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Our Alaska Science Center priority is to continue the important work of the Department of the Interior and the USGS, while also maintaining the health and safety of our employees and community. Based on guidance from the White House, the CDC, and state and local authorities, we are shifting our operations to a virtual mode and have minimal staffing within our offices. If you need additional assistance, please contact Chris Zimmerman.
In the Spotlight
Alaska has significant known or suspected critical mineral potential and is a priority focus region of the USGS Mineral Resources Program and the national Earth MRI.
View ResearchCurrent Water Conditions
Explore real-time Alaska streamflow, groundwater, and water-quality conditions and access data with our new interactive map application.
Current ConditionsNews
Video on USGS Pacific Seabird Research
This video features an overview of USGS and Ecosystems research with a focus on Pacific seabirds. Our scientists at the USGS Alaska Science Center, Western Ecological Research Center and National Wildlife Health Center work on Pacific seabird research topics in collaboration with partner agencies, non-governmental organizations, universities, and rehabilitation centers.
Alaska Science Center Newsletter - Winter 2021
We hope you enjoy and subscribe. Below are links to recent publications, data releases, and highlights of on-going research programs. In this issue, we feature news on the Alaska Landbird Monitoring Survey, a USGS Mendenhall Postdoctoral Fellow, USGS Transboundary River Monitoring, and Permafrost Thaw in the Arctic. See new additions to our Data & Tools and Publications pages.
Publication Finds That Permafrost Presence Results in Warmer Headwater Streams
Permafrost thaw is occurring across the Arctic with potential consequences for hydrology, ecosystems, humans, and wildlife. A team of scientists from the U.S. Geological Survey Alaska Science Center, the National Park Service, and the Department of Energy Oak Ridge National Laboratory are collaborating to understand the impacts of warming on the ecosystems in the Noatak Preserve in Alaska.
Publications
Heatwave-induced synchrony within forage fish portfolio disrupts energy flow to top pelagic predators
During the Pacific marine heatwave of 2014–2016, abundance and quality of several key forage fish species in the Gulf of Alaska were simultaneously reduced throughout the system. Capelin (Mallotus catervarius), sand lance (Ammodytes personatus), and herring (Clupea pallasii) populations were at historically low levels, and within this community...
Arimitsu, Mayumi L.; Piatt, John F.; Hatch, Scott; Suryan, Robert M.; Batten, Sonia; Bishop, Mary Anne; Campbell, Rob W.; Coletti, Heather; Cushing, Dan; Gorman, Kristen; Hopcroft, Russell R.; Kuletz, Kathy J.; Marsteller, Caitlin Elizabeth; McKinstry, Caitlin; McGowan, David; Moran, John; Pegau, W. Scott; Schaefer, Anne; Schoen, Sarah K.; Straley, Jan; von Biela, Vanessa R.
Assessment of undiscovered gas resources in Upper Devonian to Lower Cretaceous strata of the western North Slope, Alaska, 2021
Using a geology-based assessment methodology, the U.S. Geological Survey estimated a mean of 1,407 billion (1.4 trillion) cubic feet of gas in conventional accumulations in Upper Devonian to Lower Cretaceous strata of the western North Slope, Alaska.
Houseknecht, David W.; Mercier, Tracey J.; Schenk, Christopher J.; Moore, Thomas E.; Rouse, William A.; Dumoulin, Julie A.; Craddock, William H.; Lease, Richard O.; Botterell, Palma J.; Sanders, Margaret M.; Smith, Rebecca A.; Connors, Christopher D.; Garrity, Christopher P.; Whidden, Katherine J.; Gooley, Jared T.; Counts, John W.; Long, Joshua H.; DeVera, Christina A. Tectonic and magmatic controls on the metallogenesis of porphyry deposits in Alaska
Porphyry Cu and Mo deposits and occurrences are found throughout Alaska; they formed episodically during repeated subduction and arc-continent collisions spanning the Silurian to Quaternary. Porphyry systems occur in continental-margin and island arcs, which are broadly grouped into pre-accretionary or post-accretionary arcs. Pre-Mesozoic...
Kreiner, Douglas C.; Jones, James V.; Kelley, Karen D.; Graham, Garth E.