The U.S. Geological Survey and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration are among the federal, tribal, state, and non-governmental partners involved in this effort, called Seascape Alaska. Six planned research expeditions will take place from May-October 2023. 

Seascape Alaska is part of the larger, multi-decadal National Strategy for Ocean Mapping, Exploration, and Characterization (NOMEC) initiative, launched in 2020 by the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy to coordinate seafloor mapping, exploration, and characterization activities across federal agencies. 

As part of the NOMEC initiative, USGS and partners are helping to guide strategic planning, determine priority areas for ocean mapping and characterization, and collect critical data to better understand the geology and ecology of deep-sea environments. One primary science objective for the USGS is to better characterize the hazards posed by earthquakes, tsunamis, and submarine landslides in the region from the Alaska-Aleutian Subduction Zone.

Read a related blog post from NOAA and learn more about Seascape Alaska in this StoryMap. 

Learn more about USGS’s role in providing scientific understanding of the world’s interconnected ocean system, from the continental shelf to the deep sea.

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