Regional long-term production modeling from a single well test, Mount Elbert Gas Hydrate Stratigraphic Test Well, Alaska North Slope
B.J. Anderson, M. Kurihara, M.D. White, G. J. Moridis, S.J. Wilson, M. Pooladi-Darvish, M. Gaddipati, Y. Masuda, Timothy S. Collett, R.B. Hunter, H. Narita, K. Rose, R. Boswell
2011, Marine and Petroleum Geology (28) 493-501
Following the results from the open-hole formation pressure response test in the BPXA-DOE-USGS Mount Elbert Gas Hydrate Stratigraphic Test Well (Mount Elbert well) using Schlumberger's Modular Dynamics Formation Tester (MDT) wireline tool, the International Methane Hydrate Reservoir Simulator Code Comparison project performed long-term reservoir simulations on three different model reservoirs....
High-resolution well-log derived dielectric properties of gas-hydrate-bearing sediments, Mount Elbert Gas Hydrate Stratigraphic Test Well, Alaska North Slope
Y. Sun, D. Goldberg, Timothy S. Collett, R. Hunter
2011, Marine and Petroleum Geology (28) 450-459
A dielectric logging tool, electromagnetic propagation tool (EPT), was deployed in 2007 in the BPXA-DOE-USGS Mount Elbert Gas Hydrate Stratigraphic Test Well (Mount Elbert Well), North Slope, Alaska. The measured dielectric properties in the Mount Elbert well, combined with density log measurements, result in a vertical high-resolution (cm-scale) estimate...
Spatial variability of biotic and abiotic tree establishment constraints across a treeline ecotone in the Alaska Range
K.M. Stueve, R.E. Isaacs, L.E. Tyrrell, R.V. Densmore
2011, Ecology (92) 496-506
Throughout interior Alaska (USA), a gradual warming trend in mean monthly temperatures occurred over the last few decades (∼∼2-–4°°C). The accompanying increases in woody vegetation at many alpine treeline (hereafter treeline) locations provided an opportunity to examine how biotic and abiotic local site conditions interact to control tree establishment patterns...
Cytochrome P4501A biomarker indication of the timeline of chronic exposure of Barrow’s goldeneyes to residual Exxon Valdez oil
Daniel Esler, Brenda E. Ballachey, Kimberly A. Trust, Samuel A. Iverson, John A. Reed, A. Keith Miles, John D. Henderson, Bruce R. Woodin, John J. Stegeman, Malcolm McAdie, Daniel M. Mulcahy, Barry W. Wilson
2011, Marine Pollution Bulletin (62) 609-614
We examined hepatic EROD activity, as an indicator of CYP1A induction, in Barrow’s goldeneyes captured in areas oiled during the 1989 Exxon Valdez spill and those from nearby unoiled areas. We found that average EROD activity differed between areas during 2005, although the magnitude of the difference was reduced relative to a...
Thermal erosion of a permafrost coastline: Improving process-based models using time-lapse photography
C. Wobus, R. Anderson, I. Overeem, N. Matell, G. Clow, F. Urban
2011, Arctic, Antarctic, and Alpine Research (43) 474-484
Coastal erosion rates locally exceeding 30 m y-1 have been documented along Alaska's Beaufort Sea coastline, and a number of studies suggest that these erosion rates have accelerated as a result of climate change. However, a lack of direct observational evidence has limited our progress in quantifying the specific processes...
GAGES-II: Geospatial Attributes of Gages for Evaluating Streamflow
James A. Falcone
2011, Report
This dataset, termed "GAGES II", an acronym for Geospatial Attributes of Gages for Evaluating Streamflow, version II, provides geospatial data and classifications for 9,322 stream gages maintained by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). It is an update to the original GAGES, which was published as a Data Paper on the...
Northwestern forested mountains: Chapter 8
W.D. Bowman, Jill Baron, L.H. Geiser, M.E. Fenn, E.A. Lilleskov
2011, General Technical Report NRS-80
Th e Northwestern Forested Mountains are ecologically diverse and geographically widespread, encompassing the mountain ecosystems of central and northwestern North America (CEC 1997; Figure 2.2). Th e ecoregion description is adapted from CEC (1997). Geographically, they extend from the Rocky Mountains and the Sierra Nevada north through the Siskiyous, the...
An overview of the petroleum geology of the Arctic
A.M. Spencer, A.F. Embry, Donald L. Gautier, A.V. Stoupakova, K. Sorensen
2011, Geological Society Memoir 1-15
Nine main petroleum provinces containing recoverable resources totalling 61 Bbbl liquids+269 Bbbloe of gas are known in the Arctic. The three best known major provinces are: West Siberia–South Kara, Arctic Alaska and Timan–Pechora. They have been sourced principally from, respectively, Upper Jurassic, Triassic and Devonian marine source rocks and their...
