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Publications

USGS research activities relevant to Alaska have yielded more than 9400 historical publications. This page features some of the most recent newsworthy research findings.

Filter Total Items: 2887

Yukon River incision drove organic carbon burial in the Bering Sea during global climate changes at 2.6 and 1 Ma

River erosion affects the carbon cycle and thus climate by exporting terrigenous carbon to seafloor sediment and by nourishing CO2-consuming marine life. The Yukon River–Bering Sea system preserves rare source-to-sink records of these processes across profound changes in global climate during the past 5 million years (Ma). Here, we expand the terrestrial erosion record by dating terraces along the
Authors
Adrian Bender, Richard O. Lease, Lee B. Corbett, Paul R. Bierman, Marc W. Caffee, James V. Jones, Douglas C. Kreiner

A serological survey of Francisella tularensis exposure in wildlife on the Arctic Coastal Plain of Alaska

Tularemia is an infectious zoonotic disease caused by one of several subspecies of Francisella tularensis bacteria. Infections by F. tularensis are common throughout the northern hemisphere and have been detected in more than 250 wildlife species. In Alaska, US, where the pathogen was first identified in 1938, studies have identified F. tularensis antibodies in a diverse suite of taxa, including i
Authors
Matthew M. Smith, Caroline R. Van Hemert, Todd C. Atwood, David R. Sinnett, Jerry W. Hupp, Brandt W Meixell, David D. Gustine, Layne G. Adams, Andrew M. Ramey

Melanism in a Common Murre Uria aalge in Kachemak Bay, Alaska

In accord with melanism being uncommon in birds, we could find only six published records of completely melanistic Common Murres Uria aalge, one of the most widely and intensively studied of all seabirds. We added to the record by observing a Common Murre in completely dark, melanistic alternate plumage every summer from 2017 to 2021 at Gull Island in Kachemak Bay, Alaska, USA. In 2017, the bird f
Authors
Sarah K. Schoen, Mayumi L. Arimitsu, Caitlin Elizabeth Marsteller, Brielle M. Heflin

U.S. Geological Survey—Department of the Interior Region 11, Alaska—2021–22 biennial science report

U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Mission: The USGS national mission is to monitor, analyze, and predict the current and evolving dynamics of complex human and natural Earth-system interactions, and to deliver actionable information at scales and timeframes relevant to decision-makers. Consistent with the national mission, the USGS in Alaska provides timely and objective scientific information to help

Where land and sea meet: Brown bears and sea otters

In Katmai National Park, Alaska, USA, we have seen changes in the number of brown bears and sea otters. The number of animals of a species a habitat can support is called carrying capacity. Even though bears live on land and sea otters live in the ocean, these two mammals share coastal habitats. Bears eat salmon, other fish, plants, clams, and beached whales. Sea otters feed on clams and other mar
Authors
Heather Coletti, Grant Hilderbrand, James L. Bodkin, Brenda E. Ballachey, Joy Erlenbach, George G. Esslinger, Michael P. Hannam, Kimberly A. Kloecker, Buck Mangipane, Amy Miller, Daniel Monson, Benjamin Pister, K. Griffin, K. Bodkin, Tom Smith

Barrier islands influence the assimilation of terrestrial energy in nearshore fishes

We examined the relative importance of landscape features on estuarine fish trophic structure and dependence on terrestrial organic matter (OMterr) in four barrier island lagoon systems along the Alaskan Beaufort Sea coast. Our study compared two relatively large lagoon systems characterized by high river discharge and relatively free ocean water exchanges (central region near Prudhoe Bay, Alaska)
Authors
Ashley E. Stanek, Vanessa R. von Biela, Sarah M. Laske, Rebecca L. Taylor, Kenneth H. Dunton

Chemical geodynamics insights from a machine learning approach

The radiogenic isotope heterogeneity of oceanic basalts is often assessed using 2D isotope ratio diagrams. But because the underlying data are at least six dimensional (87Sr/86Sr, 143Nd/144Nd, 176Hf/177Hf, and 208,207,206Pb/204Pb), it is important to examine isotopic affinities in multi-dimensional data space. Here, we apply t-distributed stochastic neighbor embedding (t-SNE), a multi-variate stat
Authors
Andreas Stracke, M. Willig, F. Genske, P. Béguelin, Erin Todd

Biosiliceous, organic-rich, and phosphatic facies of Triassic strata of northwest Alaska: Transect across a high-latitude, low-angle continental margin

The Shublik Formation (Middle and Upper Triassic) is a mixed siliciclastic-carbonate-phosphatic unit in northern Alaska. It generated oil found in Prudhoe Bay and other accumulations and is a prospective self-sourced resource play on Alaska’s North Slope. Its distal, deeper-water equivalent—the Otuk Formation—consists largely of radiolarian chert, mudstone, and limestone and contains potential gas
Authors
Julie A. Dumoulin, Katherine J. Whidden, William A. Rouse, Richard O. Lease, Adam Boehlke, Paul O'Sullivan

Seismic sources in the aleutian cradle of tsunamis

No abstract available.
Authors
Robert C. Witter, Richard W. Briggs, Tina Dura, Simon E. Engelhart, Alan Nelson

Diet energy density estimated from isotopes in predator hair associated with survival, habitat, and population dynamics

Sea ice loss is fundamentally altering the Arctic marine environment. Yet there is a paucity of data on the adaptability of food webs to ecosystem change, including predator-prey interactions. Polar bears (Ursus maritimus) are an important subsistence resource for Indigenous people and an apex predator that relies entirely on the under-ice food web to meet their energy needs. Here, we assessed whe
Authors
Karyn D. Rode, Brian D. Taras, Craig A. Stricker, Todd C. Atwood, Nicole P Boucher, George M. Durner, Andrew E. Derocher, Evan S. Richardson, Seth Cherry, Lori T. Quakenbush, Lara Horstmann, Jeffrey F. Bromaghin

Inventory of eelgrass (Zostera marina) and seaweeds at the end of the Alaska Peninsula, August–September 2012:

Coastal communities in Alaska are undergoing rapid environmental change from increasing temperatures and baseline data are needed to monitor potential impacts. We conducted the first surveys of the abundance and distribution of eelgrass (Zostera marina) and seaweeds in the western part of Izembek National Wildlife Refuge at the end of the Alaska Peninsula. Six embayments and two offshore islands w
Authors
David H. Ward, Kyle R. Hogrefe, Tyronne F. Donnelly, Neils C. Dau, Orville Lind, Kevin J. Payne, Sandra C. Lindstrom

Eelgrass (Zostera marina) and seaweed abundance along the coast of Nunivak Island, Yukon Delta National Wildlife Refuge, Alaska, 2010

Eelgrass (<em>Zostera marina</em>) is a highly productive seagrass that plays an essential role in the health of the estuarine and coastal ecosystems; however, information about its abundance and distribution is insufficient in the Bering Sea along the Yukon Delta National Wildlife Refuge. We inventoried the spatial extent and abundance of eelgrass and seaweed in Duchikthluk and Shoal bays on Nuni
Authors
David H. Ward, Kyle R. Hogrefe, Tyrone F. Donnelly, Lucretia L. Fairchild
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