Lee Petersen

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...

https://jonathanlarsen.substack.com/p/us-troops-were-told-iran-war-is-for

A cow moose grazing on willows in late August in Denali National Park.

In my Wildlife Gallery: https://photos.lwpetersen.com/Galleries/Alaska-Photos/Wildlife/i-qpVJ2Wd/A

#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: https://lwpetersen.substack.com/p/aurora-from-the-tors-trail

#alaska #auroraborealis #photography

I managed to catch a little sunlight on the first day of March, though it was a bit chilly. 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: https://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: https://lwpetersen.substack.com/p/chilly-evening-walk

#alaska #winter #landscape

@magnesium@infosec.exchange Lol. Sarcasm, dude.

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.

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.

Wildlife viewing at the hatchery: https://www.lwpetersen.com/alaska-guide/solomon-gulch-hatchery/

#alaska #wildlife #eagle #valdez

Here's an expanded post on my hike out to the Harding Icefield in late-August. We also walked out to the popular Exit Glacier overlook, where I got a good comparison of images from 2016.

https://www.lwpetersen.com/photo-blog/late-summer-part-2b-glaciers-and-ice-harding-icefield-and-exit-glaciers/

#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: https://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.

This expanding ribbon over Fairbanks was just starting to show that low-altitude fringe. These displays don't usually last long.

Print available: https://photos.lwpetersen.com/Galleries/Alaska-Photos/Aurora-Borealis/i-cFnHQTh/A

#aurora #alaska #auroraborealis

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. A recent paper in Geophysical Research Letters puts the rise at 170m elevation since the Little Ice Age.

Trinity Basin, Alaska Range. Accumulation zone for both the Black Rapids and Susitna Glaciers. https://www.lwpetersen.com/alaska-information/black-rapids-glacier/

#glacier #climateChange #alaska

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

#alaska #wildflowers #bloomscrolling

This week's Photo of the Week: the Alaska Range on the horizon, 90 miles away, seen from the Granite Tors on my first overnight there, twelve years ago this spring. A reflection on familiar places and what you lose when they stop feeling new.

https://lwpetersen.substack.com/p/alaska-range-from-the-granite-tors

#alaska #hiking #photography

Bright moonlight changes how you photograph the aurora.

With a snow-covered foreground, exposure becomes a balancing act. Too long and the snow blows out. Too short and the auroral structure is lost.

Aurora ribbons over Fairbanks, photographed under a bright moon.

I wrote more about camera settings for aurora photography here:
https://www.lwpetersen.com/learn/camera-settings-aurora-photography/

#alaska #auroraborealis #northernlights

Perfect light reveals structure.

Sunlit ridges and shadowed faces across a small icefall in the Eastern Alaska Range. The blue seracs mark areas where the glacier’s surface has fractured as it flows.

Photographed from the Black Rapids Glacier.

Glacier gallery:
https://photos.lwpetersen.com/Galleries/Alaska-Photos/Glaciers/

#alaska #glacier #winter #mountains

The Harding Icefield feeds dozens of glaciers across the Kenai Peninsula.

On overcast days, mist settles along the ridges and softens the scale of the landscape, but the ice beneath is still moving, still reshaping the valleys below.

Looking down on Exit Glacier from the Harding Icefield Trail.

I wrote more about this hike and the landscape here:
https://lwpetersen.substack.com/p/harding-icefield-trail-august-2025

#alaska #glacier #hardingicefield #hiking

Glaciers are not quiet landscapes.

Rock and icefall at College Glacier, Alaska Range. A short field note on risk, sound, and retreat.

https://lwpetersen.substack.com/p/the-sound-of-ice

#alaska #glacier #hiking

Winter sunrise in the boreal forest often lasts longer than people expect.

The sun stays low, scattering orange and red light through the atmosphere while the snow reflects cool blue shadow.

A raven flying over a spruce forest outside Fairbanks.

Forest gallery:
https://photos.lwpetersen.com/Galleries/Alaska-Photos/Forest

#alaska #borealforest #sunrise #raven

A small side cave at Canwell Glacier that likely won’t exist in the same form next season.

Some thoughts on documenting change, and why I renamed my newsletter.

https://lwpetersen.substack.com/p/a-small-cave-a-slow-melt-and-a-shift

#alaska #glacier #ClimateChange #NatureWriting

Some nights, the aurora doesn’t just glow. It takes over the entire northern sky.

On very active evenings, the boreal forest feels small. The trees become silhouettes under something vast and constantly moving.

That’s why I’ve always liked this image. It lives in my “Forest” gallery, where interior Alaska trees meet the big sky.

https://photos.lwpetersen.com/Galleries/Alaska-Photos/Forest

Available as fine art prints and digital downloads.

#alaska #auroraborealis #northernlights #borealforest

Green below. Red above.

During stronger geomagnetic activity, oxygen high in the atmosphere can produce faint red light above the more common green bands.

Aurora over the Goldstream Valley last month.

Full aurora gallery:
https://photos.lwpetersen.com/Galleries/Alaska-Photos/Aurora-Borealis

#auroraborealis #spaceweather #Alaska #northernlights

North wind bog orchid (Platanthera aquilonis), blooming in late June in the Alaska Range.

One of several orchid species that grow in Alaska’s mountainous regions, often easy to miss among grasses and sedges.

Flower details in my Alaska Wildflower Guide:
https://www.lwpetersen.com/alaska-wildflowers/platanthera-aquilonis-northern-green-orchid/

I’ve been updating the guide again recently as we approach the next season.

#wildflowers #alaska #bloomscrolling

Northwestern Glacier in Kenai Fjords National Park, Alaska, on a rainy day.

https://photos.lwpetersen.com/Portfolio-Images

#alaska #glacier #summer

Snowshoe hares don’t turn white because it’s cold, but because of daylight.

Their seasonal molt is triggered by changes in photoperiod, not temperature, so early snowmelt or delayed snowfall can leave them mismatched with the landscape.

Photo taken in Fairbanks, Alaska

More of my Alaska Wildlife photos here: https://photos.lwpetersen.com/Galleries/Alaska-Photos/Wildlife/

#alaska #wildlife #fairbanks #animal #wildlifewednesday

When aurora turns red like this, you’re looking at oxygen glowing more than 120 miles above Earth. During the geomagnetic storm on November 11, the high-altitude reds were the strongest I’ve ever seen. These upper-atmosphere emissions occur far above the more common green bands, and they require particularly energetic solar activity to become visible.

I wrote a deeper explanation of what causes the different auroral colors here: https://www.lwpetersen.com/science-and-nature/what-causes-the-aurora/

#aurora #auroraborealis #alaska

Photo of the Week: a quiet encounter with a Dall Ram in Denali National Park.
https://www.lwpetersen.com/photo-blog/photo-of-the-week/dall-ram-denali-national-park/

#denali #alaska #wildlife #photography

Caribou in the tundra near Stony Hill in Denali National Park in early September.

In my wildlife galleries: https://photos.lwpetersen.com/Galleries/Alaska-Photos/Wildlife

#alaska #wildlife #caribou #denali

Aurora fills the eastern sky over a trail in the Goldstream Valley on the night of January 20.

I'm currently working on updating my aurora galleries. Over 15 years of northern lights here: https://photos.lwpetersen.com/Galleries/Alaska-Photos/Aurora-Borealis

#alaska #auroraborealis #northernlights