Sources of organochlorine contaminants and mercury in seabirds from the Aleutian archipelago of Alaska: Inferences from spatial and trophic variation
Mark A. Ricca, A. Keith Miles, Robert G. Anthony
2008, Science of the Total Environment (406) 308-323
Persistent organochlorine compounds and mercury (Hg) have been detected in numerous coastal organisms of the Aleutian archipelago of Alaska, yet sources of these contaminants are unclear. We collected glaucous-winged gulls, northern fulmars, and tufted puffins along a natural longitudinal gradient across the western and central Aleutian Islands (Buldir, Kiska, Amchitka,...
Stratigraphic and compositional complexities of the late Quaternary Lethe tephra in South-central Alaska
J.R. Riehle, T. A. Ager, R.D. Reger, D.S. Pinney, D. S. Kaufman
2008, Quaternary International (178) 210-228
Recently discovered Lethe tephra has been proposed as a latest Pleistocene marker bed in Bristol Bay lowland NE to the Cook Inlet region, Alaska, on the basis of correlations involving a single "Lethe average" glass composition. Type deposits in the Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes, however, are chemically heterogeneous-individual lapilli...
Prevalence of Influenza A viruses in wild migratory birds in Alaska: Patterns of variation in detection at a crossroads of intercontinental flyways
S. Ip, Paul L. Flint, J. Christian Franson, Robert J. Dusek, Dirk V. Derksen, Robert E. Gill Jr., Craig R. Ely, John M. Pearce, Richard B. Lanctot, Steven M. Matsuoka, D.B. Irons, J.B. Fischer, R.M. Oates, Margaret R. Petersen, T.F. Fondell, D.A. Rocque, J.C. Pedersen, T.C. Rothe
2008, Virology Journal (5)
Background. The global spread of the highly pathogenic avian influenza H5N1 virus has stimulated interest in a better understanding of the mechanisms of H5N1 dispersal, including the potential role of migratory birds as carriers. Although wild birds have been found dead during H5N1 outbreaks, evidence suggests that others have survived...
Great Basin paleontological database
N. Zhang, R. B. Blodgett, A. H. Hofstra
2008, Geosphere (4) 520-535
The U.S. Geological Survey has constructed a paleontological database for the Great Basin physiographic province that can be served over the World Wide Web for data entry, queries, displays, and retrievals. It is similar to the web-database solution that we constructed for Alaskan paleontological data (www.alaskafossil.org). The first phase of...
Changes in abundance and spatial distribution of geese molting near Teshekpuk Lake, Alaska: Interspecific competition or ecological change?
Paul L. Flint, E.J. Mallek, R.J. King, Joel A. Schmutz, K.S. Bollinger, Dirk V. Derksen
2008, Polar Biology (31) 549-556
Goose populations molting in the Teshekpuk Lake Special Area of the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska have changed in size and distribution over the past 30 years. Black brant (Branta bernicla nigricans) are relatively stable in numbers but are shifting from large, inland lakes to salt marshes. Concurrently, populations of greater white-fronted...
Are fractal dimensions of the spatial distribution of mineral deposits meaningful?
G. L. Raines
2008, Natural Resources Research (17) 87-97
It has been proposed that the spatial distribution of mineral deposits is bifractal. An implication of this property is that the number of deposits in a permissive area is a function of the shape of the area. This is because the fractal density functions of deposits are dependent on the...
Monitoring volcanic threats using ASTER satellite data
K. A. Duda, R. Wessels, M. Ramsey, J. Dehn
2008, Conference Paper, International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium (IGARSS)
This document summarizes ongoing activities associated with a research project funded by the national aeronautics and space administration (NASA) focusing on volcanic change detection through the use of satellite imagery. This work includes systems development as well as improvements in data analysis methods. Participating organizations include the NASA land processes...
Genetic evidence of intercontinental movement of avian influenza in a migratory bird: The northern pintail (Anas acuta)
A.V. Koehler, John M. Pearce, Paul L. Flint, J. C. Franson, S. Ip
2008, Molecular Ecology (17) 4754-4762
The role of migratory birds in the movement of the highly pathogenic (HP) avian influenza H5N1 remains a subject of debate. Testing hypotheses regarding intercontinental movement of low pathogenic avian influenza (LPAI) viruses will help evaluate the potential that wild birds could carry Asian-origin strains of HP avian influenza to...
Monitoring lingering oil from the Exxon Valdez spill on Gulf of Alaska armored beaches and mussel beds sixteen years post-spill
G.V. Irvine, D.H. Mann, J.W. Short
2008, Report, TOXLINE
Final Rept. ; Prepared in Cooperation With Alaska Univ., Fairbanks. Inst. of Arctic Biology. Sponsored By National Marine Fisheries Service, Juneau, Ak. AlaskaFisheries Science Center. ; Stranded Exxon Valdez Oil Has Persisted for 16 Years At Boulder-Armored Beach Sites Along National Park Coastlines Bordering the Gulf of Alaska. These Sites Are Up to...
