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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: 3111

The Alaska Resource Data File The Alaska Resource Data File

No abstract available.
Authors
D. J. Grybeck, Frederic H. Wilson, D P. Bickerstaff

Seabirds as indicators of marine ecosystems: Introduction: A modern role for seabirds as indicators Seabirds as indicators of marine ecosystems: Introduction: A modern role for seabirds as indicators

A key requirement for implementing ecosystem-based management is to obtain timely information on significant fluctuations in the ecosystem (Botsford et al. 1997). However, obtaining all necessary information about physical and biological changes at appropriate temporal and spatial scales is a daunting task. Intuitively, one might assume that physical data are more important for the...
Authors
John F. Piatt, William J. Sydeman, Francis Wiese

Holocene slip rate and revised characteristic earthquake parameters for the western segment of the Castle Mountain fault, Alaska Holocene slip rate and revised characteristic earthquake parameters for the western segment of the Castle Mountain fault, Alaska

The western segment of the Castle Mountain fault poses a significant seismic hazard to the most populated region of south-central Alaska. We identify a previously unrecognized margin of a postglacial outwash channel that is offset right laterally 36 ± 4 m across the western segment of the Castle Mountain fault. This offset occurred after glaciers withdrew from the lowland 11,300–15,380...
Authors
Julie B. Willis, Peter J. Haeussler, Ronald L. Bruhn, Grant C. Willis

USGS national surveys and analysis projects: Preliminary compilation of integrated geological datasets for the United States: A section in Digital mapping techniques '06 - Workshop proceedings USGS national surveys and analysis projects: Preliminary compilation of integrated geological datasets for the United States: A section in Digital mapping techniques '06 - Workshop proceedings

The growth in the use of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) has highlighted the need for regional and national digital geologic maps attributed with age and rock type information. Such spatial data can be conveniently used to generate derivative maps for purposes that include mineral-resource assessment, metallogenic studies, tectonic studies, human health and environmental research...
Authors
Suzanne W. Nicholson, Douglas B. Stoeser, Frederic H. Wilson, Connie L. Dicken, Stephen Ludington

Glaciers dominate eustatic sea-level rise in the 21st century Glaciers dominate eustatic sea-level rise in the 21st century

Ice loss to the sea currently accounts for virtually all of the sea-level rise that is not attributable to ocean warming, and about 60% of the ice loss is from glaciers and ice caps rather than from the two ice sheets. The contribution of these smaller glaciers has accelerated over the past decade, in part due to marked thinning and retreat of marine-terminating glaciers associated with...
Authors
Mark Frederick Meier, M.B. Dyurgerov, Ursula K. Rick, William Tad Pfeffer, Suzanne P. Anderson, Andrey F. Glazovsky

Dietary and spatial overlap between sympatric ursids relative to salmon use Dietary and spatial overlap between sympatric ursids relative to salmon use

We hypothesized that there would be minimal dietary overlap between sympatric brown bears (Ursus arctos) and American black bears (U. americanus) relative to salmon (Oncorhynchus spp.) utilization when alternative foods (e.g., fruits) are abundant. To maximize the chance that we would reject this hypothesis, we examined the diets of brown and black bears known to have visited salmon...
Authors
Jennifer K. Fortin, Sean D. Farley, Karyn D. Rode, Charles T. Robbins

Adjusting for telemetry bias in behavior data Adjusting for telemetry bias in behavior data

No abstract available.
Authors
Mark S. Udevitz, Chadwick V. Jay, Anthony S. Fischbach, Joel L. Garlich-Miller

Signatures of mountain building: Detrital zircon U/Pb ages from northeast Tibet Signatures of mountain building: Detrital zircon U/Pb ages from northeast Tibet

Although detrital zircon has proven to be a powerful tool for determining provenance, past work has focused primarily on delimiting regional source terranes. Here we explore the limits of spatial resolution and stratigraphic sensitivity of detrital zircon in ascertaining provenance, and we demonstrate its ability to detect source changes for terranes separated by only a few tens of...
Authors
Richard O. Lease, Douglas W. Burbank, George E. Gehrels, Zhicai Wang, Daoyang Yuan

Fire risk in San Diego County, California: A weighted Bayesian model approach Fire risk in San Diego County, California: A weighted Bayesian model approach

Fire risk models are widely utilized to mitigate wildfire hazards, but models are often based on expert opinions of less understood fire-ignition and spread processes. In this study, we used an empirically derived weights-of-evidence model to assess what factors produce fire ignitions east of San Diego, California. We created and validated a dynamic model of fire-ignition risk based on...
Authors
Crystal A. Kolden, Timothy J. Weigel

Efficiently estimating salmon escapement uncertainty using systematically sampled data Efficiently estimating salmon escapement uncertainty using systematically sampled data

Fish escapement is generally monitored using nonreplicated systematic sampling designs (e.g., via visual counts from towers or hydroacoustic counts). These sampling designs support a variety of methods for estimating the variance of the total escapement. Unfortunately, all the methods give biased results, with the magnitude of the bias being determined by the underlying process patterns...
Authors
Joel H. Reynolds, Carol Ann Woody, Nancy E. Gove, Lowell F. Fair

The blind men and the elephant: Concerns about the use of juvenile proportion data The blind men and the elephant: Concerns about the use of juvenile proportion data

Juvenile proportion data in shorebirds are being used with increasing frequency to estimate recruitment and even breeding success. Although this area of investigation holds great promise, flaws in current study designs preclude great confidence in the broad-scale inferences being drawn. We present data from our own investigations on juvenile proportions in Bar-tailed Godwits Limosa...
Authors
Brian J. McCaffery, Colleen M. Handel, Robert E. Gill, Daniel R. Ruthrauff
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