Alaska Science Center

Current Highlights

Changing Arctic Ecosystems Fact Sheet Now Available

USGS Science on Seabirds in the North Pacific

Research Findings Used to Test Global Supercontinent Reconstructions

USGS Scientist Attends Annual Canadian Polar Bear Technical Committee Meeting

New Book for Young Readers "The Polar Bear Scientists" Highlights USGS Polar Bear Research Scientists and Research Program:

USGS Participates in Women of Science and Technology Day

In the Spotlight

Cold Regions Lake and Landscape Research Group Website Now Available

A new research group has been established at the U.S. Geological Survey - Alaska Science Center that focuses on the study of the Arctic and Subarctic landscape, with an emphasis on Alaska. The primary objective of this research program is to gain an understanding of landscape change in the recent (last 50 years) and distant (last 20,000 years) past. This is accomplished through a combination of techniques that include remote sensing, GIS, field surveys, laboratory analyses, and model development. Ultimately, these studies provide information that land and resource managers can use to better inform their decision making process. The Cold Regions Lake and Landscape Research Group introduces a website that contains information pertaining to ongoing projects, recent highlights, field photos from around Alaska, and a series of Geotagged Lake and Landscape Oblique Aerial Photos that can be used for ground-truthing remotely sensed landcover mapping efforts, developing baseline information for future change detection studies, and better understanding landscape-scale patterns and processes. To view the website visit alaska.usgs.gov/science/geography/studies/index.php.

For more information contact Benjamin Jones

Changing Arctic Ecosystems Fact Sheet Now Available

USGS recently published a new fact sheet entitled "Changing Arctic Ecosystems—Research to Understand and Project Changes in Marine and Terrestrial Ecosystems of the Arctic." Ecosystems and their wildlife communities are not static; they change and evolve over time due to numerous intrinsic and extrinsic factors. Through the new initiative Changing Arctic Ecosystems (CAE) the USGS strives to understand the potential suite of wildlife population responses to these physical changes to inform key resource management decisions such as those related to the Endangered Species Act, and provide unique insights into how Arctic ecosystems are responding under new stressors. The CAE initiative includes three major research themes including Marine Ecosystems, The Arctic Coastal Plans, and Boreal-Arctic Transiting Zone that span Arctic ice-dominated ecosystems and that are structured to identify and understand the linkages between physical processes, ecosystems, and wildlife populations. To view the factsheet visit pubs.usgs.gov/fs/2011/3136/.

Geiselman, Joy, DeGange, Tony, Oakley, Karen, Derksen, Dirk, and Whalen, Mary, 2012, Changing Arctic Ecosystems—Research to Understand and Project Changes in Marine and Terrestrial Ecosystems of the Arctic: U.S. Geological Survey Fact Sheet 2011-3136, 4 p.

A Promising Tool for Subsurface Permafrost Mapping

Permafrost is a predominant physical feature of the Earth's Arctic and Subarctic clines and a major consideration encompassing ecosystem structure to infrastructure engineering and placement. Perennially frozen ground is estimated to cover about 85 percent of the state of Alaska where northern reaches are underlain with continuous permafrost and parts of interior Alaska are underlain by areas of discontinuous and (or) sporadic permafrost. The region of Interior Alaska, where permafrost is scattered among unfrozen ground, is a complex mosaic of terrains and habitats. Such diversity creates arrays of lakes and surface-water and groundwater patterns that continental populations of migratory waterfowl and internationally significant fisheries have adapted to over time. A road or pipeline might pass over frozen and unfrozen ground, affecting the types of materials and engineering approaches needed to sustain the infrastructure.

Abraham, Jared, 2011, A promising tool for subsurface permafrost mapping—An application of airborne geophysics from the Yukon River Basin, Alaska: U. S. Geological Survey, Fact Sheet 2011-3133, 4 p.

Prior In the Spotlight Articles

Alaska Science Portal

The portal is a searchable, web map-based tool to facilitate public and partner access to information on over 160 subjects under USGS study in the Nation's largest State.

Recent Publications

234U/²³⁸U) in rivers of the Yukon Basin (Alaska and Canada) as an aid in identifying water sources, with implications for monitoring hydrologic change in arctic regions" style="float: left; margin-right: 20px;">Uranium isotopes (²³⁴U/²³⁸U) in rivers of the Yukon Basin (Alaska and Canada) as an aid in identifying water sources, with implications for monitoring hydrologic change in arctic regions

A tale of two polar bear populations (Ursus maritimus): Ice habitat, harvest, and body condition. Population Ecology

Water quality of the Chokosna, Gilahina, Lakina Rivers, and Long Lake watershed along McCarthy Road, Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve, Alaska, 2007–08

Carryover effects associated with winter location affect fitness, social status, and population dynamics in a long-distant migrant

Lithogeochemistry of Mineralized and Altered Rock Samples from the Northern Talkeetna Mountains, South-Central Alaska

Using Body Mass Dynamics to Examine Long-Term Habitat Shifts of Arctic-Molting Geese: evidence for ecological change

Interspecies transmission and limited persistence of low pathogenic avian influenza genomes among Alaska dabbling ducks

Modern thermokarst lake dynamics in the continuous permafrost zone, northern Seward Peninsula, Alaska

Streamflow and Streambed Scour in 2010 at Bridge 339, Copper River, Alaska

Distribution, Persistence, and Hydrologic Characteristics of Salmon Spawning Habitats in Clearwater Side Channels of the Matanuska River, Southcentral Alaska

Simulating unsteady flow, anabranching, and hyporheic dynamics in a glacial meltwater stream using a coupled surface water routing and groundwater flow model

Gulkana Glacier, Alaska—Mass balance, meteorology, and water measurements, 1997-2001

Fossil locations and data for the Taylor Mountains, and parts of the Bethel, Goodnews, and Dillingham quadrangles, southwestern Alaska

Odobenus rosmarus divergens) in the twenty-first century" style="float: left; margin-right: 20px;">Projected status of the Pacific walrus (Odobenus rosmarus divergens) in the twenty-first century

Limnological and Water-Quality Data from Wonder Lake, Chilchukabena Lake, and Lake Minchumina, Denali National Park and Preserve and Surrounding Area, Alaska, June 2006–August 2008

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