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Our Alaska Science Center priority is to continue the important work of the Department of the Interior and the USGS, while also maintaining the health and safety of our employees and community. Based on guidance from the White House, the CDC, and state and local authorities, we are shifting our operations to a virtual mode and have minimal staffing within our offices. If you need additional assistance, please contact Chris Zimmerman.
In the Spotlight
A new study in Point Lay, Alaska, has shown that high-resolution Earth observing satellite imagery can be a cost-effective tool for monitoring walrus populations. Learn how USGS scientists work with local communities to study walruses from space.
View PublicationCurrent Water Conditions
Explore real-time Alaska streamflow, groundwater, and water-quality conditions and access data with our new interactive map application.
Current ConditionsNews
New Insight on the Potential for Blue-Winged Teal to Transfer Avian Influenza to Domestic Poultry
A first-of-its-kind study by the USGS and partners provides an initial analysis of when commercial chicken and turkey facilities in the U.S. are at greatest risk to avian influenza viruses from one species of migratory waterfowl.
New Alaska Landbird Conservation Plan and Alaska Landbird Monitoring Survey Protocol
Alaska, where four major migratory flyways converge, hosts a diverse array of globally important avian habitats, ranging from towering rainforests to treeless tundra. USGS scientists recently led two teams of experts to produce key documents to help conserve Alaska’s similarly diverse landbird populations: the Alaska Landbird Conservation Plan and the Alaska Landbird Monitoring Survey Protocol...
Video of Rare Birds Breeding on St. Matthew Island, Alaska
A video produced by Andy Johnson with the Cornell Lab of Ornithology highlights collaborative research conducted on St. Matthew Island, in the Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge. The video features research by the USGS Alaska Science Center and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Alaska in 2018 - 2019. The research team focused on surveying McKay's Bunting and the Pribilof Rock Sandpiper.
Publications
The role of preexisting upper plate strike-slip faults during long-lived (ca. 30 Myr) oblique flat slab subduction, southern Alaska
Upper plates of subduction zones commonly respond to flat slab subduction by structural reactivation, magmatic arc disruption, and foreland basin inversion. However, the role of active strike-slip faults in focusing convergent deformation and magmatism in response to oblique flat slab subduction remains less clear. Here, we present new detrital...
Waldien, Trevor; Lease, Richard O.; Roeske, Sarah; Benowitz, Jeff; O'Sullivan, Paul Evidence for interannual persistence of infectious influenza A viruses in Alaska wetlands
Influenza A viruses (IAVs) deposited by wild birds into the environment may lead to sporadic mortality events and economically costly outbreaks among domestic birds. There is a paucity of information, however, regarding the persistence of infectious IAVs within the environment following deposition. In this investigation, we assessed the...
Ramey, Andrew M.; Reeves, Andrew B.; Lagassé, Benjamin Joel; Patil, Vijay P.; Hubbard, Laura E.; Kolpin, Dana W.; McCleskey, R. Blaine; Repert, Deborah A.; Stallknecht, David E.; Poulson, Rebecca L. Tungsten skarn potential of the Yukon-Tanana Upland, eastern Alaska, USA—A mineral resource assessment
Tungsten (W) is used in a variety of industrial and technological applications and has been identified as a critical mineral for the United States, India, the European Union, and other countries. These countries rely on W imports mostly from China, which leaves them vulnerable to supply disruption. Consequently, the U.S. government...
Case, George N.D.; Graham, Garth E.; Marsh, Erin E.; Taylor, Ryan; Green, Carlin J.; Brown II, Philip J.; Labay, Keith A.