Geographic Science

ABOUT THE ALASKA
SCIENCE CENTER

• • Office Information
  • Employee Directory
  • Employment
  • Request for Quotes
  • USGS Bureau Phonebook

SCIENCE OFFICES

• • Biology
  • Geography
  • Geology
  • Water

CONFERENCES

• Conferences and Workshops

USGS ALASKA DATA RESOURCES

• Alaska Geospatial Data
• Recent Earthquakes ()
• Science Questions and Information Requests
• Real-time water data ()
  • Streamflow ()
  • Ground water ()
  • Water quality ()
  • Flood Watch ()
• Volcanoes ()
  • Webcams ()
  • Current Status of Volcanoes in Alaska and Kamchatka ()
  • Seismometers ()

OTHER ALASKA AREA
SCIENCE OFFICES

• • Alaska Volcano Observatory

Previous Geography Research Programs in Alaska

Geographic Science of the USGS Alaska Science Center, conducts investigations into the use of remote sensing and GIS technologies for characterizing terrestrial ecosystems and land processes in the Arctic region. Many of these projects directly support the U.S. Geological Survey Global Change Research Program, an operational component of the U.S. Global Change Research Program (USGCRP). The Alaskan and Arctic research activities described in this page relate primarily to the USGS theme of Land Surface Characterization and Land Remote Sensing.

Alaska Ecoregions Mapping

Geographic Science of the USGS Alaska Science Center has been involved in a number of cooperative projects to develop ecologically-based datasets (ecoregions) that represent an integration of natural and anthropogenic processes across the Alaskan landscape. These maps represent the past and current state-of-the-art ecoregion mapping using strategies as reported by Bailey (USFS) and Omernik (EPA), as well as a combination of the two methodologies. (Nowacki, G.J., Spencer, Page, Fleming, Michael, and Jorgenson, Torre, 2002, Unified ecoregions of Alaska; 2001: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 02-297)

Alaska Ecoregions Mapping

Lands Characteristics Datasets for Alaska and North America

Geographic Science of the USGS Alaska Science Center in conjunction with the Earth Resources Observation System (EROS) Data Center generated lands characteristics datasets for use in a wide-range of environmental research and modeling applications. The lands characterization effort was part of GIS and remote sensing research in support of global change studies in the Arctic and the USGS lands characterization program.

Lands Characteristics Datasets

Circumpolar Arctic Vegetation Map

Cooperative research project with the University of Alaska - Fairbanks, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the U.S. Geological Survey for arctic vegetation mapping.

Circumpolar Arctic Vegetation Mapping Project

High-Latitude Climate Transect Datasets

This project makes datasets available for several High-Latitude Climate-Feedback Transects. These datasets cover Alaska, Eastern and Central Siberia. Within a transect, all of the datasets are the same size and co-registered with each other. The cell size (resolution) is approximately 1km, but varies between transects.

High Latitude Climate Transect Datasets