A new collaborative project will make it possible for scientists to use real-time seismic, weather, and infrasound (sounds below levels that humans can hear) observations to track a suite of phenomena ranging from earthquakes to wildfires to sea ice.

The five-year, $6.9 million project funded by the National Science Foundation focuses on enhancing measurements of Arctic change across western and northern Alaska. Led by the Alaska Earthquake Center, the Alaska Climate Research Center and a diverse team of investigators from the University of Alaska Fairbanks Geophysical Institute, the project will enable use of real-time observations to help track earthquakes and landslides, detect permafrost changes, monitor sea ice, measure the aurora, forecast wildfire behavior and North Slope weather, and more.

“This project is intended as the seed for a long-term facility, led by UAF, that brings together many agencies and sponsors around the common goal of large-scale, real-time environmental monitoring and observation,” said Michael West, director of the Alaska Earthquake Center and a principal investigator for the project.