UAF in the news: week of June 19, 2006

Submitted by Marmian Grimes
Phone: (907) 474-7902
06/23/06

Oceanographer gets $1 million to study sea ice
Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, Anchorage Daily News, Associated Press
University of Alaska Fairbanks oceanographer Harper Simmons is the recipient of a grant worth more than $1 million to study the effects of sea ice on the motion and mixing of different layers of water in the Arctic Ocean. Read more ...

Beluga found far from sea
Associated Press, Anchorage Daily News and multiple other national publications
Willie Karidis and three other canoeists stopped for a break from paddling on the Tanana River south of Fairbanks and couldn’t believe what was on the beach. Read more ...

Alaska native sees culture, heritage endangered through climate change
Lawrence Journal World
Global warming is squeezing the life out of Oscar Kawagley’s culture.
“It is scary,” he said. “Cold is what makes my language, my culture, my identity. What am I going to do without cold?” Read more ...

Entering the portal
Fairbanks Daily News-Miner
The University of Alaska unveiled its new Web portal for students, faculty and staff last week. The university has been working on the project, known as MyUA, since 2003. So far the university has spent $1.9 million on the new portal (including funds for software, new hardware and staff), and will pay about $900,000 a year to maintain the system. Read more ...

Spruce budworms invade area
Fairbanks Daily News-Miner and Anchorage Daily News
First, it was an explosion of mystery caterpillars that got on the nerves of local residents. Now, it’s an outbreak of spruce budworm that has Fairbanksans squirming.
The University of Alaska Fairbanks Cooperative Extension Service received dozens of calls this week from distressed residents reporting worms hanging from webs in spruce trees around their yards. Read more ...

North slope ravens force researcher to go incognito
SITNews
"ÂSome biologists hang from climbing ropes to study birds. Others get up painfully early in the morning. Stacia Backensto wears a fake moustache. Read more ...

Permafrost melt could speed up global warming "Â
San Francisco Chronicle and multiple other publications
Global warming might be significantly worse than expected during the next century because the melting of carbon-rich permafrost in Siberia could expel hundreds of billions of tons of extra greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, scientists warn in a new study. Read more ...

Scientist sees changes on warmer North Slope of Alaska
Alaska Report
Truck-size wedges of underground ice that have remained in place for thousands of years on Alaska’s North Slope seem to be thawing, according to a scientist doing work for an oil company there. Read more ...