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
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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
Estimating the energy expenditure of free‐ranging polar bears using tri‐axial accelerometers: A validation with doubly labeled water
Measures of energy expenditure can be used to inform animal conservation and management, but methods for measuring the energy expenditure of free‐ranging animals have a variety of limitations. Advancements in biologging technologies have enabled the use of dynamic body acceleration derived from accelerometers as a proxy for energy expenditure....
Pagano, Anthony M.; Williams, Terrie M. Migratory goose arrival time plays a larger role in influencing forage quality than advancing springs in an Arctic coastal wetland
With warmer springs, herbivores migrating to Arctic breeding grounds may experience phenological mismatches between their energy demands and the availability of high quality forage. However, the timing of high quality forage relative to the timing of grazing is often unknown. In coastal western Alaska, approximately one million migratory geese...
Beard, Karen H.; Choi, Ryan T.; Leffer, A. Joshua; Carlson, Lindsay; Kelsey, Katharine C.; Schmutz, Joel A.; Welker, Jeffrey Current trends and future directions in swan research: Insights from the 6th International Swan Symposium
Given their popularity with researchers and public alike, together with their welldocumented importance in aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems, fundamental and applied research on swans continues to develop in the 21st century. The 6th International Swan Symposium (6th ISS), was held at the Estonian University of Life Sciences in Tartu, Estonia, in...
Wood, Kevin; Cao, Lei; Clausen, P.; Ely, Craig R.; Luigujoe, L.; Rees, Eileen; Snyder, Jeffrey; Solovyeva, D.; Wlodarczyk, R. Influenza A prevalence and subtype diversity in migrating teal sampled along the United States Gulf Coast
Wild birds in the order Anseriformes are important reservoirs for influenza A viruses (IAV); however, IAV prevalence and subtype diversity may vary by season, even at the same location. To better understand the ecology of IAV during waterfowl migration through the Gulf Coast of the United States (Louisiana and Texas), surveillance of blue-winged (...
Carter, Deborah; Link, Paul T.; Walther, Patrick; Ramey, Andrew M.; Stallknecht, David E.; Poulson, Rebecca L. Dropstones in lacustrine sediments as a record of snow avalanches - a validation of the proxy by combining satellite imagery and varve chronology at Kenai Lake (south-central Alaska)
Snow avalanches cause many fatalities every year and damage local economies worldwide. The present-day climate change affects the snowpack and, thus, the properties and frequency of snow avalanches. Reconstructing snow avalanche records can help us understand past variations in avalanche frequency and their relationship to climate change. Previous...
Thys, Sien; Van Daele, Maarten; Praet, Nore; Jensen, Britta J.L.; Van Dyck, Thomas; Haeussler, Peter; Vandekerkhove, Elke; Cnudde, Veerle; De Batist, Marc The black brant population is declining based on mark recapture
Annual survival and recruitment in black brant (Branta bernicla nigricans) have declined since the 1990s, yet aerial surveys of the global population have been stable or even increasing over the past decade. We used a combination of a Lincoln estimator based on harvest information and band recoveries, and marked‐unmarked ratios in bag checks in 1...
Sedinger, James S.; Riecke, Thomas V.; Leach, Alan G.; Ward, David H. Flexible timing of annual movements across consistently used sites by Marbled Godwits breeding in Alaska
The study of avian movement has detailed a spectrum of strategies for the timing and use of sites throughout the annual cycle, from near randomness to complete consistency. New tracking devices now permit the repeated tracking of individual animals throughout the annual cycle, detailing previously unappreciated levels of variation within migratory...
Ruthrauff, Daniel R.; Tibbitts, Lee; Gill, Robert E. Spatial distribution of band recoveries of black brant
On average, band recovery rates of adult black brant (Branta bernicla nigricans) more than doubled between the 2000s and 2010s. However, the spatial distribution of band recoveries of black brant has not been reported. Our objective was to describe the spatial distribution of band recoveries of black brant since 1990. We found that Alaska,...
