Anderson Falls, fed by the Anderson Glacier, dropping straight into Port Valdez in the Chugach Mountains. The Valdez area is one of my favorite places in Alaska. #alaska #valdez #waterfall #summer

Glacier ice absorbs red wavelengths more efficiently than blue. The denser and more bubble-free the ice, the more pronounced the effect. This is centuries of compression visible as color. Interior of a glacier cave in the terminal moraine of the Canwell Glacier, Alaska Range. #alaska #glacier

It's been a busy month... lwpetersen.substack.com/p/staying-bu...

Last night's sunset from Fairbanks. It was 18°F, practically a heat wave after this winter. #alaska #fairbanks #sunset #borealforest

Waiting for laundry to dry, looking through old wildflower photos longingly. Eightpetal Mountain Avens (Dryas octopetala), Murphy Dome, 2024. Pollen from Dryas species is found in ice cores and used to reconstruct past ecology and climate. #bloomscrolling #alaska #wildflowers

Aurora threading through the spruce. October in Fairbanks. #alaska #auroraborealis #northernlights #aurora

Standing on top of a glacier cave on the Canwell Glacier, Eastern Alaska Range. The opening behind them is about 30 feet wide and 15 feet tall, and the cave extends much further back into the ice. Clear skies made for some very cold winter air. #Alaska #glacier #hiking

More time-lapse footage from the night of March 20, taken in the Goldstream Valley of Fairbanks, Alaska. Moon just hanging out in those high altitude reds on the left. #alaska #aurora #auroraborealis #northernlights

A sliver of crescent moon in the aurora, Friday night over the Goldstream Valley. #alaska #aurora #moon #fairbanks #auroraborealis

A small icefall on a mountain glacier flowing into the Loket Tributary of the Black Rapids Glacier, Eastern Alaska Range. #Alaska #glacier #alaskarange #mountains

No tripod. No ND filter. Barely a place to stand. A narrow glacier meltwater canyon near Worthington Glacier doesn't give you much to work with, so you work with what you have. #alaska #landscape #waterfall #blackandwhite

Two sea otters on a small iceberg in Columbia Bay, near the Columbia Glacier, Valdez, Alaska. One of my favorite wildlife images. Available as a print or wall art. This one looks particularly good in acrylic or metal: photos.lwpetersen.com/Portfolio-Im... #alaska #seaotter #wildlife #valdez

Last night over the Goldstream Valley, Fairbanks. Not super bright, but one of the more colorful displays I've seen. More recent photos: photos.lwpetersen.com/Recent-Photos #alaska #aurora #auroraborealis #northernlights #fairbanks

Twenty minutes of aurora compressed to 17 seconds. Goldstream Valley, Fairbanks, March 20, 2026. Not a huge display, but a lot of color. #alaska #auroraborealis #northernlights #timelapse

A little color in the Golstream Valley sky tonight! #alaska #auroraborealis #northernlights

Water molecules bond at an angle of 109.5 degrees. That angle, repeated at the molecular level, is why every snowflake has six-fold symmetry. These landed on my car window in Fairbanks. I grabbed the macro lens. #snowflake #macro #alaska #winter #ice #crystals

Field notes and science essays from 16 years of paying close attention to Alaska. First video compilation is up, along with a short piece introducing what I'm trying to do with this work. #alaska #glaciers #aurora #wildlife #naturephotography #alaskaphotography youtu.be/ToJerzxWCmQ

Juvenile bald eagles getting a little snappy in Valdez, Alaska. Solomon Gulch Hatchery in early July, when there's enough food for everyone, but that doesn't mean anyone's going to share. #alaska #birding #wildlife #valdez

Late February, Fairbanks. -35°F, completely still. The only sounds were my feet in the snow and the occasional raven. Their wings make a different sound in extreme cold, a kind of heavy whomp you don't normally hear. Waxing gibbous moon, a few days from full. #alaska #winter #fairbanks

Took a detour on the way home from USAClimbing Regionals in Bend. I've spent years getting to know Smith Rock through climbing footage and magazine spreads. #smithrock #oregon #hiking #landscape

Alpenglow on an unnamed glaciated peak in the Alaska Range, photographed from the Loket Tributary of the Black Rapids Glacier. April light in the range hits the summits long after the glacier surface has fallen into shadow. #alaska #glacier #alpenglow #mountains

Fairbanks airport daily average temperatures vs. the 1991-2020 baseline normal since the December. Long duration cold: the 100-day temperature departure from normal of -11.2F/-6.2C is quite remarkable. #akwx #weather #Climate @jenniferschell16.bsky.social @coyotetrail.bsky.social

Self-portrait on Murphy Dome, outside Fairbanks, about ten years ago. The aurora was mostly quiet that night, with a few brighter moments. Good company made it worth the cold. #alaska #auroraborealis #northernlights #fairbanks

Aurora corona developing overhead in Fairbanks, Alaska. A corona forms when the aurora is nearly directly overhead and the parallel curtains appear to converge toward a single point, a perspective effect, like looking up at tall buildings from the base. #alaska #aurora #auroraborealis

