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
Sulfur isotopes of host strata for Howards Pass (Yukon–Northwest Territories) Zn-Pb deposits implicate anaerobic oxidation of methane, not basin stagnation
A new sulfur isotope stratigraphic profile has been developed for Ordovician-Silurian mudstones that host the Howards Pass Zn-Pb deposits (Canada) in an attempt to reconcile the traditional model of a stagnant euxinic basin setting with new contradictory findings. Our analyses of pyrite confirm the up-section 34S enrichment reported previously, but additional observations show parallel depletion o
Authors
Craig A. Johnson, John F. Slack, Julie A. Dumoulin, Karen Duttweiler Kelley, Hendrik Falck
Using stereo satellite imagery to account for ablation, entrainment, and compaction in volume calculations for rock avalanches on Glaciers: Application to the 2016 Lamplugh Rock Avalanche in Glacier Bay National Park, Alaska
The use of preevent and postevent digital elevation models (DEMs) to estimate the volume of rock avalanches on glaciers is complicated by ablation of ice before and after the rock avalanche, scour of material during rock avalanche emplacement, and postevent ablation and compaction of the rock avalanche deposit. We present a model to account for these processes in volume estimates of rock avalanche
Authors
Erin Bessette-Kirton, Jeffrey A. Coe, Wendy Zhou
Evidence for haemosporidian parasite infections in Spectacled Eiders (Somateria fischeri) sampled in Alaska during the breeding season
We assessed hematozoa infection in Spectacled Eiders (Somateria fischeri) at two areas in Alaska. No Haemoproteus or Plasmodium species were detected. Leucocytozoon prevalence was 6.5% for adults across sites and 41.9% for juveniles sampled in the Arctic, providing evidence for local transmission. All Leucocytozoon haplotypes were previously detected in waterfowl.
Authors
John A. Reed, Matthew G. Sexson, Matthew M. Smith, Joel A. Schmutz, Andrew M. Ramey
Avian keratin disorder of Alaska black-capped chickadees is associated with Poecivirus infection
BackgroundAvian keratin disorder (AKD) is an epizootic of debilitating beak deformities, first documented in black-capped chickadees (Poecile atricapillus) in Alaska during the late 1990s. Similar deformities have now been recorded in dozens of species of birds across multiple continents. Despite this, the etiology of AKD has remained elusive, making it difficult to assess the impacts of this dise
Authors
Maxine Zylberberg, Caroline R. Van Hemert, Colleen M. Handel, Joseph L. DeRisi
Energetic costs of locomotion in bears: is plantigrade locomotion energetically economical?
Ursids are the largest mammals to retain a plantigrade posture. This primitive posture has been proposed to result in reduced locomotor speed and economy relative to digitigrade and unguligrade species, particularly at high speeds. Previous energetics research on polar bears (Ursus maritimus) found locomotor costs were more than double predictions for similarly sized quadrupedal mammals, which cou
Authors
Anthony M. Pagano, Anthony M. Carnahan, Charles T. Robbins, Megan A. Owen, Tammy Batson, Nate Wagner, Amy Cutting, Nicole Nicassio-Hiskey, Amy Hash, Terrie M. Williams
Evolving environmental and geometric controls on Columbia Glacier’s continued retreat
Geometry strongly controls the dynamic behavior of marine‐terminating (tidewater) glaciers, significantly influencing advance and retreat cycles independent of climate. Yet the recent, nearly ubiquitous retreat of tidewater glaciers suggests that changes in atmospheric and oceanic forcing may also drive dynamic change. To isolate the influence of geometry on tidewater glacier dynamics, we analyzed
Authors
Ellyn Enderlin, Shad O'Neel, Timothy C. Bartholomaus, Ian Joughin
Ongoing bedrock incision of the Fortymile River driven by Pliocene–Pleistocene Yukon River capture, eastern Alaska, USA, and Yukon, Canada
