northwestern Canada to date.
Posted inEditors' Highlights
A Snapshot of Continental Crust in the Making
New seismic images from the Aleutian Arc show how active volcanic arcs may build new continental crust, highlighting the complex transition at multiple stages.
Posted inEditors' Highlights
A Digital Twin for Arctic Permafrost Beneath Roads
A physics-informed digital twin uses high-resolution temperature data to track, update, and predict permafrost conditions beneath an Alaskan embankment road.
Posted inThe Landslide Blog
The 10 August 2025 landslide and tsunami at Tracy Arm fjord in Alaska
A wonderful new paper on the huge Tracy Arm landslide and tsunami will have profound but challenging implications for the management of risk in an age of increased tourism and rapid climate change. The journal Science has published an excellent new paper (Shugar et al. 2026) that examines the extraordinary 10 August 2025 landslide and […]
Posted inNews
The Forensics of a Skyscraper-Sized Tsunami
A landslide in Tracy Arm Fjord in Alaska created the second-largest tsunami on record. A new analysis links this abrupt event to the retreat of a glacier and, ultimately, to climate change.
Posted inNews
Alaska’s Wildfires Heat the Planet, but Canada’s Cool It
Using 2 decades of satellite data, researchers learned that wildfires in North America don’t follow the same script: In western Canada, snow reflectivity drives a cooling effect, whereas in Alaska, permafrost burning leads to net warming.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Melting Glaciers Mix Up Waters More Than We Thought
Existing theory underestimates the mixing of freshwater and seawater by up to 50%.