Space Weather UnderGround

Space Weather UnderGround Project

The SWUG program provides opportunities for undergraduate and high school students to build and deploy a cost-effective and research-capable array of magnetometers across Alaska. Students will then use data from these instruments to analyze Earth’s magnetic field disturbances during aurora activities. The student-built magnetometer data will be publicly available to a worldwide space science community. The SWUG project is originally initiated by Dr. Charles Smith at the University of New Hampshire (read more about UNH-SWUG) and expanded to the University of Alaska Fairbanks under the support of the NSF EPSCoR grant #1920965.

For highschool students and educators:

Join us for the 2023 Summer Program

We offer a hands-on learning experience for high school students and educators this summer. Do you know someone who might be interested? Download the flyer and help us get the word out!

Geophysical Institute
All Sky Camera

The all-sky cameras are upward pointing cameras with a large viewing angle. Science grade all sky cameras have very high light sensitivity to study astrophysical objects and aurora. We use all sky cameras to better understand the aurora and its characteristics.

You can check out the live feed from the GI all sky camera located at the Poker Flat Research Range. It has three different view option: Camera, Eyeball, and Scientific.

The GI all sky cameras are operated by Dr. Don Hampton and Jason Ahrns. This service is provided by Geophysical Institute.

More on Space Weather

Space Weather defines the state of the Sun, the solar wind, and the near-Earth environment. Just like atmospheric weather, space weather changes over short periods of time and can affect our daily lives. Read more on NASA Space Weather.

More on Aurora

The aurora is a colorful display of light in the night sky. Auroras occur as electrons from the Sun travel along the Earth's magnetic field into its atmosphere. For more information on the aurora, check out Geophysical Institute's Aurora Forecast Website.

How to Get Involved

The UAF SWUG offers opportunities for secondary school educators as well as high school and UAF undergraduate students. Visit the SWUG Programs Page to learn more about ways you can get involved.

MAGICIAN Group

The UAF-SWUG Project is funded by the NSF EPSCoR RII Track 2 project (#1920965) and takes place in collaboration with our partners at the University of New Hampshire.

Simple Aurora Monitor (SAM-III)

We use SAM-III Magnetometer kits supplied by Whitham D. Reeve at Reeve Observatory. For more information check out the Reeve Observatory SAM-III Website.