Fire, grazing history, lichen abundance, and winter distribution of caribou in Alaska's taiga
William B. Collins, Bruce W. Dale, Layne G. Adams, Darien E. McElwain, Kyle Joly
2011, Journal of Wildlife Management (75) 369-377
In the early 1990s the Nelchina Caribou (Rangifer tarandus) Herd (NCH) began a dramatic shift to its current winter range, migrating at least an additional 100 km beyond its historic range. We evaluated the impacts of fire and grazing history on lichen abundance and subsequent use and distribution by the NCH....
Pre- and post-drill comparison of the Mount Elbert gas hydrate prospect, Alaska North Slope
Myung W. Lee, Warren F. Agena, Timothy S. Collett, T.L. Inks
2011, Marine and Petroleum Geology (28) 578-588
In 2006, the United States Geological Survey (USGS) completed a detailed analysis and interpretation of available 2-D and 3-D seismic data, along with seismic modeling and correlation with specially processed downhole well log data for identifying potential gas hydrate accumulations on the North Slope of Alaska. A methodology was...
Reduction of garbage in the diet of nonbreeding glaucous gulls corresponding to a change in waste management
Emily L. Weiser, Abby N. Powell
2011, Arctic (64) 220-226
Glaucous gulls (Larus hyperboreus) are major predators in the Arctic and may benefit from human development. We studied use of garbage by glaucous gulls in Barrow, Alaska, in 2007, when municipal waste was disposed of in a landfill, and in 2008, when it was incinerated. In both years, diet samples...
Design of ecoregional monitoring in conservation areas of high-latitude ecosystems under contemporary climate change
Erik A. Beever, Andrea Woodward
2011, Biological Conservation (144) 1258-1269
Land ownership in Alaska includes a mosaic of federally managed units. Within its agency’s context, each unit has its own management strategy, authority, and resources of conservation concern, many of which are migratory animals. Though some units are geographically isolated, many are nevertheless linked by paths of abiotic and biotic...
Geographic variation in morphology of Alaska-breeding Bar-tailed Godwits (Limosa lapponica) is not maintained on their nonbreeding grounds in New Zealand
Jesse R. Conklin, Phil F. Battley, Murray A. Potter, Daniel R. Ruthrauff
2011, The Auk (128) 363-373
Among scolopacid shorebirds, Bar-tailed Godwits (Limosa lapponica) have unusually high intra- and intersexual differences in size and breeding plumage. Despite historical evidence for population structure among Alaska-breeding Bar-tailed Godwits (L. l. baueri), no thorough analysis, or comparison with the population's nonbreeding distribution, has been undertaken. We used live captures, field...
Apogean-perigean signals encoded in tidal flats at the fluvio-estuarine transition of Glacier Creek, Turnagain Arm, Alaska; implications for ancient tidal rhythmites
S.F. Greb, A.W. Archer, D.G. Deboer
2011, Sedimentology (58) 1434-1452
Turnagain Arm is a macrotidal fjord‐style estuary. Glacier Creek is a small, glacially fed stream which enters the estuary tangentially near Girdwood, Alaska. Trenches and daily sedimentation measurements were made in a mudflat along the fluvio–estuarine transition of Glacier Creek during several summers since 2003. Each year, the flats appear...
Soil carbon distribution in Alaska in relation to soil-forming factors
K.D. Johnson, J. Harden, A. D. McGuire, N.B. Bliss, James G. Bockheim, M.R. Clark, T. Nettleton-Hollingsworth, M.T. Jorgenson, E.S. Kane, M. Mack, J. O'Donnell, C.-L. Ping, E.A.G. Schuur, M.R. Turetsky, D.W. Valentine
2011, Geoderma (167-168) 71-84
The direction and magnitude of soil organic carbon (SOC) changes in response to climate change remain unclear and depend on the spatial distribution of SOC across landscapes. Uncertainties regarding the fate of SOC are greater in high-latitude systems where data are sparse and the soils are affected by sub-zero temperatures....
Expansion rate and geometry of floating vegetation mats on the margins of thermokarst lakes, northern Seward Peninsula, Alaska, USA
A.D. Parsekian, Benjamin M. Jones, M. Jones, G. Grosse, Anthony K.M. Walter, L. Slater
2011, Earth Surface Processes and Landforms (36) 1889-1897
Investigations on the northern Seward Peninsula in Alaska identified zones of recent (<50 years) permafrost collapse that led to the formation of floating vegetation mats along thermokarst lake margins. The occurrence of floating vegetation mat features indicates rapid degradation of near‐surface permafrost and lake expansion. This paper reports on the recent...
