Travel

Alaska – Day 6

Our aurora lecture this morning, courtesy of the Geophysical Institute, focused on the magnetic field in generating the sky event. There is a lot of research bring done on the aurora, and where better than it to be done than northern Alaska? We visited the Institute for Arctic Biology, Large Animal Research Center. It, like […]

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Alaska – Day 5

We visited Poker Flats Research Range which is part of the geophysical institute (university of Alaska, Fairbanks). Here, they set off rockets for weather and atmospheric research. Our lecturer, Don Hampton, an optics guy, was very thorough in his description of their research function. He had a 1950s version and a current day version of

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Alaska – Day 4

We went to the Geophysical Institute at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks where Dr. Hui Zhang lectured on the aurora borealis. She presented what the aurora is, how it is formed, its cycle and how it affects us. We then had a presentation by the librarian from same institute. In the afternoon, we went to the

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Alaska – Day 3

We took a 12 hour train ride from Anchorage to Fairbanks. We passed through Wasilla which has McDonald’s, subway, Dairy Queen, Pizza Hut. Moose alerts. The moose hear the train and start running away. Magnificent. “We’re going to get a good view of The Mountain,” announces the conductor. We have perfect weather and can see

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Alaska – Day 2

Parka is the name for squirrel. Squirrels were used to make coats, hence parka. Icebergs are black in the spring because they soak up the mud they sit in. One hazardous sport is fishing on certain shores where mud is abundant. It is not uncommon for people fishing to get caught in the mud without

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