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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: 3110

Demography and behavior of polar bears summering on land in Alaska Demography and behavior of polar bears summering on land in Alaska

Polar bears (Ursus maritimus) in the southern Beaufort Sea population (SB) are spending increased time on the coastal North Slope of Alaska between July and October (Gleason and Rode 2010). The duration spent on land by polar bears, satellite collared on the sea-ice in the spring, during the summer and fall has also increased (USGS, unpublished data; Figure 1). This change in polar bear...
Authors
Elizabeth L. Peacock

Sources of global climate data and visualization portals Sources of global climate data and visualization portals

Climate is integral to the geophysical foundation upon which ecosystems are structured. Knowledge about mechanistic linkages between the geophysical and biological environments is essential for understanding how global warming may reshape contemporary ecosystems and ecosystem services. Numerous global data sources spanning several decades are available that document key geophysical...
Authors
David C. Douglas

Prevalence of pure versus mixed snow cover pixels across spatial resolutions in alpine environments: implications for binary and fractional remote sensing approaches Prevalence of pure versus mixed snow cover pixels across spatial resolutions in alpine environments: implications for binary and fractional remote sensing approaches

Remote sensing of snow-covered area (SCA) can be binary (indicating the presence/absence of snow cover at each pixel) or fractional (indicating the fraction of each pixel covered by snow). Fractional SCA mapping provides more information than binary SCA, but is more difficult to implement and may not be feasible with all types of remote sensing data. The utility of fractional SCA mapping...
Authors
David J. Selkowitz, Richard Forster, Megan K. Caldwell

Wildlife health in a rapidly changing North: focus on avian disease Wildlife health in a rapidly changing North: focus on avian disease

Climate-related environmental changes have increasingly been linked to emerging infectious diseases in wildlife. The Arctic is facing a major ecological transition that is expected to substantially affect animal and human health. Changes in phenology or environmental conditions that result from climate warming may promote novel species assemblages as host and pathogen ranges expand to...
Authors
Caroline R. Van Hemert, John M. Pearce, Colleen M. Handel

The 2010 slow slip event and secular motion at Kilauea, Hawai`i inferred from TerraSAR-X InSAR data The 2010 slow slip event and secular motion at Kilauea, Hawai`i inferred from TerraSAR-X InSAR data

We present here an Small BAseline Subset (SBAS) algorithm to extract both transient and secular ground deformations on the order of millimeters in the presence of tropospheric noise on the order of centimeters, when the transient is of short duration and known time, and the background deformation is smooth in time. We applied this algorithm to study the 2010 slow slip event as well as...
Authors
Jingyi Chen, Howard A. Zebker, Paul Segall, Asta Miklius

Satellite tracking of the migration of Whooper Swans Cygnus cygnus wintering in Japan Satellite tracking of the migration of Whooper Swans Cygnus cygnus wintering in Japan

We satellite-tracked Whooper Swans Cygnus cygnus wintering in northern Japan to document their migration routes and timing, and to identify breeding areas. From 47 swans that we marked at Lake Izunuma-Uchinuma, Miyagi Prefecture, northeast Honshu, and at Lake Kussharo, east Hokkaido, we observed 57 spring and 33 autumn migrations from 2009-2012. In spring, swans migrated north along...
Authors
Tetsuo Shimada, Noriyuki M. Yamaguchi, N. Hijikata, Emiko N. Hiraoka, Jerry W. Hupp, Paul L. Flint, Ken-ichi Tokita, Go Fujita, Kiyoshi Uchida, F. Sato, Masayuki Kurechi, John M. Pearce, Andrew M. Ramey, Hiroyoshi Higuchi

Change-in-ratio Change-in-ratio

Change-in-ratio (CIR) methods are used to estimate parameters for ecological populations subject to differential removals from population subclasses. Subclasses can be defined according to criteria such as sex, age, or size of individuals. Removals are generally in the form of closely monitored sport or commercial harvests. Estimation is based on observed changes in subclass proportions...
Authors
Mark S. Udevitz

Brant (Branta bernicla) Brant (Branta bernicla)

No abstract available
Authors
T.L. Lewis, David H. Ward, James S. Sedinger, Austin Reed, Dirk V. Derksen

Sampling design for long-term regional trends in marine rocky intertidal communities Sampling design for long-term regional trends in marine rocky intertidal communities

Probability-based designs reduce bias and allow inference of results to the pool of sites from which they were chosen. We developed and tested probability-based designs for monitoring marine rocky intertidal assemblages at Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve (GLBA), Alaska. A multilevel design was used that varied in scale and inference. The levels included aerial surveys, extensive...
Authors
Gail V. Irvine, Alice Shelley
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