Images

The photo is of two Long-billed Murrelets seen near Grewingk Glacier in Kachemak Bay, Cook Inlet, Alaska. This pair of uncommon visitors was spotted in Kachemak Bay during the annual USGS survey of seabirds and small pelagic fish in Cook Inlet.

USGS staff sample the Yukon River for cyanide after a heap leach failure occurred upstream at the Eagle Gold Mine in the Yukon, Canada.

Orange streams are increasingly common in the Brooks Range of northern Alaska. The orange stream color reflects oxidized iron, but also often indicates elevated heavy metal concentrations. Our ongoing study aims to document these occurrences and the timing of their onset.

Orange streams are increasingly common in the Brooks Range of northern Alaska. The orange stream color reflects oxidized iron, but also often indicates elevated heavy metal concentrations. Our ongoing study aims to document these occurrences and the timing of their onset.

A scientist is examining the cable number from a set of legacy borehole sites for permafrost ground temperature monitoring in Utqiagvik, Alaska (part of USGS research at the Naval Arctic Research Laboratory from the 1950s to 1970s).

A scientist is walking by a set of legacy borehole sites for permafrost ground temperature monitoring in Utqiagvik, Alaska (part of USGS research at the Naval Arctic Research Laboratory from the 1950s to 1970s). Some of the wooden housings that covered these boreholes have since toppled over; others are submerged in pools of the thawing landscape.

A scientist is holding the cable top at a recently relocated site for permafrost ground temperature monitoring in Utqiagvik, Alaska (part of USGS research at the Naval Arctic Research Laboratory from the 1950s to 1970s).

Orange streams are increasingly common in the Brooks Range of northern Alaska. The orange stream color reflects oxidized iron, but also often indicates elevated heavy metal concentrations. Our ongoing study aims to document these occurrences and the timing of their onset.

Orange streams are increasingly common in the Brooks Range of northern Alaska. The orange stream color reflects oxidized iron, but also often indicates elevated heavy metal concentrations. Our ongoing study aims to document these occurrences and the timing of their onset.

Orange streams are increasingly common in the Brooks Range of northern Alaska. The orange stream color reflects oxidized iron, but also often indicates elevated heavy metal concentrations. Our ongoing study aims to document these occurrences and the timing of their onset.

USGS is flying drones for science, small uncrewed areal systems (sUAS), to surveys walruses when they rest on shore. The sUAS makes minimal sound due it is broad wing and is flown high above the walrus herds to enables survey data collection with minimal risk to walruses.

Two adult walrus carcasses on the beach observed during the summer after a large group of walruses had rested on shore.  USGS is collaborating with the North Slope Borough Department of Wildlife Management to screen walruses for wildlife diseases and algal toxins.  The University of Alaska Fairbanks is collaborating with USGS to validate drone survey metho

Orange streams are increasingly common in the Brooks Range of northern Alaska. The orange stream color reflects oxidized iron, but also often indicates elevated heavy metal concentrations. Our ongoing study aims to document these occurrences and the timing of their onset.

Orange streams are increasingly common in the Brooks Range of northern Alaska. The orange stream color reflects oxidized iron, but also often indicates elevated heavy metal concentrations. Our ongoing study aims to document these occurrences and the timing of their onset.

Orange streams are increasingly common in the Brooks Range of northern Alaska. The orange stream color reflects oxidized iron, but also often indicates elevated heavy metal concentrations. Our ongoing study aims to document these occurrences and the timing of their onset.

Orange streams are increasingly common in the Brooks Range of northern Alaska. The orange stream color reflects oxidized iron, but also often indicates elevated heavy metal concentrations. Our ongoing study aims to document these occurrences and the timing of their onset.

Orange streams are increasingly common in the Brooks Range of northern Alaska. The orange stream color reflects oxidized iron, but also often indicates elevated heavy metal concentrations. Our ongoing study aims to document these occurrences and the timing of their onset.

Male orca (Orcinus orca) AD37 "Brit" of pod AD8, swims in front of a scientific research skiff in Amalik Bay. Orca populations have declined significantly since the Exxon Valdez oil spill in 1989. By collecting photos of saddle patches and dorsal fin notches, scientists are able to identify unique individual whales.

A cluster of fucus (Fucus distichus) mussels (Mytilus spp.) and barnacles at one of five rocky intertidal sampling sites in Katmai National Park and Preserve. An annual assessment of estimate percent cover and densities of intertidal invertebrates and algae is used to quantitatively assess change in communities from sheltered rocky shorelines.

A USGS scientist collects information on intertidal communities during low tide at Takli Island. The purpose of the collection is to estimate percent cover and densities of intertidal invertebrates and algae to assess change in communities from sheltered rocky shorelines.

A cluster of mussels (Mytilus spp.) and barnacles at one of five rocky intertidal sampling sites in Katmai National Park and Preserve. An annual assessment of mussel size and density allows scientists to quantify change in communities from sheltered rocky shorelines.