Skip to main content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

USGS Invest Millions in Critical-Minerals Mapping in Alaska

Learn More

Alaska Science Center Newsletter - Spring 2023

Learn More

USGS Arctic Research

The USGS and its partners are addressing important issues in a rapidly changing Arctic.

Learn More

Biology

USGS studies living things – plants, animals, bacteria, and more – and their interactions with each other, humans, and the landscape

Learn More

Strait Science Lecture Series

View video talks about harmful algal toxins and seabirds, avian influenza in wild birds and mammals, and population dynamics of Pacific walrus

Learn More

Interviews with USGS Scientists

View videos about four research programs at the Alaska Science

Learn More

Alaska Science Center

The mission of the Alaska Science Center is to provide objective and timely data, information, and research findings about the earth and its flora and fauna to Federal, State, and local resource managers and the public to support sound decisions regarding natural resources, natural hazards, and ecosystems in Alaska and circumpolar regions. We have offices in Anchorage, Juneau, and Fairbanks. 

Learn more about our science

In the Spotlight

Research Vessel Norseman II used to conduct walrus research in Alaska. Chucks of sea ice floating around vessel.

Adult female and juvenile Pacific walruses reside in the northern Bering Sea and Chukchi Sea in the late spring and summer. Learn more about walrus research cruises in Alaska and the questions scientists are answering in our USGS Q&A series.

Learn More

Current Water Conditions

Alaska view on the National Water Dashboard

Explore real-time Alaska streamflow, groundwater, and water-quality conditions and access data with our new interactive map application.

Current Conditions

ASC Quick Links

News

link

Interagency Partners to Collect Seafloor Data in Southern Alaska

link

USGS Invests Millions in Critical-Minerals Mapping in Alaska

link

Alaska Science Center Newsletter - Spring 2023

View All

Publications

Climate change and coastal wetland salinization: Physiological and ecological consequences for Arctic waterfowl

Coastal wetland salinization related to warming climate has the potential to impact ecological systems globally. In Alaska, the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta (YKD) supports large concentrations of breeding water birds and is an ecologically important area for conservation of migratory bird biodiversity. On the YKD, the majority of waterfowl nest in low elevation coastal tundra where storm surges drive sal
Authors
Tuula E. Hollmen, Paul L. Flint, Sadie Ulman, H.M. Wilson, Courtney Amundson, Erik E, Osnas
By
Alaska Science Center

Gene expression and wildlife health: Varied interpretations based on perspective

We evaluated wildlife population health from the perspective of statistical means vs. variances. We outlined the choices necessary to provide the framework for our study. These consisted of spatial and temporal boundaries (e.g., choice of sentinel species, populations, time frame), measurement techniques (molecular to population level), and appropriate statistical analyses. We chose to assess the
Authors
Lizabeth Bowen, Julie L. Yee, James L. Bodkin, Shannon C. Waters, Michael J. Murray, Heather Coletti, Brenda E. Ballachey, Daniel Monson, A. Keith Miles
By
Ecosystems Mission Area, Alaska Science Center, Western Ecological Research Center (WERC)

Oligocene–Miocene northward growth of the Tibetan Plateau: Insights from intermontane basins in the West Qinling Belt, NW China

Growth of the Tibetan Plateau, Earth’s broadest and highest elevation collisional system, shapes orographic barriers, reorganizes drainage networks, and influences surface erosion and sediment delivery, whose changes in space and provenance feed back to intracontinental tectonic processes. Studies of interior basins within the northern Tibetan Plateau provide new sediment accumulation, provenance,
Authors
Yi-Peng Zhang, Wei-Tao Wang, Richard O. Lease, Renjie Zhou, Yue-Jun Wang, Yong-Gang Yan, Ying Wang, Wen-Jun Zheng, Bing-Xu Liu, Zhi-Gang Li, Hao Liang, Ge-Ge Hui, Chuang Sun, Qing-Ying Tian, Bin-Bin Xu, Pei-Zhen Zhang
By
Alaska Science Center
View All

Science

link
A Tufted Puffin swimming in the sea in Lower Cook Inlet, Alaska

Seabirds and Forage Fish Ecology

Alaska's coastal and offshore waters provide foraging habitat for an estimated 100 million birds comprising more than 90 different species; from loons and seaducks that nest inland, to petrels and puffins that breed on islands off shore. All these birds depend on the sea to provide a wide variety of food types— from clams, crabs and urchins nearshore— to krill, forage fish, and squid offshore. The...
By
Ecosystems Mission Area, Land Management Research Program, Species Management Research Program, Alaska Science Center
link

Seabirds and Forage Fish Ecology

Alaska's coastal and offshore waters provide foraging habitat for an estimated 100 million birds comprising more than 90 different species; from loons and seaducks that nest inland, to petrels and puffins that breed on islands off shore. All these birds depend on the sea to provide a wide variety of food types— from clams, crabs and urchins nearshore— to krill, forage fish, and squid offshore. The...
Learn More
link
Sarah Schoen identifies and counts Common Murre carcasses

Pacific Marine Heatwave

The USGS conducts research on marine wildlife, habitats, and ecosystem processes to provide science to inform our partners as they make decisions relative to species status, resource use, and human activities. These studies examine impacts of severe heatwaves on marine ecosystems of the North Pacific.
By
Alaska Science Center
link

Pacific Marine Heatwave

The USGS conducts research on marine wildlife, habitats, and ecosystem processes to provide science to inform our partners as they make decisions relative to species status, resource use, and human activities. These studies examine impacts of severe heatwaves on marine ecosystems of the North Pacific.
Learn More
link
A Red-throated Loon swimming in a small lake

Outer Continental Shelf Program

This is a nation-wide collaborative program, supported by the USGS Ecosystems Mission Area, through which USGS and Bureau of Ocean Energy Management staff address priority research needs identified by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management. On this page, we highlight research taking place in Alaska as part of this program.
By
Alaska Science Center
link

Outer Continental Shelf Program

This is a nation-wide collaborative program, supported by the USGS Ecosystems Mission Area, through which USGS and Bureau of Ocean Energy Management staff address priority research needs identified by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management. On this page, we highlight research taking place in Alaska as part of this program.
Learn More
View All