Arctic Region
USGS is engaged in numerous working groups of the Arctic Council including Protection of the Arctic Marine Environment (PAME), Conservation of Arctic Flora and Fauna (CAFF), Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme (AMAP), and Arctic Contaminants Action Program (ACAP).
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USGS also has been engaged in the creation of circumarctic maps with most recently the release of the circumarctic metallogenic map, in cooperation with Arctic countries and other nations.
In an important new engagement, USGS is substantially contributing to the creation of an Arctic Spatial Data Infrastructure (SDI), and an Arctic Digital Elevation Map (DEM). These efforts are in coordination with other Arctic countries' mapping agencies and geological surveys, the Commission of the Geologic Map of the World, and universities.
- Arctic Metallogenic Map
- Arctic Spatial Data Infrastructure
- Walrus research
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Related
Changing Arctic Ecosystems
Arctic regions of Alaska are important for cultural and economic sustainability and host a wide variety of wildlife species, many of which are of conservation and management interest to the U.S. Department of the Interior. The USGS and collaborators provide information about Arctic ecosystems that are used by Arctic residents, management agencies, and industry.
Arctic Biogeochemical Response to Permafrost Thaw (ABRUPT)
Warming and thawing of permafrost soils in the Arctic is expected to become widespread over the coming decades. Permafrost thaw changes ecosystem structure and function, affects resource availability for wildlife and society, and decreases ground stability which affects human infrastructure. Since permafrost soils contain about half of the global soil carbon (C) pool, the magnitude of C losses...
Arctic Methane Dynamics
The Arctic Ocean and circum-Arctic land masses are warming more rapidly than other locations on Earth, a phenomenon called the Arctic Amplification Effect. A critical question is how this warming will affect temperature-sensitive gas hydrate deposits and methane dynamics at high latitudes. Research focuses on the contemporary distribution of gas hydrates in marine and permafrost settings; the...
Climate Change on U.S. Arctic Ocean Margins
Arctic Alaska is warming faster than the rest of the United States. A major consequence of this warming is permafrost thaw, which threatens infrastructure, alters habitat, increases fire risk, changes nutrient and sediment delivery to the coastal ocean, and enhances greenhouse gas release. The warming climate has already dramatically reduced the thickness and annual duration of sea ice, rendering...
Ecosystem Shifts in Arctic Seas
In addition to the direct effects of sea ice loss on walrus ( Odobenus rosmarus divergens) and polar bears ( Ursus maritimus) that use ice as a platform, the decline of Arctic sea ice is predicted to promote a fundamental ecosystem shift from benthic animals that forage on the sea floor to pelagic animals that forage near the sea surface.
Related
Changing Arctic Ecosystems
Arctic regions of Alaska are important for cultural and economic sustainability and host a wide variety of wildlife species, many of which are of conservation and management interest to the U.S. Department of the Interior. The USGS and collaborators provide information about Arctic ecosystems that are used by Arctic residents, management agencies, and industry.
Arctic Biogeochemical Response to Permafrost Thaw (ABRUPT)
Warming and thawing of permafrost soils in the Arctic is expected to become widespread over the coming decades. Permafrost thaw changes ecosystem structure and function, affects resource availability for wildlife and society, and decreases ground stability which affects human infrastructure. Since permafrost soils contain about half of the global soil carbon (C) pool, the magnitude of C losses...
Arctic Methane Dynamics
The Arctic Ocean and circum-Arctic land masses are warming more rapidly than other locations on Earth, a phenomenon called the Arctic Amplification Effect. A critical question is how this warming will affect temperature-sensitive gas hydrate deposits and methane dynamics at high latitudes. Research focuses on the contemporary distribution of gas hydrates in marine and permafrost settings; the...
Climate Change on U.S. Arctic Ocean Margins
Arctic Alaska is warming faster than the rest of the United States. A major consequence of this warming is permafrost thaw, which threatens infrastructure, alters habitat, increases fire risk, changes nutrient and sediment delivery to the coastal ocean, and enhances greenhouse gas release. The warming climate has already dramatically reduced the thickness and annual duration of sea ice, rendering...
Ecosystem Shifts in Arctic Seas
In addition to the direct effects of sea ice loss on walrus ( Odobenus rosmarus divergens) and polar bears ( Ursus maritimus) that use ice as a platform, the decline of Arctic sea ice is predicted to promote a fundamental ecosystem shift from benthic animals that forage on the sea floor to pelagic animals that forage near the sea surface.