Leach, Alan G.; Ward, David H.; Sedinger, James S.; Riecke, Thomas V.; Hupp, Jerry W.; Ritchie, Robert J. Pace and process of active folding and fluvial incision across the Kantishna Hills anticline, central Alaska
Rates of northern Alaska Range thrust system deformation are poorly constrained. Shortening at the system's west end is focused on the Kantishna Hills anticline. Where the McKinley River cuts across the anticline, the landscape records both Late Pleistocene deformation and climatic change. New optically stimulated luminescence and cosmogenic ...
Bender, Adrian; Lease, Richard O.; Haeussler, Peter; Rittenour, Tammy M.; Corbett, Lee B.; Bierman, Paul R.; Caffee, Marc W. Wasting disease and static environmental variables drive sea star assemblages in the northern Gulf of Alaska
Sea stars are ecologically important in rocky intertidal habitats where they can play an apex predator role, completely restructuring communities. The recent sea star die-off throughout the eastern Pacific, known as Sea Star Wasting Disease, has prompted a need to understand spatial and temporal patterns of sea star assemblages and the...
Konar, Brenda; Mitchell, Timothy J.; Iken, K.; Dean, Thomas; Esler, Daniel N.; Lindeberg, Mandy; Pister, Benjamin; Weitzman, Ben P. Micro-geographic population genetic structure within Arctic cod (Boreogadus saida) in Beaufort Sea of Alaska
Many marine organisms show significant levels of genetic heterogeneity on local spatial scales despite exhibiting limited genetic structure at large geographic scales which can be produced through a variety of mechanisms. The Arctic cod (Boreogadus saida) is a circumpolar species and is a vital species in Arctic food webs. To examine population...
Wilson, Robert E.; Sage, George K.; Wedemeyer, Kate; Sonsthagen, Sarah A.; Menning, Damian M.; Gravley, Megan C.; Nelson, R. John; Talbot, Sandra L. Heightened immune system function in polar bears using terrestrial habitats
Climate change is altering the distribution of some wildlife species while warming temperatures are facilitating the northward expansion of pathogens, potentially increasing disease risk. Melting of Arctic sea ice is causing polar bears (Ursus maritimus) of the Southern Beaufort Sea (SBS) to increasingly spend summer on land, where they may...
Whiteman, John P.; Harlow, Henry J.; Durner, George M.; Regehr, Eric V.; Amstrup, Steven C.; Ben-David, MeravBrowse 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!
Resource-2 AWiFS image over Norton Bay, Alaska
Resource-2 AWiFS image over Norton Bay, Alaska.
Constructing a limnocorral at McKinley Lake
Constructing a limnocorral at McKinley Lake for Elodea spp. experiment. This experiment is studying the effect of the invasive species Elodea spp. on aquatic ecosystems.
Sorting aquatic macroinvertebrates in the field
Three researchers from the University of Waterloo hunt for aquatic insects among the detritus scooped from the lake’s nearshore zone.
Fyke net contents from a lake near Atqasuk, Alaska
Contents of the fyke net that was set in the lake near Atqasuk in 2016. All sticklebacks.
A flock of Black-legged Kittiwakes foraging on small fish in the water
A flock of Black-legged Kittiwakes foraging.
Common Murres in the water
Large amount of Common Murres in the water
Common Murres stand at the edge of their colony on Gull Island
Common Murres stand at the edge of their colony on Gull Island, Cook Inlet on July 23, 2016.
Eklutna River traveling under two bridges
Eklutna River traveling under two bridges
Male Lapland Longspur in dwarf shrub mat habitat
Male Lapland Longspur in dwarf shrub mat habitat. This photo was taken on the Seward Peninsula as part of the Changing Arctic Ecosystem Boreal-Arctic Transition Zone program.
Catch of forage fish from a trawl in Cook Inlet, Alaska
Catch of forage fish from a trawl in Cook Inlet, Alaska. Trawling was part of an assessment of abundance, distribution and species composition of forage fish in marine waters in lower Cook Inlet.
Copper River bridge
Copper River bridge
Molybdenite mineral coating on a fractured surface
Molybdenite mineral coating on a fractured surface in Tertiary granite north of Lake Clark
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
