USGS Scientists Podcast Interviews

By Alaska Science Center November 6, 2023

In 2023, USGS Alaska Science Center scientists participated in a weekly radio program and podcast called Liquid Assets, airing on KTNA 88.9 FM, a community radio for the Susitna Valley in Alaska. Radio host Jenny Willoughby talks to experts about all things related to water.

A streamgage with the Alyeska pipeline in the background — Streamgage number 15905100 at the Atigun River, Alaska. The Alyeska oil pipeline is in the background.

Animated image showing glacier changes on Wolverine Glacier from 2012 to 2022 — The timelapse imagery provided here shows the lower half of Wolverine Glacier from 2012 to 2022. This imagery gives an intuitive view of the scale of change happening at glaciers across Alaska. Wolverine Glacier is in the

Orange colored water flowing into the clear Kugaroruk River. Brown vegetation to the left of orange water. Mountains and sky. — 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.

Listen to any of these five-minute podcasts at:

https://ktna.org/liquid-assets/

Podcast Episodes	Scientists	General Description
Episode 1: The Water Cycle	Heather Best	The water cycle, where water is found and how it moves around Alaska.
Episode 4: How Water Freezes	Heather Best	How lakes, moving water, and glacier fed rivers freeze.
Episode 5: Intro to Permafrost	Eva Stephani	How water interacts with permafrost, melt and thaw of permafrost, and types of permafrost.
Episode 8: Changing Glaciers	Louis Sass	Glaciers in Alaska and how they are changing over time.
Episode 10: Water Quality Sampling	Charlie Couvillion	How water quality samples are collected by USGS, and the equipment used year-round in Alaska.
Episode 19: Aquatic Invasive Species	Mike Carey	Elodea an aquatic invasive species in Alaska waters.
Episode 21: Historic Talkeetna Flooding	Jeff Conaway	USGS streamgages and how USGS collects flood data.
Episode 22: Macro-Invertebrates	Sarah Laske	Aquatic macro-invertebrates in streams and rivers, importance to humans and how they indicate good or poor water quality.
Episode 24: Erosion	Paul Schauer	Monitoring erosion of rivers and bridges and the importance to the public.
Episode 28: Rusting Rivers	Josh Koch	A new project investigating the possible causes that may be contributing to discoloration of Arctic rivers by exposing iron-bearing minerals.
Episode 39: How Rivers Move	Janet Curran	Channel migration in meandering and braided rivers and how climate change can affect the balance of water and sediment.