Images

In order to survey walrus herds, USGS surveys sites used by walruses from a remote field camp. Here you see the small boat used by USGS to access the field camp.  In the foreground are polar bear tracks found along the shore near the USGS boat.

Iḷisaġvik College intern Violett Annisket attends to an orphan walrus calf encountered during USGS surveys.  USGS is developing methods to detect and count walrus carcasses found onshore after herds return to the waters.

Permit: MA3376D

USGS research wildlife biologist Anthony attends to an orphan walrus calf encountered during a storm.

Permit: MA3376D

Iḷisaġvik College intern Violett Annisket attends to an orphan walrus calf encountered during USGS surveys.  USGS is developing methods to detect and count walrus carcasses found onshore after herds return to the waters.

Permit:MA3376D

An orphan calf gazes out the window of an abandoned building where USGS research biologist Anthony Fischbach and Iḷisaġvik College intern Violett Annisket attended to his care during a September 2026 storm.

Permit: MA3376D

Iḷisaġvik College intern Violett Annisket attends to an orphan walrus calf encountered during USGS surveys.  USGS is developing methods to detect and count walrus carcasses found onshore after herds return to the waters.

Permit: MA3376D

Iḷisaġvik College intern Violett Annisket attends to an orphan walrus calf encountered during USGS surveys. USGS is developing methods to detect and count walrus carcasses found onshore after herds return to the waters.

Permit: MA3376D

USGS surveys walrus carcasses found onshore to survey for health concerns and to develop methods to detect and count carcasses from satellite to meet reporting requirements of the Marine Mammal Protection Act.  Here USGS research wildlife biologist Anthony Fischbach attends to an orphan calf discovered during a survey.

Permit: MA3376D

Iḷisaġvik College intern Violett Annisket reviews survey imagery collected of walrus herds near her home community.

When sea ice is available female walruses and young rest on ice pans near their foraging sites. When sea ice is absent walruses come to gather on shore.  When walruses gather in large numbers on shore many remain in adjacent waters.  USGS has used satellite-linked behavior monitoring tags to understand walrus behaviors and movements.

Iḷisaġvik College intern Violett Annisket prepares a USGS photo drone for surveys of walrus herds.

Geologist collecting samples for analyses related to age, chemistry, mineral composition, and mineralization in the Kuskokwim region along a ridge near Aniak, Alaska.

Geologists discuss observations pertaining to the Kuskokwim region with a view along a ridge near Aniak, Alaska.

Historic Illinois Creek mine produced gold and silver in the 1990’s sits within a broader Pb-Zn-Ag carbonate replacement and porphyry Cu district. The relationship between the various styles of mineralization remains uncertain. This district exemplifies the complexity and needs to characterize mineral resources and the framework geology.

Two USGS biologists conducting marine bird and mammal surveys as part of the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill (EVOS) Long Term Monitoring program. The surveys provide estimates of the species composition, relative abundance, and distribution of all marine birds and mammals within the nearshore zone.

Zan Frederick (USGS) installing a camera on the Mt. Foraker weather station, located on the southeast ridge at 7,826'. Mt. McKinley (20,320 ft) and Mt. Hunter (14,573 ft) are in the background. This site is a collaboration between USGS, Denali National Park, and the National Park Service Inventory and Monitoring program.

Zan Frederick (USGS) installing a camera on the Mt. Foraker weather station, located on the southeast ridge at 7,826'. This site is a collaboration between USGS, Denali National Park, and the National Park Service Inventory and Monitoring program. The camera transmits low-latency images once daily in winter and hourly during the busy summer season.

Bar plot showing the percentage of Chinook salmon with evidence of heat stress in each group based on the heat shock protein 70 (HSP70) protein concentration data. Map indicates sample collection locations. Sample groups are arranged by region from north to south: Norton Sound (purple), Yukon (orange), and Kuskokwim (green).

Wind driven snow transport across the glacier surface near site Y on upper Wolverine Glacier.

Taking notes at site EC on Wolverine Glacier.

At site S on Wolverine Glacier. Zan digs down to the previous summer surface to see where the ablation stake intersects the melt surface. This will allow scientists to calculate the ablation (melt) from the previous summer.