A massive new analysis of high seas salmon surveys is enhancing the understanding of salmon ecology, adding details about where various species congregate in the North Pacific Ocean and their different temperature tolerances. The project, led by researchers at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, integrates numerous international salmon studies from the North Pacific dating back to the […] The post Huge database gives insight into salmon patterns at sea appeared first on Alaska Native News ..read more

It’s never fun to walk into your garden on a sunny Fairbanks summer day only to find cutworms have sliced your broccoli off at soil level, voles have left tiny tooth marks in your carrots or, worst of all, a moose has chomped on what was a giant cabbage.  These are common garden invaders in […] The post Citizen science project tracks slugs as they slither north appeared first on Alaska Native News ..read more

POKER FLAT RESEARCH RANGE — Under a bluebird sky and perched above a resilient winter snowpack, two sounding rockets point upward, ready to blast through the thickness of our atmosphere to gain a better look at the sun. Inside a building on this sprawling complex within the Chatanika River valley north of Fairbanks are two […] The post Waiting for the sun at Poker Flat appeared first on Alaska Native News ..read more

University of Alaska Fairbanks researchers have developed a way to use radar to detect open water zones and other changes in Alaska’s frozen rivers in the early winter. The approach can be automated to provide current hazard maps and is applicable across the Arctic and sub-Arctic. Many Alaskans, especially in rural parts of the state, […] The post New radar analysis method can improve winter river safety appeared first on Alaska Native News ..read more

It’s a safe bet that Aren Gunderson’s Toyota Tundra is the only one in Fairbanks that has had its bed filled with a Siberian tiger. Gunderson, who manages the mammal collection at the University of Alaska Museum of the North, recently accepted a dead, frozen, 500-pound former resident of the Alaska Zoo in Anchorage outside […] The post Siberian tiger takes final rest at museum appeared first on Alaska Native News ..read more

On these nights, a male boreal owl has been singing from a wooden owl box near our home. The late biologist Dave Klein attached the nest box to a black spruce tree north of the University of Alaska Fairbanks ski trails many years ago. In search of a mate, the owl sings his haunting little […] The post Boreal owls perform by daylight appeared first on Alaska Native News ..read more

The March 27, 1964, Great Alaska Earthquake remains the second-largest ever recorded in the world. Each earthquake releases energy when rock ruptures after accumulating strain. The energy release from the 1964 quake was so large because 600 miles of fault ruptured at once and moved up to 60 feet. Alaska Earthquake Center Senior Scientist Natalia […] The post Looking back 60 years: How the Great Alaska Earthquake compares appeared first on Alaska Native News ..read more

  Toolik Field Station has partnered with the new Polar Research Infrastructure Network to boost international collaboration in polar science.  The project, coordinated by the Alfred Wegener Institute in Germany, will increase international access to 64 field stations, vessels and other polar research facilities across Europe, the Americas and Antarctica. Researchers from the U.S. will be […] The post Toolik Field Station joins new international polar research network appeared first on Alaska Native News ..read more

  A large find of dinosaur tracks and fossilized plants and tree stumps in far northwestern Alaska provides new information about the climate and movement of animals near the time when they began traveling between the Asian and North American continents roughly 100 million years ago. The findings by an international team of scientists led […] The post Alaska dinosaur tracks reveal a lush, wet environment appeared first on Alaska Native News ..read more

Denali, North America’s highest peak at 20,310 feet above sea level, always seemed abnormally high to Peter Haeussler. He is a geologist who has studied the mountain for years and has also climbed it a couple of times. Denali soars at least 9,000 feet above surrounding peaks in the Alaska Range, except for neighbor Mount […] The post Why is Denali so tall? appeared first on Alaska Native News ..read more