Unified Interior Regions
Region 11: Alaska
Alaska Science Center
4210 University Drive
Anchorage, AK 99508
Phone: (907) 786-7000
Volcano Science Center
4230 University Drive
Anchorage, AK 99508
Phone: (907) 786-7497
Climate Adaptation Science Center
4230 University Drive
Anchorage, AK 99508
Phone: 907-301-7830
Regions L2 Landing Page Tabs
USGS research activities relevant to Alaska have yielded more than 9400 historical publications. This page features some of the most recent newsworthy research findings.
Search USGS publications for Alaska
Arctic Science for Decision Maker
2020 USGS Alaska Annual Science Report
Visualizing populations of North American sea ducks: Maps to guide research and management planning
North American sea ducks generally breed in mid- to northern-latitude regions and nearly all rely upon marine habitats for much of their annual cycle. Most sea duck species remained poorly studied until the 1990s when declines were noted in several species and populations. Subsequent research, much of which was funded by the Sea Duck Joint Venture...
Pearce, John M.; Flint, Paul L.; Whalen, Mary E.; Sonsthagen, Sarah A.; Stiller, Josh; Patil, Vijay P.; Bowman, Timothy D.; Boyd, Sean; Badzinski, Shannon S.; Gilchrist, H.G.; Gilliland, Scott G; Lepage, Christine; Loring, Pam; McAuley, Daniel; McLellan, Nic; Osenkowski, Jason; Reed, Eric T.; Roberts, Anthony J.; Robertson, Myra; Rothe, Tom; Safine, David E.; Silverman, Emily D.; Spragens, Kyle A.
The seasonal energetic landscape of an apex marine carnivore, the polar bear
Divergent movement strategies have enabled wildlife populations to adapt to environmental change. In recent decades, the Southern Beaufort Sea subpopulation of polar bears (Ursus maritimus) has developed a divergent movement strategy in response to diminishing sea ice where the majority of the subpopulation (73–85%) stays on the sea ice in summer...
Pagano, Anthony M.; Atwood, Todd C.; Durner, George M.; Williams, Terrie M. Use of subsistence-harvested whale carcasses by polar bears in the southern Beaufort Sea
The availability of a food subsidy has the potential to influence the condition, behavior, fitness, and population dynamics of a species. Since the early 2000s, monitoring efforts along the coast of northern Alaska indicated a higher proportion of polar bears (Ursus maritimus) of the southern Beaufort Sea (SB) subpopulation come onshore and feed...
Lillie, Kate M; Gese, Eric M; Atwood, Todd C.; Conner, Mary M The August 2018 Kaktovik earthquakes: Active tectonics in northeastern Alaska revealed With InSAR and seismology
The largest earthquakes recorded in northern Alaska (Mw 6.4 and Mw 6.0) occurred ~6 hours apart on August 12, 2018 in the northeastern Brooks Range. The earthquakes were captured by Sentinel-1 InSAR satellites and Earthscope Transportable Array seismic data, giving insight into the little-known active tectonic processes of Arctic Alaska, obscured...
Gaudreau, E.; Nissen, E.K.; Bergman, Eric A.; Benz, Harley M.; Tan, F.; Karasözen, E. A leg-hold noose capture method for Brent Geese Branta bernicla at staging or wintering sites
Effective and efficient capture methods are needed for marking and monitoring individuals in studies of demography, migration and habitat use. We describe a novel use of leg-hold nooses aligned on lines and mats to capture non-breeding Brent Geese Branta bernicla in water at a staging and wintering site in Japan. A total of 24 Brent Geese were...
Sawa, Yusuke; Tamura, Chieko; Ikeuchi, Toshio; Fujii, Kaoru; Ishioroshi, Aisa; Shimada, T.; Ward, David H. Historical range and variation (HRV)
Fire-prone landscapes are experiencing rapid and potentially persistent changes as the result of complex and potentially novel interactions of anthropogenic climate changes, shifting fire regimes, exotic plant, insect, and pathogen invasions, and industrial, agricultural, and urban development. Are these landscapes fully departed from historical...
Keane, Robert; Loehman, Rachel A. Temporal variation in genetic structure within the threatened spectacled eider
We examined the genetic structure of the threatened spectacled eider 14–18 years after the initial assessment to evaluate the influence of population recovery on diversity. Concordant with the initial assessment, spectacled eiders were highly structured at mitochondrial (mt) DNA and lacked differentiation at microsatellite loci. The degree and...
Sonsthagen, Sarah A.; Haughey, Christy; Sexson, Matthew G.; Solovyeva, Diana V; Petersen, Margaret R.; Powell, Abby Overhauling ocean spatial planning to improve marine megafauna conservation
Tracking data have led to evidence-based conservation of marine megafauna, but a disconnect remains between the many thousands of individual animals that have been tracked and the use of these data in conservation and management actions. Furthermore, the focus of most conservation efforts is within Exclusive Economic Zones despite the ability of...
