“Beautifully long arguments” between an American scientist and a Russian researcher helped clarify several fundamental assumptions about permafrost thaw.
Alaska
Posted inEditors' Highlights
Aftershocks Reveal Coseismic Rupture of Megathrust Earthquakes
More accurate aftershock zones reveal that the rupture areas of megathrust Aleutian–Alaska earthquakes are larger than we thought and partly overlap, in contradiction with the seismic gap hypothesis.
Posted inEditors' Highlights
Lightning in Alaskan Tundra Ignites Most Fires
Cloud-to-ground lightning is found to be the most important controller of wildfire occurrence in the Artic tundra of Alaska from 2001 to 2019.
Posted inNews
More Fires, More Problems
Increasing incidents of wildfires in the Arctic are not only thawing permafrost but changing the entire underlying structure of the region.
Posted inNews
What a Gold Mining Mishap Taught Us About Rivers
Miners in Alaska rerouted a river to search for gold. One hundred years later, the new channel is teaching scientists how rivers shape Earth.
Posted inEditors' Highlights
Thermospheric Cross-Polar Winds Observed to Unexpectedly Stall
Observations of cross-polar cap neutral winds near 240 km altitude stalling over short distances in the midnight sector near Poker Flat, Alaska, challenge the standard view of high-latitude dynamics.
Posted inFeatures
The Changing Climate’s Snowball Effect
Shrinking snowpack, thawing permafrost, and shifting precipitation patterns have widespread consequences. Can new technologies—and public policies—help communities adapt?
Posted inScience Updates
Cormorants Are Helping Characterize Coastal Ocean Environments
The Cormorant Oceanography Project is using sensors deployed on diving marine birds to collect broadly distributed oceanographic data in coastal regions around the world.
Posted inNews
Testing on the Tundra: NASA Snow Program Heads North
With infrastructure, experience, and a slice of the world’s largest snow biomes, Alaska is an essential research destination for NASA’s multiyear SnowEx campaign.
Posted inNews
Laser Flashes Shed Light on a Changing Arctic
An ongoing project in northern Alaska is using pulses of laser light to monitor anthropogenic activity, ice quakes, and marine wildlife.