News

Ice Update! December 2020

8 December 2020

Ice is starting to thicken up for the season, but there's still plenty of open water out there. Check out the ice updates from our community-based monitoring teams here!

Archive

2026

May

• Monitoring river ice in the Last Frontier

April

• ‘It’s cold Eeee!’ – The Joy and Importance of Ice Observation Through Art

• Help us reach 2.50 Million Acts of Science this April!

March

• Ice patterns and trends on Teshekpuk Lake

• Welcoming Naknek students to the Fresh Eyes on Ice project

• New paper on Alaska river ice phenology

February

• New lesson plan - Scaling the science of ice

January

• Dot Lake School Joins Fresh Eyes on Ice

2025

December

• Ice Science from Pre-k to Grey

October

• Seeing, sharing, and celebrating Alaska's ice - a new report

• Tanana River Ice Mysteries Discovered using Field Studies, Remote Sensing, and Modeling

• Explore sediment under river ice with newly published lesson plans!

April

• Freeze-up Ice Jams Cause Hazardous Open-leads in River Ice

• Adventures of Team AK-SWOT

2024

September

• Fresh Eyes on Ice Wins National Recognition

July

• GLOBE Observer features Fresh Eyes on Ice in blog

May

• Observation of High Sediment Concentrations in Jumble River Ice

• Building drones and engineering solutions with Eagle Community School

April

• School monitoring teams gather in Fairbanks for 3rd annual research symposium

• Drones and Fresh Eyes on Noatak Ice

• New river ice mapping tool maps daily ice concentration and Fresh Eyes on Ice community observations

• Fresh Eyes Traverse team completes 3 year circuit of the interior!

March

• Detecting early winter open-water zones on Alaska rivers using dual-polarized C-band Sentinel-1 synthetic aperture radar (SAR)

• Closing the Loop with Upriver Ice Science and Outreach Adventures

February

• SciStarter features Fresh Eyes on Ice on Do NASA Science Live

2023

December

• Observing Ice through Fresh Eyes: A Winter Trail Visit to Shageluk

October

• Fresh Eyes on Ice undergraduate work featured in a US Fish & Wildlife Service story

August

• Long-term change and geospatial patterns of river ice cover and navigability in Southcentral Alaska detected with remote sensing

May

• Redistributing power in community and citizen science: Effects on youth science self-efficacy and interest

• Flex your photography skills to help predict flooding

• Youth scientists from Northwest U.S. gather in Fairbanks for NASA’s GLOBE Student Research Symposium

March

• Fresh Eyes on Ice field team wraps up a successful field expedition across interior Alaska

• Chasing Dogs to Discover and Share Stories of Changing Ice

January

• What is happening to river sediment underneath the ice? Middle school students are helping SILT scientists discover an answer

• Ice Fisherperson / Citizen Science Super Scoop

2022

December

• Tanana Chiefs Conference Freeze-up Survey

November

• Winter Context for Thick North Slope Ice

• 2022-23 Ice season Kick-Off with Elder Wilson Justin

• Unusually thick freshwater ice and its impacts on aquatic resources in the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska (NPR-A) during the winter of 2020–2021

October

• SILT is Happening!

September

• Drones, Dirt, NASA, and Pretend Ice in McGrath

June

• Making the best possible river ice observing program for Alaskans, by Alaskans - Fresh Eyes on Ice Needs Assessment is Complete!

April

• Youth scientists shine at GLOBE and Fresh Eyes on Ice Student Research Symposium

• Building drones & monitoring ice in Shageluk

March

• Traversing a Physical, Biological, and Cultural Hot Zone

February

• Kuskokwim Ice Science & Outreach Journey

• Sentinel responses of Arctic freshwater systems to climate: linkages, evidence, and a roadmap for future research

January

• Ice Science Inquiry Workshop pivots to Virtual

2021

November

• October 2021 Ice Roundup

• Drones + Ice = STEM Fun & Learning in Venetie

October

• Ice Phenology Puzzle Starts off Winter Workshop Series

August

• Community Eyes on River Ice

June

• River Break-up Videos of 2021

• 20 years of lake ice phenology in Alaska

May

• Remote sensing of lake ice phenology in Alaska

• Final Zoom with Community-based Monitoring Teams

April

• Submit observations to improve river breakup forecasts

• Ice Update! March - April 2021

March

• Exploring River Ice in the Interior: Fresh Eyes March Fieldwork Report

• March Downstream Science & Outreach

February

• Ice Update! February 2021

• Cold Snap brings Sharp Thermal Gradients through Ice

• Shakedown Trip Tests Scientists

January

• Ice Update! January 2021

• Science under a Wolf Moon

2020

December

• Open-water persists into new year

• Virtual class visits with ice scientists!

• Ice Update! December 2020

November

• Community Ice Scientists Training Kick-off (virtual)

• New Ice Lesson Plans for Educators

• New Ice Study uses Historic Citizen Science Data

October

• Observation-derived ice growth curves show patterns and trends in maximum ice thickness and safe travel duration of Alaskan lakes and rivers

• Fall Fieldwork Results in New Freshwater Observations

September

• Camera Rescue and Relocation

• Extreme Events for Lake Ice in the Northern Hemisphere

July

• New Video "How to Safely Check Ice Thickness on Lakes and Rivers"

May

• River and Lake Ice Phenology Breakup Videos

April

• Fresh Eyes on Ice encourages community to share observations

• River ice-out at Nenana in-line with trend towards earlier break-up

• Seeking Citizen Scientists' Observations of River Ice Breakup

• Zoom from Noyes Slough & Snow Depth Challenge with Anne Wien Elementary

February

• Elementary Students Help Scientists Calibrate Satellite-linked Ice Buoys

January

• 2019 Freeze-up Phenology from Community Cameras

• The past and future of global river ice

2019

December

• 2019 Training Workshop: Cold, Co-creations, and Evening News

• First Friday Art Display on Ice in Alaska