InSAR detects possible thaw settlement in the Alaskan Arctic Coastal Plain
Russell P. Rykhus, Zhong Lu
2008, Canadian Journal of Remote Sensing (34) 100-112
Satellite interferometric synthetic aperture radar (InSAR) has proven to be an effective tool for monitoring surface deformation from volcanoes, earthquakes, landslides, and groundwater withdrawal. This paper seeks to expand the list of applications of InSAR data to include monitoring subsidence possibly associated with thaw settlement over the Alaskan Arctic Coastal...
Deformation of the Augustine Volcano, Alaska, 1992-2005, measured by ERS and ENVISAT SAR interferometry
Chang-Wook Lee, Zhong Lu, Oh-Ig Kwoun, Joong-Sun Won
2008, Earth, Planets and Space (60) 447-452
The Augustine Volcano is a conical-shaped, active stratovolcano located on an island of the same name in Cook Inlet, about 290 km southwest of Anchorage, Alaska. Augustine has experienced seven significant explosive eruptions - in 1812, 1883, 1908, 1935, 1963, 1976, 1986, and in January 2006. To measure the ground...
The 2005 catastrophic acid crater lake drainage, lahar, and acidic aerosol formation at Mount Chiginagak volcano, Alaska, USA: Field observations and preliminary water and vegetation chemistry results
J.R. Schaefer, W. E. Scott, William C. Evans, J. Jorgenson, R. G. McGimsey, B. Wang
2008, Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems (9)
A mass of snow and ice 400-m-wide and 105-m-thick began melting in the summit crater of Mount Chiginagak volcano sometime between November 2004 and early May 2005, presumably owing to increased heat flux from the hydrothermal system, or possibly from magma intrusion and degassing. In early May 2005, an estimated...
Nesting biology of Lesser Canada Geese, Branta canadensis parvipes, along the Tanana River, Alaska
Craig R. Ely, John M. Pearce, Roger W. Ruess
2008, Canadian Field-Naturalist (122) 29-33
Lesser Canada Geese (Branta canadensis parvipes) are widespread throughout interior regions of Alaska and Canada, yet there have been no published studies documenting basic aspects of their nesting biology. We conducted a study to determine reproductive parameters of Lesser Canada Geese nesting along the Tanana River near the city of...
Silurian Gastropoda from the Alexander terrane, southeast Alaska
D.M. Rohr, R. B. Blodgett
2008, Special Paper of the Geological Society of America 51-61
Gastropods are described from Ludlow-age strata of the Heceta Limestone on Prince of Wales Island, southeast Alaska. They are part of a diverse megabenthic fauna of the Alexander terrane, an accreted terrane of Siberian or Uralian affinities. Heceta Limestone gastropods with Uralian affinities include Kirkospira glacialis, which closely resembles "Pleurotomaria"...
Modeled tephra ages from lake sediments, base of Redoubt Volcano, Alaska
C.J. Schiff, D. S. Kaufman, K.L. Wallace, A. Werner, T.-L. Ku, T.A. Brown
2008, Quaternary Geochronology (3) 56-67
A 5.6-m-long lake sediment core from Bear Lake, Alaska, located 22 km southeast of Redoubt Volcano, contains 67 tephra layers deposited over the last 8750 cal yr, comprising 15% of the total thickness of recovered sediment. Using 12 AMS 14C ages, along with the 137Cs and 210Pb activities of recent...
Temporal variation and the effect of rainfall on metals flux from the historic Beatson mine, Prince William Sound, Alaska, USA
L.L. Stillings, A. L. Foster, R.A. Koski, L. Munk, Wayne C. Shanks III
2008, Applied Geochemistry (23) 255-278
Several abandoned Cu mines are located along the shore of Prince William Sound, AK, where the effect of mining-related discharge upon shoreline ecosystems is unknown. To determine the magnitude of this effect at the former Beatson mine, the largest Cu mine in the region and a Besshi-type massive sulfide ore...
Kaguyak dome field and its Holocene caldera, Alaska Peninsula
J. Fierstein, W. Hildreth
2008, Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research (177) 340-366
Kaguyak Caldera lies in a remote corner of Katmai National Park, 375 km SW of Anchorage, Alaska. The 2.5-by-3-km caldera collapsed ~ 5.8 ± 0.2 ka (14C age) during emplacement of a radial apron of poorly pumiceous crystal-rich dacitic pyroclastic flows (61–67% SiO2). Proximal pumice-fall deposits are thin...
