History
The United States Congress established the Geophysical Institute with an act approved on July 31, 1946, to study the aurora borealis, after auroral activity disrupted military communications during World War II. The funds from Congress were used to build the Geophysical Institute's main structure, which was finished in 1950. The building today is known as the Sydney Chapman Building.
The institute's first director, Stuart L. Seaton, served for nine months before resigning. While the Board of Regents looked for a new director, William S. Wilson, a professor of chemistry, was appointed to be the acting director. Wilson was able to recruit Sydney Chapman — who spent three months every year from 1951 to 1970 in Alaska.
In January 1952, the Board of Regents appointed astronomer Christian T. Elvey as the director of the institute. During this time, the first doctorate degree was awarded to Masahisa Sugiura who went on to become Head of the Analysis Section of the Magnetic and Electric Fields Branch at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. Elvey served as the institute's director until 1963 when he was succeeded by Keith B. Mather, namesake of the Mather Library, which is still part of the Geophysical Institute.
The early research done at the institute was focused on atmospheric science and space physics, then throughout the 1960s the research done was expanded to include fields such as glaciology, seismology and volcanology.
In 1968, the Defense Nuclear Agency wanted a location to launch research rockets — which prompted the start of the Poker Flat Research Range, 30 miles north of Fairbanks.
In 1970, the Geophysical Institute had outgrown the Chapman Building, and began to move into the newly constructed C.T. Elvey Building.
Currently, there are almost 300 employees working inside the Geophysical Institute, including 59 students.
The High-frequency Active Auroral Research Program (HAARP) was initiated as an ionospheric research program jointly funded by the U.S. Air Force, the U.S. Navy, the University of Alaska Fairbanks, and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). It was designed and built by BAE Advanced Technologies. Its original purpose was to analyze the ionosphere and investigate the potential for developing ionospheric enhancement technology for radio communications and surveillance. As a university-owned facility, HAARP is a high-power, high-frequency transmitter used for study of the ionosphere.
A volcanologist, or volcano scientist, is a broad term for a geologist who focuses on understanding the formation and eruptive activity of volcanoes. Volcanologists frequently visit volcanoes, sometimes active ones, to observe and monitor volcanic eruptions, collect eruptive products including tephra, rock and lava samples. One major focus of inquiry in recent times is the prediction of eruptions to alleviate the impact on surrounding populations and monitor natural hazards associated with volcanic activity. Geologists who research volcanic materials that make up the solid Earth are referred to as igneous petrologists.
The University of Alaska Fairbanks is a public land-grant research university in College, Alaska; a suburb of Fairbanks. It is a flagship campus of the University of Alaska system. UAF was established in 1917 and opened for classes in 1922. Originally named the Alaska Agricultural College and School of Mines, it became the University of Alaska in 1935. Fairbanks-based programs became the University of Alaska Fairbanks in 1975.
The HIPASObservatory was a research facility, built to study the ionosphere and its influence on radio communications. It was located 25 miles east of Fairbanks, Alaska in the Fairbanks North Star Borough area.
Sydney Chapman was a British mathematician and geophysicist. His work on the kinetic theory of gases, solar-terrestrial physics, and the Earth's ozone layer has inspired a broad range of research over many decades.
The Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris- Université de Paris is a French governmental, non-profit research and higher education establishment located in Paris, dedicated to the study of earth and planetary sciences by combining observations, laboratory analysis and construction of conceptual analogical and numerical models.
The Poker Flat Research Range (PFRR) is a launch facility and rocket range for sounding rockets in the U.S. state of Alaska. The world's largest land-based rocket range, it is on a 5,132-acre (20.77 km2) site about 30 miles (50 km) northeast of Fairbanks and 1.5 degrees south of the Arctic Circle. More than 1,700 launches have been conducted at the range to study the Earth's atmosphere and the interaction between the atmosphere and the space environment. Areas studied at PFRR include the aurora, plasma physics, the ozone layer, solar proton events, Earth's magnetic field, and ultraviolet radiation. Rockets launched at PFRR have attained an apogee of 930 miles (1,500 km).
Thomas Neil Davis was a professor of geophysics from the University of Alaska Fairbanks and the author of several books. Born in Greeley, Colorado, Davis received his B.S in geophysics from University of Alaska Fairbanks in 1955, an M.S. in geophysics from California Institute of Technology in 1957, and a Ph.D in geophysics from University of Alaska Fairbanks in 1961. Davis spent most of his working career at the Geophysical Institute, pioneering the use of all-sky and low-level light cameras for the study of the aurora borealis and conducting rocket studies of the aurora. With Masahisa Sugiura he introduced the AE index now commonly used as a measure of solar-terrestrial interaction. A student of Beno Gutenberg and Charles Richter at Caltech, he also has done work in observational seismology.
