Magpies a more common sight throughout Alaska | Geophysical Institute The lack of a term for the black-billed magpie may be because the bird was not in Southwest Alaska until recently The long-tailed relative of ravens and jays seems to be extending its range throughout Alaska
Life endures in hidden, cold worlds - Geophysical Institute While Taras waded through a winter’s worth of snow to point out the scratchy wing marks of a magpie or similar-size bird, another instructor worked in a white crater 30 feet away, levering bark off a dead birch tree with a screwdriver Todd Sformo of Barrow traveled the farthest south to reach Chena Hot Springs
Weasels Afloat | Geophysical Institute People who know such things have assured me that few tourists read these columns Good That makes it possible to discuss here some matters better kept private among Alaskans--matters such as the nasty side of sea otters We all appreciate that sea otters are right up there with giant pandas for pure critter appeal It wouldn't do for our visitors to think these bewhiskered, back-floating
Caging the Tomatoes | Geophysical Institute Compared to control plants in a test plot near Palmer, tomatoes enclosed in plastic and wire cages produce two to three times as much green and red fruit
Innumerable Whales - Geophysical Institute Consider, for example, the gray whales Often called California grays, particularly by denizens of that smaller state to the southeast of us, our gray whales spend the winter in Mexican lagoons and summer in the shallower reaches of the Bering Sea and points north Once apparently on the brink of extinction, the eastern Pacific population of these big bottom feeders has now recovered so well
Rats and birds clash on volcanic island | Geophysical Institute Biologist Ian Jones of Memorial University in Newfoundland places a rattrap on Kiska island in the Aleutians Jones is studying interactions between one of the world’s great seabird colonies and rats that prey on the birds Ned Rozell photo
Upcycled Science - Geophysical Institute A meteorological tower owned and operated by the Alaska Climate Research Center monitors climate and weather in the Fairbanks area The tower was acquired last fall and, this spring, will be able to monitor air quality thanks to a new Purple Air sensor installation Photo by Telayna Wong
Measuring Earthquakes - Geophysical Institute The Richter scale uses seismographs to measure actual ground motion at a specific distance (100 km) from the earthquake epicenter (origin) Earthquakes smaller than Richter scale 3 are not usually felt even by persons near the epicenter The Richter scale is logarithmic, which means that a Richter scale 4 earthquake has ten times more motion than a scale 3 earthquake; Richter scale 5 means ten
Land Clearing | Geophysical Institute Probably the best possible way to clear a forested area for agricultural use is in-place burning of whatever vegetation exists Unfortunately, this is not easy to do because forest fires do not tend to cease burning precisely where one wants a field to end There is a substantial dollar value to the nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, calcium and magnesium that burning can release from the