Images

Lake Clark outlet

A small flock of Sabine's Gulls flying over the top of the water

Tufted Puffins perching near their burrows in a colony on Bogoslof Island (volcano) in the Aleutian Islands.

A view of the R/V Alaskan Gyre with a glacier in the background in Harriman Fjord in Prince William Sound, Alaska.

USGS Alaska Earthquake Hazards research team investigates a tsunami-rafted drift log high above sea level at Stardust Bay, Sedanka Island, Alaska.

A degrading trough network on the Arctic Coastal Plain.

A young Northern Shrike captured at a banding station on the Seward Peninsula. This photo was taken as part Phase 1 of the Changing Arctic Ecosystem Boreal-Arctic Transition Zone program.

Two different age classes of sand lance showing length differences and condition between fish in an age class.

Thawing ice wedges create ponds on the Arctic Coastal Plain.  The shape of these ponds influences how their water levels and nutrient concentrations change over the year.  These variables in turn influence pond ecosystems and use by waterbirds.

Adult female walruses on ice floe with young.

Table Top Mountain and the West Twin Creek catchment.

USGS scientist Rachel Richardson banding a Bluethroat on the Seward Peninsula in Alaska.

Colin and Colby use ground penetrating radar to measure the depth to ground ice in the watershed

Adult female walrus on ice floe photographed shortly after receiving a behavior monitoring satellite-linked radio tag from USGS researchers. 

Data acquired from such radio-tags are providing insights on the distribution and behavior of Pacific walruses during a time when their summer sea ice habitat is rapidly changing.

Female walruses and their young must haul out of the water to rest between foraging bouts.

Adult female walrus on ice floe.

Adult female walruses on ice floe with young.  Notice the radio tag borne on her her upper mid back. 

This tag will monitor resting and foraging behavior and convey the information back to USGS scientists.

Catch of forage fish from a trawl in Prince William Sound, Alaska. Trawling was part of detecting long-term changes in forage fish populations.

A bald eagle rests in a tree with a small sea otter pup it has just snatched from the water. Once pups are a few weeks older they have grown too large for eagles to lift. Female otters with very small pups often only do short foraging dives and continuously monitor and reposition their pups to keep them from being predated.

A helicopter waiting to pick up geologic mappers and move them to a new location in the western Alaska Range in south-central Alaska. Helicopters are an essential part of geologic fieldwork in the many remote, rugged regions of Alaska.

A Tufted Puffin on the water