Characteristics of foraging sites and protein status in wintering muskoxen: insights from isotopes of nitrogen
David D. Gustine, Perry S. Barboza, James P. Lawler, Stephen M. Arthur, Brad S. Shults, Kate Persons, Layne G. Adams
2011, Oikos (120) 1546-1556
Identifying links between nutritional condition of individuals and population trajectories greatly enhances our understanding of the ecology, conservation, and management of wildlife. For northern ungulates, the potential impacts of a changing climate to populations are predicted to be nutritionally mediated through an increase in the severity and variance in winter...
The role of dyking and fault control in the rapid onset of eruption at Chaitén Volcano, Chile
Charles Wicks, Llera J. C. De La J. C., L.E. Lara, J. Lowenstern
2011, Nature (478) 374-377
Rhyolite is the most viscous of liquid magmas, so it was surprising that on 2 May 2008 at Chaitén Volcano, located in Chile’s southern Andean volcanic zone, rhyolitic magma migrated from more than 5 km depth in less than 4 hours and erupted explosively with only two days of detected precursory seismic activity....
Effects of simultaneous climate change and geomorphic evolution on thermal characteristics of a shallow Alaskan lake
Jennifer R. Griffiths, Daniel E. Schindler, Laurie S. Balistrieri, Gregory T. Ruggerone
2011, Limnology and Oceanography (56) 193-205
We used a hydrodynamics model to assess the consequences of climate warming and contemporary geomorphic evolution for thermal conditions in a large, shallow Alaskan lake. We evaluated the effects of both known climate and landscape change, including rapid outlet erosion and migration of the principal inlet stream, over the past...
An isotopic approach to measuring nitrogen balance in caribou
David D. Gustine, Perry S. Barboza, Layne G. Adams, Richard G. Farnell, Katherine L. Parker
2011, Journal of Wildlife Management (75) 178-188
Nutritional restrictions in winter may reduce the availability of protein for reproduction and survival in northern ungulates. We refined a technique that uses recently voided excreta on snow to assess protein status in wild caribou (Rangifer tarandus) in late winter. Our study was the first application of this non‐invasive, isotopic...
Polar bear population status in the northern Beaufort Sea, Canada, 1971-2006
I. Stirling, T. L. McDonald, E.S. Richardson, E.V. Regehr, Steven C. Amstrup
2011, Ecological Applications (21) 859-876
Polar bears (Ursus maritimus) of the northern Beaufort Sea (NB) population occur on the perimeter of the polar basin adjacent to the northwestern islands of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Sea ice converges on the islands through most of the year. We used open-population capture–recapture models to estimate population size...
Developing effective sampling designs for monitoring natural resources in Alaskan national parks: an example using simulations and vegetation data
William L. Thompson, Amy E. Miller, Dorothy C. Mortenson, Andrea Woodward
2011, Biological Conservation (144) 1270-1277
Monitoring natural resources in Alaskan national parks is challenging because of their remoteness, limited accessibility, and high sampling costs. We describe an iterative, three-phased process for developing sampling designs based on our efforts to establish a vegetation monitoring program in southwest Alaska. In the first phase, we defined a sampling...
Ecology of invasive Melilotus albus on Alaskan glacial river floodplains
Jeff S. Conn, Nancy R. Werdin-Pfisterer, Katherine L. Beattie, Roseann V. Densmore
2011, Arctic, Antarctic, and Alpine Research (43) 343-354
Melilotus albus (white sweetclover) has invaded Alaskan glacial river floodplains. We measured cover and density of plant species and environmental variables along transects perpendicular to the Nenana, Matanuska, and Stikine Rivers to study interactions between M. albus and other plant species and to characterize the environment where it establishes. Melilotus albus was a pioneer species...
Examination of core samples from the Mount Elbert Gas Hydrate Stratigraphic Test Well, Alaska North Slope: Effects of retrieval and preservation
T.J. Kneafsey, H. Lu, W. Winters, R. Boswell, R. Hunter, T. S. Collett
2011, Marine and Petroleum Geology (28) 381-393
Collecting and preserving undamaged core samples containing gas hydrates from depth is difficult because of the pressure and temperature changes encountered upon retrieval. Hydrate-bearing core samples were collected at the BPXA-DOE-USGS Mount Elbert Gas Hydrate Stratigraphic Test Well in February 2007. Coring was performed while using a custom oil-based drilling...
Mount Elbert Gas Hydrate Stratigraphic Test Well, Alaska North Slope: Overview of scientific and technical program
R.B. Hunter, Timothy S. Collett, R. Boswell, B.J. Anderson, S.A. Digert, G. Pospisil, R. Baker, M. Weeks
2011, Marine and Petroleum Geology (28) 295-310
The Mount Elbert Gas Hydrate Stratigraphic Test Well was drilled within the Alaska North Slope (ANS) Milne Point Unit (MPU) from February 3 to 19, 2007. The well was conducted as part of a Cooperative Research Agreement (CRA) project co-sponsored since 2001 by BP Exploration (Alaska), Inc. (BPXA) and the...