Sequeira, Ana M. M.; Hays, Graeme C.; Sims, David W.; Eguíluz, Victor M.; Rodríguez, Jorge P.; Heupel, Michelle R.; Harcourt, Robert G.; Calich, Hannah J.; Queiroz, Nuno; Costa, Daniel P.; Fernández-Gracia, Juan; Ferreira, Luciana C.; Goldsworthy, Simon D.; Hindell, Mark; Lea, Mary-Anne; Meekan, Mark G.; Pagano, Anthony M.; Shaffer, Scott A.; Reisser, Julia; Thums, Michele; Weise, Michael J; Duarte, Carlos M. 1200 years of Upper Missouri River streamflow reconstructed from tree rings
Paleohydrologic records can provide unique, long-term perspectives on streamflow variability and hydroclimate for use in water resource planning. Such long-term records can also play a key role in placing both present day events and projected future conditions into a broader context than that offered by instrumental observations. However,...
Martin, Justin; Pederson, Gregory T.; Woodhouse, Connie A.; Cook, Edward R; McCabe, Gregory J.; Wise, Erika K.; Erger, Patrick; Dolan, Larry; McGuire, Marketa; Gangopadhyay, Subhrendu; Chase, Katherine J.; Littell, Jeremy S.; Gray, Stephen; St. George, Scott; Friedman, Jonathan M.; Sauchyn, David J.; St. Jacques, Jannine; King, John W. Surface water connectivity controls fish food web structure and complexity across local- and meta-food webs in Arctic Coastal Plain lakes
The need for theories that address food web assembly and complexity over multiple spatial scales are critical to understanding their stability and persistence. In a meta-food web – an integrated network of local food webs – spatial heterogeneity in physical processes may have profound effects on food web function and energy flow. In the Arctic,...
Laske, Sarah M.; Rosenberger, Amanda E.; Wipfli, Mark S.; Zimmerman, Christian E. Ground failure from the Anchorage, Alaska, earthquake of 30 November 2018
Investigation of ground failure triggered by the 2018 Mw">MwMw 7.1 Anchorage earthquake showed that landslides, liquefaction, and ground cracking all occurred and caused significant damage. Shallow rock falls and rock slides were the most abundant types of landslides, but they occurred in smaller numbers than global models that are...
Jibson, Randall W.; Grant, Alex R. R. ; Witter, Robert C.; Allstadt, Kate; Thompson, Eric M.; Bender, Adrian User guide to the FireCLIME Vulnerability Assessment (VA) Tool: A rapid and flexible system for assessing ecosystem vulnerability to climate-fire interactions
Decisionmakers need better methods for identifying critical ecosystem vulnerabilities to changing climate and fire regimes. Climate-wildfire-vegetation interactions are complex and hinder classification and projection necessary for development of management strategies. One such vulnerability assessment (VA) is FireCLIME VA, which allows users to...
Friggens, Megan; Loehman, Rachel A.; Thode, Andi; Flatley, William T.; Evans, Alexander; Bunn, Windy; Wilcox, Craig; Mueller, Stephanie; Yocum, Larissa; Falk, Donald A.Browse a selection of videos, audio clips, images, and more from a wide range of science topics covered by USGS!
"Science for a Changing World" - watch the short film here!
Documentary on walruses here!
Watch the first-ever footage of a polar bear on Arctic sea ice!
Join USGS geologists as they collect lava samples from Kilauea Volcano.
Watch researchers in the Arctic!
Salmon River in Southeast Alaska
Salmon River is one of the transboundary watersheds of Southeast Alaska.
Kashwitna River sonar on a bridge
Kashwitna River sonar on a bridge
Dolly Varden and Arctic grayling in the Agashashok River
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.
Coastal bluff study site prep
Two scientists on the Arctic coastal bluff preparing a study location with cameras that they hope will run continuously, collecting images.
Polar bear walks across flooded barrier island during Arctic storm
Adult polar bear walking across a recently overwashed barrier island during a large Arctic storm in September 2016. The barrier island is offshore of Barter Island on Alaska’s north coast. Polar bears typically rest on the barrier islands during the day and transit to the "bone pile" on Barter Island in the evenings to feast on whale carcass remnants supplied by local
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Pacific Golden-Plover standing on rocks near Big Creek, Alaska
Pacific Golden-Plover standing on rocks near Big Creek, Alaska.
Agashashok River and Asik watershed
The Agashashok River and Asik watershed
Polar bear lazes in a field on Barter Island, Alaska
A polar bear rests in a field on Barter Island, Alaska.
