Images

Crested Auklets take flight near Kasatochi Island

Layson Albatross flying in the Aleutian Islands

Viaduct bridge to access the port of Anchorage, Alaska. This is the only bridge instrumented with seismometers in Alaska.

Northern lights in and around Fairbanks, Alaska. Copyright: Photo taken by Miles B Tihansky

Scientist collection samples on South Cascade Glacier, northwestern Washington State. South Cascade Glacier located in a north-northwest facing valley near the crest of the Cascade Range in northwest Washington state. In 1959 scientists with the USGS began collecting mass balance data on South Cascade Glacier, now one of five "benchmark glaciers" in the US.

A managed wildfire burns in a Ponderosa pine stand, New Mexico

A Black-capped Chickadee with an upper beak slightly longer than the lower beak. Avian keratin disorder (AKD) is a disease characterized by debilitating beak overgrowth and other abnormalities of keratinized tissues. Affected birds have difficulty feeding and preening and may suffer high rates of mortality.

A Black-capped Chickadee with a normal beak captured at an Anchorage banding station.

Sheridan River flood

A Slate-colored Junco on Middleton Island, Alaska.

USGS researchers collecting a soil sample for rare earth elements at the Roy Creek prospect, Alaska. Jamey Jones is holding the bag while Erin Todd shovels soil into the bag.

Fuel treatments and prescribed fires can be used to reduce the likelihood that archaeological resources will be damaged by high severity fires

Archaeologists and fire scientists collaborate to assess impacts of wildfires on archaeological sites in the Jemez Mountains, New Mexico

Pre- and post-fire measurements of fire effects can help archaeologists and fire scientists determine how wildfires and prescribed fires impact cultural resources, and how management actions may reduce likelihood of damage

Fire behavior instruments are deployed during wildfires and prescribed fires to provide data on the types of fire environments that damage archaeological resources

River otter tracks on an evaporated pond bottom, Simeonof Island, Alaska

A scenic view of an Aleutian island with fireweed in full bloom

Black-legged Kittiwake on a nest on the side of a rock face in the Aleutian Islands.

A huge colony of Common Murres in the Aleutian Islands

Northern Fulmars, Black-legged Kittiwakes, and Common Murres have all been tested for and contained harmful algal bloom (HAB) toxins. Since 2015, the USGS has worked with a variety of stakeholders to develop testing methods and research projects to better understand the geographic extent, timing and impacts of algal toxins in Alaska marine ecosystems.

Image of ox-eye daisies along old cattle trail, Simeonof Island, Alaska