Alaska's Augustine Volcano By Ned Rozell [fusion_dropcap]A[/fusion_dropcap]laska's Augustine Volcano sits alone, a 4,000-foot pyramid on its own island in Cook Inlet. Like many volcanoes, it has a tendency to become top heavy. When gravity acts on Augustine's oversteepened dome, rockslides spill into the ocean. A scientist recently found new evidence for an Augustine-generated tsunami from [...]
Alaska Scientists Launch 4 Rockets Into Aurora Borealis Filled Sky [fusion_dropcap]R[/fusion_dropcap]esearchers at the Poker Flat Research Range sent four rockets into an aurora filled sky early this morning. The four launches were successful and appear to have produced data that will help researchers understand turbulent air currents in the upper atmosphere, said Sue Mitchell a [...]
Tidal stresses and giant earthquakes By Ned Rozell [fusion_dropcap]A[/fusion_dropcap] scientist once noticed a connection between the stress that tides inflict on the planet and the number of small earthquakes that happen in some areas when that pressure is greatest. She saw a pattern to these earthquakes leading up to great tsunamis. A graduate student is [...]
The demise of Scotch Cap lighthouse By Ned Rozell [fusion_dropcap]I[/fusion_dropcap]n spring of 1946, five men stationed at the Scotch Cap lighthouse had reasons to be happy. World War II was over. They had survived. Their lonely Coast Guard assignment on Unimak Island would be over in a few months. But the lighthouse tenders would never [...]
Dinosaurs in the Wrangell Mountains By Ned Rozell [fusion_dropcap]T[/fusion_dropcap]he more Tony Fiorillo explores Alaska, the more dinosaur tracks he finds on its lonely ridgetops. The latest examples are the stone footprints of two different dinosaurs near the tiny settlement of Chisana in the Wrangell Mountains. Fiorillo, a dinosaur hunter with the Museum of Nature and [...]
Mystery wolf didn't survive in Alaska By Ned Rozell [fusion_dropcap]A[/fusion_dropcap]n Alaska wolf that disappeared about 12,000 years ago just made another appearance. No one will ever see this wolf, but scientists have found that it was different from Alaska’s wolves of today, and it was not like its Ice-Age contemporaries that lived in, among other [...]
How many glaciers are there in Alaska? There's no easy answer By Ned Rozell [fusion_dropcap]N[/fusion_dropcap]ot long ago, a glaciologist wrote that the number of glaciers in Alaska "is estimated at (greater than) 100,000." That fuzzy number, perhaps written in passive voice for a reason, might be correct. But it depends upon how you count. Another [...]
The Number of Alaska Glaciers is Everchanging By Ned Rozell [fusion_dropcap]A[/fusion_dropcap] glaciologist once wrote that the number of glaciers in Alaska "is estimated at (greater than) 100,000." That fuzzy number, perhaps written in passive voice for a reason, might be correct. But it depends upon how you count. Another glaciologist saw an example of the [...]
Why was interior Alaska green during the last ice age? By Ned Rozell [fusion_dropcap]D[/fusion_dropcap]uring our planet's most recent cold period, a slab of ice smothered Manhattan. Canada looked like Antarctica but with no protruding mountains. When the last glacial maximum peaked about 20,000 years ago, most of the continent - from the Arctic Ocean to [...]
Moose flies a high-summer Alaska pest By Ned Rozell [fusion_dropcap]W[/fusion_dropcap]hile boating down the Yukon River during the hottest summer recorded in Alaska (1915, when Fort Yukon reached 100 degrees Fahrenheit), missionary Hudson Stuck wrote about the wildlife that most bothered his party. "With the failure of a little breeze and the overcasting of the sky, [...]