Fairbanks airport just after 8am AKDT Tuesday dipped to -41F/-40.6C. This ties the record low for March 10 first set in 1931, also the latest date in the season with a temp of -40F/C or lower since 1964. #akwx #weather #Climate @carrieinfbx.bsky.social @leahwrenn.bsky.social @coyotetrail.bsky.social

Angel Rocks, outside Fairbanks, Alaska. A short hike with some great views, even in the middle of winter. These granite tors rise about 700 feet above the Chena River. We had the place to ourselves on Sunday! Info in my hiking guide: www.lwpetersen.com/alaska-guide... #alaska #hiking #winter

The sun sets over a snow-covered trail through the boreal forest. Fairbanks, Alaska #alaska #landscape #sunset

The Windchimes, enormous granite tors on the shoulder of Mt. Prindle, in the White Mountains northeast of Fairbanks. #alaska #hiking #mountains

Couldn't focus this morning. Made bacon. Went through old photo folders. Wrote about it in Field notes from the north: lwpetersen.substack.com/p/a-rest-day... #photography #alaska

September light through fog on the UAF trail system, Fairbanks, Alaska. The light doesn't last long like this. #alaska #fall #forest #fairbanks

Altocumulus make for great sunrises. Boreal forest in Fairbanks, Alaska, early winter. #alaska #sunrise #forest #fairbanks

Aurora during a Kp7 (G3) geomagnetic storm over the Goldstream Valley, Fairbanks. This display lasted well over an hour at this intensity. #aurora #alaska #auroraborealis #northernlights

Look closely. This snowflake isn't perfectly symmetrical. They almost never are. Each arm grows under the same conditions, driving them toward symmetry, but wind, temperature and humidity variations across a crystal, and mid-air collisions, introduce variation. #alaska #snow #macro #snowflake #ice

Me at 45 years old trying to climb like my stupid competition team kids. I'm too old for this shit.

Killing in the name of... jonathanlarsen.substack.com/p/us-troops-...

A cow moose grazing on willows in late August in Denali National Park. In my Wildlife Gallery: photos.lwpetersen.com/Galleries/Al... #alaska #wildlife #moose #denali

Since the Dow is under 50,000, can we talk about the Epstein files again?

My latest photo of the week post: lwpetersen.substack.com/p/aurora-fro... #alaska #auroraborealis #photography

I caught a little sunlight on the first day of March. We now have over 10 hours of daylight in Fairbanks, Alaska. Of course, it's -42°F this morning, but it is supposed to warm up a bit. More of my recent photos here: photos.lwpetersen.com/Recent-Photos #alaska #winter #sunlight

Decided a -21°F and colder evening walk was exactly what I needed yesterday. Turned into two hours in the dark. Full post with photos on Substack: lwpetersen.substack.com/p/chilly-eve... #alaska #winter #landscape

Just chillin in the snow tonight

I, as an American, have never felt as secure as when I learned the President was starting a war from the blanket fort at his clubhouse.

Now that the Board of Peace has a war under its belt it can really get down to business.

Adult and juvenile bald eagle sparring over salmon at Solomon Gulch Hatchery, Valdez, Alaska. The brown mottled plumage on the juvenile is distinctive; they won't develop the white head and tail until about age 4 or 5. #alaska #wildlife #eagle #valdez

What a difference 9 years makes... View of the terminus of Exit Glacier in Kenai Fjords National Park. I wrote about this in my expanded post from our hike in late August 2025 (2nd photo). First photo from July 2016. www.lwpetersen.com/photo-blog/l... #alaska #hiking #glacier #climatechange

Late April aurora over Angel Rocks, Fairbanks. By 1am there's already light on the northern horizon; that's why the sky is deep blue rather than black. One of the most brilliant displays I've seen. Two hours on the rocks after midnight. Prints: bit.ly/4cTlZoh #aurora #alaska #auroraborealis

The green is atomic oxygen fluorescing at altitudes of roughly 95–200km. The pink appears when the aurora descends below about 95km, exciting molecular nitrogen, a mix of red and blue emission that together read as pink. #aurora #alaska #auroraborealis

Fairbanks Airport low temperature Thursday morning of -46F (-43.3C) is the lowest temperature this late in the season since March 15, 1964, when the low was also -46F. #akwx #weather #Winter2026 @leahwrenn.bsky.social @coyotetrail.bsky.social @leepetersen.bsky.social

This spot sits just above the equilibrium line, where accumulation and melt balance out. When that line moves up, the glacier loses more than it gains. GRL puts the rise at 170m since the Little Ice Age. Trinity Basin, Alaska Range. #glacier #climateChange #alaska

My newest addition to the Alaska Wildflower Guide: Nutzotin milkvetch (Astragalus nutzotinensis). ID, etymology, distribution, and habitat information all here: www.lwpetersen.com/alaska-wildf... #alaska #wildflowers #bloomscrolling