Images

Indianapolis Zoo marine mammal trainers, Erika Allen and Sydney Pitts, measure a healthy female walrus in support of a USGS study that seeks to develop methods to monitor walrus body condition from survey drones flown high above walruses where they rest on shore. With this new tool, USGS intends to examine the environmental factors that affect walrus body condi

Sagavanirktok River Winter Streamflow Measurement at USGS Station 15908000. Ice augers are used to drill through river ice in order to measure ice thickness, water depth, and water velocity under the ice. The total streamflow under the ice is computed with these measurements from 25 holes across the channel.

This is a graphical abstract depicting the process that the USGS Alaska Science Center uses for compiling and releasing bird species checklist data to the public via USGS and eBird.  Scientists from the USGS Alaska Science Center regularly work in remote field camps, often for days or weeks at a time.

Cross section of a lake trout (Salvelinus namaycush) otolith collected from a fish in Lake Clark National Park. Otoliths, also known as 'earstones' are hard, calcium carbonate structures located directly behind the brain of bony fishes. 

Density estimate of sea otters in southcentral Alaska from aerial surveys flown in 2014, 2017, and 2019. Sea otters in southcentral Alaska are the northernmost stock of sea otters and a keystone predator because they are known for structuring nearshore marine ecosystems through their feeding habits.  Biologists with the USGS and USFWS conducted aerial

Distribution map of sea otters in southcentral Alaska from aerial surveys flown in 2014, 2017, and 2019.

USGS Alaska Science Center scientists, Danielle Gerik, Bronwen Wang, and Anchorage School District student volunteer, Gabe Gray count and identify birds for the 2021 Anchorage Christmas Bird Count at Prospect Heights, Anchorage, Alaska.

USGS Alaska Science Center scientists, Danielle Gerik, Bronwen Wang, and Anchorage School District student volunteer, Gabe Gray count and identify birds for the 2021 Anchorage Christmas Bird Count at Prospect Heights, Anchorage, Alaska.

USGS Alaska Science Center scientists, Danielle Gerik, Bronwen Wang, and Anchorage School District student volunteer, Gabe Gray count and identify birds for the 2021 Anchorage Christmas Bird Count at Prospect Heights, Anchorage, Alaska.

USGS Alaska Science Center scientists, Danielle Gerik, Bronwen Wang, and Anchorage School District student volunteer, Gabe Gray count and identify birds for the 2021 Anchorage Christmas Bird Count at Prospect Heights, Anchorage, Alaska.

Remote weather stations, like this one at Wolverine Glacier, collect data near each glacier so scientists can understand regional climate influence on the glaciers.

A resting sea otter in the Homer harbor, Alaska. Photo was taken in 2011. Sea otters provide one of the best documented examples of top-down forcing effects on the structure and function of nearshore marine ecosystems in the North Pacific Ocean. 

A resting sea otter with eyes closed. Photo taken in the Homer harbor in Alaska. Sea otters provide one of the best documented examples of top-down forcing effects on the structure and function of nearshore marine ecosystems in the North Pacific Ocean

A sea otter resting in kelp as two orcas swim past. Photo taken in Glacier Bay at Point Carolus, Alaska

This is a graphical abstract for a publication by the USGS that evaluates satellite imagery for monitoring large Pacific walrus haulouts in northwestern Alaska.

Scientist working on Sperry Glacier in Glacier National Park, Montana. Sperry Glacier occupies a broad, shallow cirque situated just beneath and west of the Continental Divide in the Lewis Mountain Range of Glacier National Park, Montana. Due to its position on the Continental Divide the glacier is influenced by both maritime and continental air masses.

Glaucous-winged Gulls fight over a Pacific Herring near Gull Island in Kachemak Bay, Alaska.

Photo of Katakturuk River in Alaska with aufeis.  Aufeis forms when overflowing water freezes as it encounters cold air during the winter.

Lucas Zeller takes notes on firn core density and stratigraphy as part of a larger study on Wolverine Glacier, AK.

Four Tufted Puffins on the water, near their breeding colony at Gull Island in Kachemak Bay, Alaska

A juvenile Marbled Murrelet near Gull Island in Kachemak Bay, Alaska. The Marbled Murrelet spends most of its life at sea, coming to land only in the summer to nest.