Quantification of river incision via process rate laws represents a key goal of geomorphic research, but such models often fail to reproduce traits of natural rivers responding to base-level lowering. The Fortymile River flows from eastern Alaska in the United States to the Yukon River in Canada across a tectonically quiescent region with near-uniform precipitation and bedrock erosivity. We exploi
Authors
Adrian Bender, Richard O. Lease, Lee B. Corbett, Paul R. Bierman, Marc Caffee
Mean composite fire severity metrics computed with Google Earth Engine offer improved accuracy and expanded mapping potential
Landsat-based fire severity datasets are an invaluable resource for monitoring and research purposes. These gridded fire severity datasets are generally produced with pre-and post-fire imagery to estimate the degree of fire-induced ecological change. Here, we introduce methods to produce three Landsat-based fire severity metrics using the Google Earth Engine (GEE) platform: the delta normalized bu
Authors
Sean Parks, Lisa M. Holsinger, Morgan Voss, Rachel A. Loehman, Nathaniel P. Robinson
Variation in age ratio of midcontinent greater white-fronted geese during fall migration
Annual productivity is an important parameter for the management of waterfowl populations. Fall age ratio (juveniles:total birds) is an index of productivity of the preceding breeding season. However, differences in the timing of migration between family groups and nonbreeding birds may bias age-ratio estimates. We examined temporal variation in age ratios of midcontinent greater white-fronted gee
Authors
Wade G. Schock, Julian B. Fischer, Craig R. Ely, Robert A. Stehn, Jeffery M. Welker, Douglas Causey
A multi-species synthesis of satellite telemetry data in the Pacific Arctic (1987–2015): Overlap of marine mammal distributions and core use areas
We collated available satellite telemetry data for six species of ice-associated marine mammals in the Pacific Arctic: ringed seals (Pusa hispida; n = 118), bearded seals(Erignathus barbatus, n = 51), spotted seals (Phoca largha, n = 72), Pacific walruses (Odobenus rosmarus divergens, n = 389); bowhead whales (Balaena mysticetus, n = 46), and five Arctic and sub-arctic stocks of beluga whales (Del
Authors
John J. Citta, Lloyd F. Lowry, Lori T. Quakenbush, Brendan P. Kelly, Anthony S. Fischbach, Josh M. London, Chadwick V. Jay, Kathryn J. Frost, Gregory O'Corry Crowe, Justin A. Crawford, Peter L. Boveng, Michael Cameron, Andrew L. Von Duyke, Mark Nelson, Lois A. Harwood, Pierre Richard, Robert Suydam, Mads Peter Heide-Jørgensen, Roderick C. Hobbs, Dennis I. Litovka, Marianne Marcoux, Alex Whiting, Amy S. Kennedy, John C. George, Jack Orr, Tom Gray
Whole-genome analysis of Mustela erminea finds that pulsed hybridization impacts evolution at high latitudes
At high latitudes, climatic shifts hypothetically initiate recurrent episodes of divergence by isolating populations in glacial refugia—ice-free regions that enable terrestrial species persistence. Upon glacial recession, populations subsequently expand and often come into contact with other independently diverging populations, resulting in gene flow. To understand how recurrent periods of isolati
Authors
Jocelyn P. Colella, Tianying Lan, Stephen C. Schuster, Sandra L. Talbot, Joseph A. Cook, Charlotte Lindqvist
Remotely sensing the morphometrics and dynamics of a cold region dune field using historical aerial photography and airborne LiDAR data
This study uses an airborne Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) survey, historical aerial photography and historical climate data to describe the character and dynamics of the Nogahabara Sand Dunes, a sub-Arctic dune field in interior Alaska’s discontinuous permafrost zone. The Nogahabara Sand Dunes consist of a 43-km2 area of active transverse and barchanoid dunes within a 3200-km2 area of vegeta
Authors
Carson Baughman, Benjamin M. Jones, Karin L. Bodony, Daniel H. Mann, Christopher F. Larsen, Emily A. Himmelstoss, Jeremy Smith