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Alaska Region

USGS in Alaska conducts science for decision-making in five major areas: natural hazards; energy & minerals; water quality, streamflow & ice; wildlife, fish & habitat; and geospatial mapping. The Alaska Regional Office provides management and strategic coordination among the Alaska Science Center, the Volcano Science Center, & other partners operating in AK.

News

U.S. Geological Survey marks progress tracking nation's supply of critical minerals

U.S. Geological Survey marks progress tracking nation's supply of critical minerals

USGS invests $3.6 million in Bipartisan Infrastructure Law funding to map critical minerals across Alaska

USGS invests $3.6 million in Bipartisan Infrastructure Law funding to map critical minerals across Alaska

Revisiting the 1957 Aleutian Earthquake: New Insights into Tsunami Hazards for Hawaiʻi

Revisiting the 1957 Aleutian Earthquake: New Insights into Tsunami Hazards for Hawaiʻi

Publications

Reconstruction of Holocene and Last Interglacial vegetation dynamics and wildfire activity in Southern Siberia

Wildfires are a rapidly increasing threat to boreal forests. While our understanding of the drivers behind wildfires and their environmental impact is growing, it is mostly limited to the observational period. Here we focus on the boreal forests of southern Siberia and exploit a U–Th-dated stalagmite from Botovskaya Cave, located in the upper Lena region of southern Siberia, to document...
Authors
Jade Margerum, Julia Homann, Stuart Umbo, Gernot Nehrke, Thorsten Hoffmann, Anton Vaks, Aleksandr Kononov, Alexander Osintsev, Alena Maria Giesche, Andrew Mason, Franziska A. Lechleitner, Gideon M. Henderson, Ola Kwiecien, Sebastian F.M. Breitenbach

A practical decision tool for marine bird mortality assessments

Given the rise in anthropogenic, environmental, and disease events contributing to marine bird mortality, there is a critical need to improve the rigor of mortality assessments. Deficits in data collection and mortality estimation can hinder a manager’s ability to document event scales and inform population level impacts. Therefore, to inform decisions required during activities such as...
Authors
Johanna Alexandra Harvey, Andrew M. Ramey, Stephanie Avery-Gomm, Gregory Robertson, Marc Romano, Jennifer M. Mullinax, Megan Boldenow, Philip W. Atkinson, Diann Prosser

A fire deficit persists across diverse North American forests despite recent increases in area burned

Rapid increases in wildfire area burned across North American forests pose novel challenges for managers and society. Increasing area burned raises questions about whether, and to what degree, contemporary fire regimes (1984–2022) are still departed from historical fire regimes (pre-1880). We use the North American tree-ring fire-scar network (NAFSN), a multi-century record comprising...
Authors
Sean Parks, Chris Guiterman, Ellis Margolis, Maggie Lonergan, Ellen Whitman, John T. Abatzoglou, Donald A. Falk, James B. Johnston, Lori D. Daniels, Charles W. Lafon, Rachel A. Loehman, Kurt F. Kipfmueller, Cameron E. Naficy, Marc-Andre Parisien, Jeanne Portier, Michael C. Stambaugh, A. Park Williams, Andreas Paul Wion, Larissa Yocom

Science

Detecting Long-term Changes in Forage Fish Populations in Prince William Sound, Alaska

Forage fish are small pelagic schooling fish that play a key role in transferring energy between plankton and top marine predators. Many seabirds, marine mammals, and commercial fish species depend on forage fish to grow and survive.
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Detecting Long-term Changes in Forage Fish Populations in Prince William Sound, Alaska

Forage fish are small pelagic schooling fish that play a key role in transferring energy between plankton and top marine predators. Many seabirds, marine mammals, and commercial fish species depend on forage fish to grow and survive.
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Shorebird Research

With its vast size and geographic position at the northern end of several migration pathways, Alaska is a critically important site for the world’s shorebirds. Thirty-seven shorebird species regularly breed in Alaska. Most of these species conduct epically long migrations to take advantage of Alaska’s abundant food resources and breeding habitat, making Alaska a global resource for shorebirds...
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Shorebird Research

With its vast size and geographic position at the northern end of several migration pathways, Alaska is a critically important site for the world’s shorebirds. Thirty-seven shorebird species regularly breed in Alaska. Most of these species conduct epically long migrations to take advantage of Alaska’s abundant food resources and breeding habitat, making Alaska a global resource for shorebirds...
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Tidewater Glacier Influence on Marine Ecosystems

Where glaciers meet the sea in the Gulf of Alaska (GOA), they create unique and productive marine habitats. Ringed by the continent’s tallest coastal mountains, 20% of the GOA coastal watershed is covered by glacial ice and the annual freshwater discharge into the GOA from glacial melt is comparable to that of the Mississippi river.
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Tidewater Glacier Influence on Marine Ecosystems

Where glaciers meet the sea in the Gulf of Alaska (GOA), they create unique and productive marine habitats. Ringed by the continent’s tallest coastal mountains, 20% of the GOA coastal watershed is covered by glacial ice and the annual freshwater discharge into the GOA from glacial melt is comparable to that of the Mississippi river.
Learn More
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