Alaska Science Center
Welcome to the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Web page for the resources of Alaska. We are providing timely, relevant, and impartial study of the landscape, natural resources, and natural hazards for Alaska and our nation.
Current Highlights
USGS Expands its Research on Polar Bear Health
USGS Collaborates with Savannah River Ecology Laboratory on Polar Bear Health
U.S. Geological Survey Scientists Present at International Environmetrics Conference
USGS Geologists Participate in New Cross-border Collaboration with Canada
New Publication—Improved Method for Mapping Polar Bear Denning Habitat in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska
New USGS Publication on the Distribution of Geese in Relation to Berry Crops
In the Spotlight
Take 2—USGS Re-releases The Alaska Geochemical Database An Improved version for Speed and Efficiency of Use The publication "Alaska Geochemical Database Version 2.0 (AGDB2)—Including "Best Value" Data Compilations for Rock, Sediment, Soil, Mineral, and Concentrate Sample Media" contains new compilations of geochemical data in which each geologic sample has one "best value" determination for each analyzed chemical species. AGDB2 was created and designed to compile and integrate geochemical data from Alaska in order to facilitate geologic mapping, petrologic studies, mineral resource assessments, definition of geochemical baseline values and statistics, environmental impact assessments, and studies in medical geology. This relational database, created from the Alaska Geochemical Database (AGDB) that was initially released in 2011, serves as a data archive in support of present and future Alaskan geologic and geochemical projects. It contains data tables in several different formats describing historical and new quantitative and qualitative geochemical analyses. The new Data Series—containing a pamphlet, metadata files and data files—is available at http://pubs.usgs.gov/ds/759/. Also see technical announcement at USGS News Room.
Granitto, Matthew, Schmidt, J.M., Shew, N.B., Gamble, B.M., and Labay, K.A., 2013, Alaska Geochemical Database, Version 2.0 (AGDB2)—including "best value" data compilations for rock, sediment, soil, mineral, and concentrate sample media: U.S. Geological Survey Data Series 759, 20 p. pamphlet and database, 1 DVD, http://pubs.usgs.gov/ds/759/.
New Fact Sheet Provides Information on New and On-going Research Related to Wildlife Disease and Environmental Health in Alaska
Wildlife and environmental health research at the USGS Alaska Science Center focuses on emerging wildlife diseases, movement and transmission of pathogens between continents and within Alaska, and the impacts of disease to wildlife populations. Information from this research will inform decision-making by wildlife management and human health agencies.
Interagency Working Group Calls for Integrated Management and Planning for a Rapidly Changing Arctic USGS Alaska Science Center Scientists and Managers served as members of writing teams that helped develop the newly released report to the President "Managing for the Future in a Rapidly Changing Arctic".
The Department of the Interior (DOI) press release for the Integrated Arctic Management report is posted on the DOI website at: http://www.interior.gov/news/pressreleases/interagency-working-group-calls-for-integrated-management-and-planning-for-a-rapidly-changing-arctic.cfm
Prior In the Spotlight Articles
USGS Science in Alaska Portal
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The portal is a searchable, web map-based tool to facilitate public and partner access to information on over 200 subjects under USGS study in the Nation's largest State.
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Research Initiatives
Changing Arctic Ecosystems - The Changing Arctic Ecosystems initiative includes Arctic ice-dominated ecosystems research which focus on understanding the relationships between physical processes, ecosystems and wildlife populations.
Recent Publications
Alaska Geochemical Database, Version 2.0 (AGDB2)—including "best value" data compilations for rock, sediment, soil, mineral, and concentrate sample media
Age-specific Survival of Tundra Swans on the Lower Alaska Peninsula
Carbon Cycling in Landscapes Across High-Latitude Regions
Mercury and water-quality data from Rink Creek, Salmon River, and Good River, Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve, Alaska, November 2009-October 2011
Linkages between sea-ice coverage, pelagic-benthic coupling, and the distribution of Spectacled Eiders: observations in March 2008, 2009 and 2010, northern Bering Sea
Air temperature, wind speed, and wind direction in the National Petroleum Reserve—Alaska and the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, 1998-2011
Using detrital zircon ages and Hf isotopes to identiry 1.48-1.45 Ga sedimentary basins and fingerprint sources of exotic 1.6-1.5 Ga grains in southwestern Laurentia
Shallow groundwater in the Matanuska-Susitna Valley, Alaska—Conceptualization and simulation of flow
Water quality of streams draining abandoned and reclaimed mined lands in the Kantishna Hills area, Denali National Park and Preserve, Alaska, 2008–11
High seroprevalence of antibodies to avian influenza viruses among wild waterfowl in Alaska: Implications for surveillance
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