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Publications

USGS research activities relevant to Alaska have yielded more than 9400 historical publications. This page features some of the most recent newsworthy research findings.

Filter Total Items: 2891

Identifying reliable indicators of fitness in polar bears

Animal structural body size and condition are often measured to evaluate individual health, identify responses to environmental change and food availability, and relate food availability to effects on reproduction and survival. A variety of condition metrics have been developed but relationships between these metrics and vital rates are rarely validated. Identifying an optimal approach to estimate
Authors
Karyn D. Rode, Todd C. Atwood, Gregory Thiemann, Michelle St. Martin, Ryan H. Wilson, George M. Durner, Eric V. Regehr, Sandra L. Talbot, Kevin Sage, Anthony M. Pagano, Kristin S. Simac

The Alaska Amphibious Community Seismic Experiment

The Alaska Amphibious Community Seismic Experiment (AACSE) is a shoreline‐crossing passive‐ and active‐source seismic experiment that took place from May 2018 through August 2019 along an ∼700  km∼700  km long section of the Aleutian subduction zone spanning Kodiak Island and the Alaska Peninsula. The experiment featured 105 broadband seismometers; 30 were deployed onshore, and 75 were deployed of
Authors
C. Grace Barcheck, Geoffrey A. Abers, Aubreya N. Adams, Anne Bécel, John A. Collins, James B. Gaherty, Peter J. Haeussler, Zongshan Li, Ginevra Moore, Evans Onyango, Emily C. Roland, Daniel E. Sampson, Susan Y. Schwartz, Anne F Sheehan, Donna J. Shillington, Patrick J Shore, Spahr Webb, Douglas A Wiens, Lindsay L Worthington

Bioclimatic modeling of potential vegetation types as an alternative to species distribution models for projecting plant species shifts under changing climates

Land managers need new tools for planning novel futures due to climate change. Species distribution modeling (SDM) has been used extensively to predict future distributions of species under different climates, but their map products are often too coarse for fine-scale operational use. In this study we developed a flexible, efficient, and robust method for mapping current and future distributions a
Authors
Robert Keane, Lisa M. Holsinger, Rachel A. Loehman

Hydrology and geomorphology of the Taiya River near the West Creek Tributary, southeast Alaska

The Taiya River flows through the Chilkoot Trail Unit of Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park in southeast Alaska, which was founded to preserve cultural and historical resources and further understanding of natural processes active in the surrounding coastal-to-subarctic basin. Riverine processes exert an important influence on ecologically important boreal toad (Anaxryus boreas boreas), s
Authors
Janet H. Curran

f. Glaciers and ice caps outside Greenland

No abstract available.
Authors
Gabe Wolken, M. Sharp, L. M. Andreassen, Emily Baker, B. Wouters, D. Burgess, B. Luks, J. Kohler, Shad O'Neel

Progress toward the establishment of an extended-duration gas hydrate reservoir response test on the Alaska North Slope

No abstract available.
Authors
Norihiro Okinaka, Ray Boswell, Timothy Collett, Koji Yamamoto, Brian Anderson

A synthesis of ten years of chemical contaminant monitoring data in National Park Service - Southeast and southwest Alaska networks

With the exception of PAHs and trace metals, which were detected at 100% of the sites, all of the other contaminants were detected at varying frequencies. PBBs, Mirex and Endosulfans were not detected in any of the samples and Chlorpyrifos was only detected in five samples across four sites. Chlordanes were present at 79% of the sites while Butyltins were only detected at 20% of the sites. Overall
Authors
Mary Rider, Dennis Apeti, Annie Jacob, Kimani L. Kimbrough, Erik Davenport, Michael R. Bower, Heather A Colletti, Daniel Esler

Radiocarbon dating of tsunami and storm deposits

Radiocarbon age determinations can be an expedient and accurate means to assign age to deposits of tsunami or storm origin. Essential to the process of incorporating radiocarbon age determinations in tsunami or coastal storm investigations is an awareness on the part of the investigator that a sample will always return an age from a laboratory, but only carefully selected samples inform deposit ag
Authors
Harvey M. Kelsey, Robert C. Witter

Lake trout growth is sensitive to spring temperature in southwest Alaska lakes

In high‐latitude lakes, air temperature is an important driver of ice cover thickness and duration, which in turn influence water temperature and primary production supporting lake consumers and predators. In lieu of multidecadal observational records necessary to assess the response of lakes to long‐term warming, we used otolith‐based growth records from a long‐lived resident lake fish, lake trou
Authors
Vanessa R. von Biela, Bryan A. Black, Daniel B. Young, Peter van der Sleen, Krista K. Bartz, Christian E. Zimmerman

Ancient rivers and critical minerals in eastern Alaska

No abstract available.
Authors
Adrian Bender, Richard O. Lease, James V. Jones, Douglas C. Kreiner

Citizen science collaboration with the U.S. Geological Survey in Alaska

Citizen science is science undertaken by the public, usually in collaboration with professional scientific institutions. It encourages citizens to tackle real-world scientific problems and augments traditional science by expanding the coverage of data collection and by reducing costs of fieldwork in remote locations. Information collected by volunteers enables us all to gain a deeper understanding
Authors
Elizabeth Powers, Dee Williams

DNA metabarcoding of feces to infer summer diet of Pacific walruses

Environmental conditions in the Chukchi Sea are changing rapidly and may alter the abundance and distribution of marine species and their benthic prey. We used a metabarcoding approach to identify potentially important prey taxa from Pacific walrus (Odobenus rosmarus divergens) fecal samples (n = 87). Bivalvia was the most dominant class of prey (66% of all normalized counts) and occurred in 98% o
Authors
Sarah A. Sonsthagen, Chadwick V. Jay, Robert S. Cornman, Anthony S. Fischbach, Jacqueline M. Grebmeier, Sandra L. Talbot