GPR and Broadband Electromagnetic Induction
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)
Tyndall Glacier in Taan Fiord, Alaska
Tyndall Glacier in Taan Fiord, Alaska, is a modern day remnant of the glaciers that once flowed over the Gulf of Alaska.
Example of thawing landscapes and thermokarst at our field sites
Example of thawing landscapes and thermokarst at our field sites
Soil tracer applied on burned hillslope
Brian Ebel pours a dye tracer into a pit to observe how water moves through soils on a burned hillslope.
Browse a collection of stories about prominent USGS scientists and projects in Alaska news.
On July 9, 1953, at 6 a.m., flying out of Anchorage International Airport, a Northwest Airlines pilot noticed a rapidly growing ash cloud erupting from Mount Spurr volcano on the northwest side of Cook Inlet, about 80 miles west of Anchorage.
Glaciers: Alaska’s Rivers of Ice, a 90-minute, broadcast quality, educational DVD, produced by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and Alpha DVD of Crofton, Md., has been awarded the Duane Marquis Government DVD Excellence Award by the DVD Association (DVDA).
Glaciers: Alaska’s Rivers of Ice, a 90-minute, broadcast quality, educational DVD, produced by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and Alpha DVD of Crofton, Md., has been awarded the Duane Marquis Government DVD Excellence Award by the DVD Association (DVDA).
Scientists from the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and their partners studying the largest on-land earthquake in North America in almost 150 years report new information that will help further safety-planning efforts for future large quakes, according to an article published in the May 16, 2003, edition of the journal Science.
Scientists from the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and their partners studying the largest on-land earthquake in North America in almost 150 years report new information that will help further safety-planning efforts for future large quakes, according to an article published in the May 16, 2003, edition of the journal Science.
Standard fare in geology textbooks and school classrooms across the world is that the hot springs, geysers and volcanoes of Yellowstone National Park, Hawaii, Iceland, and many other volcanic regions were "created" by plumes of hot rock that rise from near the Earth’s core. New results from recently published U.S. Geological Survey research hint, astonishingly, that such plumes may not exist.
A ShakeMap portraying the variations in shaking intensity from the Nov. 3, 2002, 7.9-magnitude earthquake was released today by the U.S. Geological Survey and the University of Alaska, Fairbanks.
A ShakeMap portraying the variations in shaking intensity from the Nov. 3, 2002, 7.9-magnitude earthquake was released today by the U.S. Geological Survey and the University of Alaska, Fairbanks. The map is the first ShakeMap produced for the state of Alaska and is considered a prototype.
Sunday’s magnitude 7.9 earthquake in central Alaska created a scar across the landscape for more than 145 miles, according to surveys conducted the past two days by geologists from the U.S. Geological Survey and the Alaska Division of Geological and Geophysical Survey.
Sunday’s magnitude (M) 7.9 central Alaska earthquake was one of the largest recorded earthquakes in our Nation’s history. The epicenter of the Nov. 3 temblor was located approximately 75 miles (135 km) south of Fairbanks and 176 miles (283 km) north of Anchorage.
On October 23, 2002, a strong magnitude (M) 6.7 earthquake occurred at 3:27 AM Local time 85 miles (135 km) south of Fairbanks and 172 miles (276 km) north of Anchorage. The earthquake was felt broadly, from Fairbanks in the north to Anchorage in the south, a distance of 255 miles. Because of the remote location, however, there was very little damage.
A new study by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) shows that the Castle Mountain fault in south-central Alaska may be ready to produce a strong magnitude 6 to 7 earthquake. The study, which examined the ancient earthquake history of the Castle Mountain fault, was just published in the October issue of the Geological Society of America Bulletin.
Stay up-to-date with what is happening in the Alaska Region by checking out our different social media accounts. You can also contact Alaska Regional Office staff or Center Directors for more information.
Contacts
Locations
Alaska Science Center
Phone: (907) 786-7000
Fax: (907) 786-7020
Alaska Climate Adaptation Science Center
USGS Volcano Science Center
Phone: 360-993-8900
Alaska Volcano Observatory (AVO)
http://www.avo.alaska.edu/contact.php
Phone: 907-786-7497
USGS California Volcano Observatory (CalVO package delivery)
askcalvo@usgs.gov
Phone: 650-329-5083
USGS Cascades Volcano Observatory (CVO)
vhpweb@usgs.gov
Phone: 360-993-8900
Fax: 360-993-8980
Yellowstone Volcano Observatory (YVO)
yvowebteam@usgs.gov
Phone: 360-993-8906
Anchorage Field Office - Water
Phone: 907-786-7000
Fairbanks Field Office - Water
Phone: 907-479-5645
Juneau Field Office - Water
Phone: 907-586-7216
