News

Seeking Citizen Scientists' Observations of River Ice Breakup

24 April 2020

Our team is asking for your observations of river ice conditions throughout Alaska as the breakup season progresses. Please submit photographs here.

See UAF News Release for more information!

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