Interactive effects of wildfire and permafrost on microbial communities and soil processes in an Alaskan black spruce forest
M. P. Waldrop, J.W. Harden
2008, Global Change Biology (14) 2591-2602
Boreal forests contain significant quantities of soil carbon that may be oxidized to CO2 given future increases in climate warming and wildfire behavior. At the ecosystem scale, decomposition and heterotrophic respiration are strongly controlled by temperature and moisture, but we questioned whether changes in microbial biomass, activity, or community structure...
Chlorinated, brominated, and perfluorinated compounds, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and trace elements in livers of sea otters from California, Washington, and Alaska (USA), and Kamchatka (Russia)
K. Kannan, H.-B. Moon, S.-H. Yun, T. Agusa, N. J. Thomas, S. Tanabe
2008, Journal of Environmental Monitoring (10) 552-558
Concentrations of organochlorine pesticides (DDTs, HCHs, and chlordanes), polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), perfluorinated compounds (PFCs), and 20 trace elements were determined in livers of 3- to 5-year old stranded sea otters collected from the coastal waters of California, Washington, and Alaska (USA) and...
Early marine growth of pink salmon in Prince William Sound and the coastal gulf of Alaska during years of low and high survival
A.D. Cross, D.A. Beauchamp, K.W. Myers, J.H. Moss
2008, Transactions of the American Fisheries Society (137) 927-939
Although early marine growth has repeatedly been correlated with overall survival in Pacific salmon Oncorhynchus spp., we currently lack a mechanistic understanding of smolt-to-adult survival. Smolt-to-adult survival of pink salmon O. gorbuscha returning to Prince William Sound was lower than average for juveniles that entered marine waters in 2001 and...
Alaska's Pavlof volcano ends 11-year repose
Christopher F. Waythomas, Stephanie Prejean, Stephen R. McNutt
2008, Eos, Transactions, American Geophysical Union (89) 209-211
After an 11‐year period of repose, Pavlof volcano on the Alaska Peninsula (Figure 1) began an episode of Strombolian eruption lasting 31 days, from 14 August to 13 September 2007.The eruption began abruptly on 14 August after a minor increase in seismicity the previous day. Nearly continuous lava fountaining, explosions,...
Genetic analysis of paramyxovirus isolates from pacific salmon reveals two independently co-circulating lineages
W.N. Batts, K. Falk, J. R. Winton
2008, Journal of Aquatic Animal Health (20) 215-224
Viruses with the morphological and biochemical characteristics of the family Paramyxoviridae (paramyxoviruses) have been isolated from adult salmon returning to rivers along the Pacific coast of North America since 1982. These Pacific salmon paramyxoviruses (PSPV), which have mainly been isolated from Chinook salmon Oncorhynchus tshawytscha, grow slowly in established fish...
Modern erosion rates and loss of coastal features and sites, Beaufort Sea coastline, Alaska
Benjamin M. Jones, Kenneth M. Hinkel, C.D. Arp, Wendy R. Eisner
2008, Arctic (61) 361-372
This study presents modern erosion rate measurements based upon vertical aerial photography captured in 1955, 1979, and 2002 for a 100 km segment of the Beaufort Sea coastline. Annual erosion rates from 1955 to 2002 averaged 5.6 m a-1. However, mean erosion rates increased from 5.0 m a-1 in 1955-79...
Wetland succession in a permafrost collapse: Interactions between fire and thermokarst
I. H. Myers-Smith, J.W. Harden, M. Wilmking, C. C. Fuller, A. D. McGuire, F. S. Chapin III
2008, Biogeosciences (5) 1273-1286
To determine the influence of fire and thermokarst in a boreal landscape, we investigated peat cores within and adjacent to a permafrost collapse feature on the Tanana River Floodplain of Interior Alaska. Radioisotope dating, diatom assemblages, plant macrofossils, charcoal fragments, and carbon and nitrogen content of the peat profile indicate...
Trans-Alaska Crustal Transect and continental evolution involving subduction underplating and synchronous foreland thrusting
Gary S. Fuis, Thomas E. Moore, George Plafker, T.M. Brocher, M. A. Fisher, Walter D. Mooney, W. J. Nokleberg, R.A. Page, B. C. Beaudoin, N.I. Christensen, A. R. Levander, W. J. Lutter, R. W. Saltus, N.A. Ruppert
2008, Geology (36) 267-270
We investigate the crustal structure and tectonic evolution of the North American continent in Alaska, where the continent has grown through magmatism, accretion, and tectonic underplating. In the 1980s and early 1990s, we conducted a geological and geophysical investigation, known as the Trans-Alaska Crustal Transect (TACT), along a 1350-km-long corridor...
