November 1, 2013
The Alaska Arctic Policy Commission met on campus in October, in part, to learn about research. The group heard from UAF Chancellor Brian Rogers; Vice Chancellor for Research Mark Myers; Director of the Alaska Native language archives Director Gary Holton; and research assistant professor with the Center for Alaska Native Health Stacy Rasmus. Rasmus presented on Alaska Native youth resilience and suicide prevention. Commissioners also attended a poster session showcasing UAF research projects.
Due to some construction delays and the approaching winter, the Sikuliaq will overwinter and do some initial trials in the Great Lakes. In the spring, it is slated to move out of the locks and into the Atlantic Ocean, with ice trials tentatively slated for Baffin Bay, near Greenland, in April/May 2014. Once there, UAF and the National Science Foundation anticipate several stops along the East Coast, including an event in Washington D.C. It's first science work will be in the South Pacific in the fall of 2014, since the arctic field season is a spring to fall timeframe. The ship is slated to arrive in Alaska the early spring of 2015.
Vice chancellor and former Olympic shooter Pat Pitney represented the United States during the North Pole leg of the Olympic torch relay. Pitney is one of 14,000 people who have been selected to carry the torch during its 35,000-mile, 123-day journey across Russia. The relay will culminate in the opening ceremonies of the 2014 Olympic Winter Games in Sochi, Russia on Feb. 7, 2014.
Preparations are currently underway for the Alaska deployment of EarthScope/USArray's national transportable array. The project will produce high-resolution images of Earth's interior while increasing understanding of the origins of earthquakes and faults. Five test stations are currently operating in Alaska and the Yukon. There is interest at the Alaska Earthquake Information Center for adopting many of the sites. Several aspects pertaining to outreach, permit coordination and field logistics are housed within GI.
UAF students have put together a lineup of lectures, films and exhibits as part of Food Day. The group wants to draw attention to food security and have formed the Chancellor’s Student Food Committee. The group is working with the food contractor to develop a plan after presenting the chancellor with a petition signed by 650 students requesting UAF purchase 20 percent locally grown food for student meals by 2020.
The IARC-led research cruise into the Arctic Ocean aboard the Russian Ice breaker RV Akademik Fedorov wrapped up in September. This was the ninth NABOS cruise to the Arctic Ocean, which brought together international research institutions to investigate the upper Arctic Ocean freshening and warming of the upper and intermediate water layers. An international shipboard summer school supported 26 participants who, along with 36 researchers, spent 33 days at sea.
Phase two of the construction project for the completion of the arctic Health Research Greenhouse will begin Nov. 1. The $438,000 bid was awarded recently to Tatitlek Corp. Funding for the project was allocated to the greenhouse's ground-level floor with money saved during the Murie Building construction. Another $150,000 will go to Nexus for greenhouse equipment.
KUAC listeners raised more than $382,000 during the Fall Festival Fundraiser.
Nine students from Interior Alaska celebrated their completion of the Interior-Aleutians Campus construction trades technology program facilities maintenance occupational endorsement at an October event at the Cold Climate Housing Research Center. The course was provided in partnership with the Denali Commission, Tanana Chiefs Conference, I-AC, the UA Workforce Development program and CCHRC.
Author and alumna Mary Albanese donated a collection of her personal papers to the Rasmuson Library. The material was used while writing her book “Midnight Sun, Arctic Moon: Mapping the Wild Heart of Alaska." The collection gives valuable insight to the natural history of Interior and northern Alaska.
A recent meeting at UAF brought scientists from around the world to discuss ice crystals, sun dogs, rainbows, spider webs and many more phenomena that happens when light bends into a color spectrum.
Gerd Wendler, a professor emeritus and director of the Alaska Climate Research Center, was the first author on a paper titled, "Recent sea ice increase and temperature decrease in the Bering Sea area, Alaska." The paper was published in the September issue of Theoretical and Applied Climatology. The paper analyzes sea ice conditions in the Bering Sea from 1979 to 2012. The team, led by Wendler, found the Bering Sea, west of Alaska, is ice-free in summer, but each winter, an extensive sea ice cover is established. This observation is in stark contrast to the significant retreat of sea ice observed in the Beaufort Sea north of Alaska and the Arctic Ocean as whole.
David Fee, a research assistant professor at the Geophysical Institute and infrasound expert, is the lead author on a paper published in May titled, "Infrasonic crackle and supersonic jet noise from the eruption of Nabro Volcano, Eritrea." In the paper, Fee asserts that volcanologists can use the modeling and physical understandings of man-made jet noise to understand volcanic jets, thereby helping mitigate volcanic hazards.