Miners in Alaska rerouted a river to search for gold. One hundred years later, the new channel is teaching scientists how rivers shape Earth.
Alaska
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.
Posted inScience Updates
The Imminent Calving Retreat of Taku Glacier
Long an anomaly among glaciers, advancing while most others shrank, Taku Glacier is starting to succumb to climate change, offering an unprecedented look at the onset of tidewater glacier retreat.
Posted inNews
Experimentos Revelan Cómo el Carbono del Permafrost se Convierte en Dióxido de Carbono
Muestras de campo provenientes de Alaska muestran cómo la luz solar y el hierro convierten el carbono del permafrost en dióxido de carbono. Los modelos climáticos ignoran este proceso.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
A Census of Snowdrifts in Northern Alaska
Snowdrifts prove less ephemeral than they might seem, occurring in the same places year after year.
Posted inScience Updates
Ancient Rivers and Critical Minerals in Eastern Alaska
Fieldwork is revealing a history of landscape evolution over the past 5 million years that links climate change and river capture to critical mineral resources across the Alaska-Yukon border.