Notes from the Field

Like the isbjørn (polar bears), we are ambush hunters. Our prey are atmospheric fountains, jets of gas being shot into space under the impact of the cusp aurora.

We fly to honor the sacrifices that we each have made, and the dedication we all feel to each other, in our three-year journey from project inception to field campaign.

Without the regular rising and setting of the Sun to bring a sense of duration, the long winter nights in Ny-Ålesund can seem timeless.

We have journeyed to Ny-Ålesund, Svalbard, the northernmost town in the world, so that we can touch the sky.

Oceanographers are studying the mysteries of the ocean layer that lies just below the sunlit surface.

Some advice for anyone preparing for a research cruise: be flexible, be prepared, and be excited.

The Research Vessel Sally Ride left Seattle for the northeastern Pacific Ocean, where scientists will work to understand the interactions between life in the sea and Earth’s carbon cycle.

This week while the GLiHT crew continued collecting data over the Susitna and Tanana valleys, we focused on collecting on-the-ground data on spruce beetle infestation. Our first day out proved rainy and cold, but we pressed on, only sheltering in the car during a particularly hard spell. Aside from the occasionally torrential rain, we also […]

This summer, scientists headed to south-central Alaska to collect airborne and ground-based data on the ongoing spruce beetle outbreak.