Images

A polar bear rests in a field on Barter Island, Alaska.

Tyndall Glacier in Taan Fiord, Alaska, is a modern day remnant of the glaciers that once flowed over the Gulf of Alaska.

USGS scientists conduct field work in the foothills of the Brooks Range in Alaska. Hydrologist Eric White (left) is collecting ground-penetrating radar (GPR). Research Hydrologist Martin Briggs (right) is collecting broadband electromagnetic induction data. The flowing water visible in the background is groundwater discharging at a spring. (October 2016)

Example of thawing landscapes and thermokarst at our field sites

Brian Ebel pours a dye tracer into a pit to observe how water moves through soils on a burned hillslope.

Underwater photo of a large school of Dolly Varden char and Arctic grayling in the Agashashok River.  These fish were part of the Hydro-Ecology of Arctic Thawing (HEAT) project.

Fog along the Yukon River showing a Black Spruce dominated forest in the foreground, which is prone to wildfire.  Photo by Bruce Wylie, USGS

A Horned Puffin taking off from the water

Horned Puffin, one of the species affected by a recent seabird die-off in the Pribilof Islands, AK. Near Chisik Island in Lower Cook Inlet, Alaska

Bedrock peaks in the Agashashok River Watershed

The north fork of the Agashashok River

Copper River bridge longer view

A tributary of the Agashashok River.

Periphyton in a tributary of the Agashashok River

The Agashashok River Watershed

Kasilof River bridge during high water

USGS scientists investigate trees knocked over by the tsunami at the mouth of Taan Fjord. Flow depth here was likely 5 m based on the height of branches stripped off trees in the background. This event had the 4th highest tsunami runup ever recorded.

USGS geologists' camp overlooking Unga Village on Unga Island, Alaska.

On June 28, 2016, a 4,000-foot-high mountainside in Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve collapsed, sending rocky debris equivalent to 60 million mid-size SUVs tumbling onto nearby Lamplugh Glacier.

USGS scientists collect seismic data to image the 2015 Taan Fjord landslide in southeast Alaska.

A stream type at the Boreal-Arctic transition of the Brooks Range, Noatak National Park and Preserve, Kobuk Valley National Park. The stream is part of the Agashashok River watershed. This is part of the Hydro-Ecoloy of Arctic Thawing (HEAT) project.