Images

USGS staff measuring streamflow at the Solomon Gulch Tailrace with a tethered Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler. This is one of 12 streamgages that the USGS Alaska Science Center operates in cooperation with hydropower providers across Alaska. Data are used for operation, regulation, and planning purposes.

A female sea otter resting in the morning light in Cook Inlet Alaska.  

USGS biologists Steve Matsuoka, Lauren Hitt, and Rachel Richardson search for landbird nests in Denali National Park. 

Scientist uses radio-echo-sounding to study firn compaction on Wolverine Glacier, Alaska. Radio-echo sounding (RES) is a technique used by glaciologists to measure the internal structure, ice thickness and sub-ice morphology of glaciers. This tool is equivalent to X-rays for the medical profession and the physicists. 

A researcher gazes across Wolverine Glacier and the surrounding snow-covered mountains during an early spring visit to collect mass balance data.

Randy Host preparing to sample discharge and collect water quality samples on an icy Alsek River in winter.

Illustration detailing the Alsek River layout.  Visit USGS Transboundary River Monitoring in Southeast Alaska for more information about our research.

Illustration detailing the Salmon River layout.  Visit USGS Transboundary River Monitoring in Southeast Alaska for more information about our research.

Illustration detailing the Taku River layout.  Visit USGS Transboundary River Monitoring in Southeast Alaska for more information about our research.

Illustration detailing the Unuk River layout.  Visit USGS Transboundary River Monitoring in Southeast Alaska for more information about our research.

Illustration detailing the Stikine River layout.  Visit USGS Transboundary River Monitoring in Southeast Alaska for more information about our research.

USGS Alaska Transboundary Rivers DEM.  Visit USGS Transboundary River Monitoring in Southeast Alaska for more information about our research.

A white-fronted goose flies over a nesting area near Point Lonely, Alaska. For more information about this USGS study read "Effects of industrial and investigator disturbance on Arctic-nesting geese" at: https://pubs.er.usgs.gov/publication/70192845

The Wolverine Glacier weather station was installed in 1968, and at 3250 ft is the highest elevation long-term weather record on the Kenai Peninsula. On October 19, 2020, USGS scientists upgraded the power system to a Lithium battery bank and installed a radar-based precipitation sensor (Lufft WS-100) to compare with the weighing based precipitation gage.

Black Oystercatcher on Gull Island, Kachemak Bay, Alaska 

An aerial view of the upper cracks in the Wolverine Glacier icefall as sunset approaches.

The Wolverine Glacier weather station was installed in 1968, and at 3250 ft is the highest elevation long-term weather record on the Kenai Peninsula. In Ocotober 2020, USGS scientists upgraded the power system to a Lithium battery bank and installed a radar-based precipitation sensor (Lufft WS-100) to compare with the weighing based precipitation gage. The

The Wolverine Glacier weather station was installed in 1968, and at 3250 ft is the highest elevation long-term weather record on the Kenai Peninsula.

The Wolverine Glacier weather station was installed in 1968, and at 3250 ft is the highest elevation long-term weather record on the Kenai Peninsula. Close up of the new radar precipitation sensor on the top of the pole. The crazy looking thing in the middle of the picture is an aspirated temperature sensor.

USGS scientists Robin Beebee (left) and Jeff Conaway use a boat-mounted multibeam echosounder to map river bathymetry around bridge piers in the Copper River Delta of Alaska. The bathymetric mapping is part of a streambed scour study conducted in cooperation with the Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities.

Blue River confluence with Unuk River in the volcanic Iskut-Unuk River Cones region. The Unuk River is one of the transboundary watersheds of Southeast Alaska.