Julius Bartels was a German geophysicist and statistician who made notable contributions to the physics of the Sun and Moon; to geomagnetism and meteorology; and to the physics of the ionosphere. He also made fundamental contributions to statistical methods for geophysics. Bartels was the first President of the International Association of Geomagnetism and Aeronomy (IAGA). With Sydney Chapman, he wrote the influential book Geomagnetism.
The International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics is an international non-governmental organization dedicated to the scientific study of Earth and its space environment using geophysical and geodetic techniques.
Heliophysics is the science of the physical connections between the Sun and the solar system. NASA defines heliophysics as "(1) the comprehensive new term for the science of the Sun - Solar System Connection, (2) the exploration, discovery, and understanding of Earth's space environment, and (3) the system science that unites all of the linked phenomena in the region of the cosmos influenced by a star like our Sun. Heliophysics concentrates on the Sun, and its effects on Earth, the other planets of the solar system, and the changing conditions in space. Heliophysics is concerned with the magnetosphere, ionosphere, thermosphere, mesosphere, and upper atmosphere of the Earth and other planets. Heliophysics combines the science of the Sun, corona, heliosphere and geospace. Heliophysics encompasses cosmic rays and particle acceleration, space weather and radiation, dust and magnetic reconnection, nuclear energy generation and internal solar dynamics, solar activity and stellar magnetic fields, aeronomy and space plasmas, magnetic fields and global change, and the interactions of the solar system with our galaxy."
The Alaska Volcano Observatory (AVO) is a joint program of the United States Geological Survey, the Geophysical Institute of the University of Alaska Fairbanks, and the State of Alaska Division of Geological and Geophysical Surveys (ADGGS). AVO was formed in 1988, and uses federal, state, and university resources to monitor and study Alaska's volcanology, hazardous volcanoes, to predict and record eruptive activity, and to mitigate volcanic hazards to life and property. The Observatory website allows users to monitor active volcanoes, with seismographs and webcameras that update regularly. AVO now monitors more than 20 volcanoes in Cook Inlet, which is close to Alaskan population centers, and the Aleutian Arc due to the hazard that plumes of ash pose to aviation.
An ionospheric heater, or an ionospheric HF pump facility, is a powerful radio wave transmitter with an array of antennas which is used for research of plasma turbulence, the ionosphere and upper atmosphere. These transmitters operate in the high frequency (HF) range (3-30 MHz) at which radio waves are reflected from the ionosphere back to the ground. With such facilities a range of plasma turbulence phenomena can be excited in a semi-controlled fashion from the ground, during conditions when the ionosphere is naturally quiet and not perturbed by for example aurora. This stimulus-response type of research complements passive observations of naturally excited phenomena to learn about the ionosphere and upper atmosphere.
Syun-Ichi Akasofu is the founding director of the International Arctic Research Center of the University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF), serving in that position from the center's establishment in 1998 until January 2007. Previously he had been director of the university's Geophysical Institute from 1986.
In physics, Fukushima's Theorem holds that for all points beneath the ionosphere the magnetic fields from field-aligned currents and their corresponding Pedersen currents exactly cancel. By superposition the total magnetic field at the ground is then equal to the magnetic field from just the ionospheric Hall currents.
The Puff model is a volcanic ash tracking model developed at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. It requires windfield data on a geographic grid covering the area over which ash may be dispersed. Representative ash particles are initiated at the volcano's location and then allowed to advect, diffuse, and settle within the atmosphere. The location of the particles at any time after the eruption can be viewed using the post-processing software included with the model. Output data is in netCDF format and can also be viewed with a variety of software.
Sir William Ian Axford, FRS was a New Zealand space scientist who was director of Germany's Max Planck Institute for Aeronomy from 1974 to 1990. Axford's research was focused on the interaction of the sun with the magnetic field of earth (magnetosphere) or the interstellar medium (heliosphere).
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to geophysics:
Christian Thomas Elvey was an American astronomer and geophysicist.
Eugene Michael "Gene" Wescott was an American scientist, artist, and traditional dancer. He was born in Hampton, Iowa, and moved to North Hollywood, California at the age of 10, where he later attended North Hollywood High School and Valley Junior College. He graduated from UCLA and moved to Alaska in 1958, attending the University of Alaska Fairbanks, where he obtained his PhD in 1960.
