De-convoluting mixed crude oil in Prudhoe Bay Field, North Slope, Alaska
K. E. Peters, Ramos L. Scott, J.E. Zumberge, Z. C. Valin, K. J. Bird
2008, Organic Geochemistry (39) 623-645
Seventy-four crude oil samples from the Barrow arch on the North Slope of Alaska were studied to assess the relative volumetric contributions from different source rocks to the giant Prudhoe Bay Field. We applied alternating least squares to concentration data (ALS-C) for 46 biomarkers in the range C19-C35 to de-convolute...
Organohalogen concentrations in blood and adipose tissue of Southern Beaufort Sea polar bears
T.W. Bentzen, D.C.G. Muir, Steven C. Amstrup, T. M. O'Hara
2008, Science of the Total Environment (406) 352-367
We analyzed 151 organohalogen chemicals (OHCs) in whole blood and subcutaneous fat of 57 polar bears sampled along the Alaskan Beaufort Sea coast in spring, 2003. All major organochlorine pesticides, PCBs, PBDEs and their congeners were assessed. Concentrations of most OHCs continue to be lower among Southern Beaufort Sea polar...
Successful gas hydrate prospecting using 3D seismic - A case study for the Mt. Elbert prospect, Milne Point, North Slope Alaska
T.L. Inks, Warren F. Agena
2008, Conference Paper, SEG Technical Program Expanded Abstracts
In February 2007, the Mt. Elbert Prospect stratigraphic test well, Milne Point, North Slope Alaska encountered thick methane gas hydrate intervals, as predicted by 3D seismic interpretation and modeling. Methane gas hydrate-saturated sediment was found in two intervals, totaling more than 100 ft., identified and mapped based on seismic character...
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...
The annual migration cycle of emperor geese in western Alaska
Jerry W. Hupp, Joel A. Schmutz, Craig R. Ely
2008, Arctic (61) 23-34
Most emperor geese (Chen canagica) nest in a narrow coastal region of the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta (YKD) in western Alaska, but their winter distribution extends more than 3000 km from Kodiak Island, Alaska, to the Commander Islands, Russia. We marked 53 adult female emperor geese with satellite transmitters on the YKD...
Distribution and spawning dynamics of capelin (Mallotus villosus) in Glacier Bay, Alaska: A cold water refugium
Mayumi L. Arimitsu, John F. Piatt, Michael A. Litzow, Alisa A. Abookire, Marc D. Romano, Martin D. Robards
2008, Fisheries Oceanography (17) 137-146
Pacific capelin (Mallotus villosus) populations declined dramatically in the Northeastern Pacific following ocean warming after the regime shift of 1977, but little is known about the cause of the decline or the functional relationships between capelin and their environment. We assessed the distribution and abundance of spawning, non-spawning adult and...
Experimental evidence of vocal recognition in young and adult black-legged kittiwakes
Herve Mulard, T. Aubin, J.F. White, Scott A. Hatch, E. Danchin
2008, Animal Behaviour (76) 1855-1861
Individual recognition is required in most social interactions, and its presence has been confirmed in many species. In birds, vocal cues appear to be a major component of recognition. Curiously, vocal recognition seems absent or limited in some highly social species such as the black-legged <a title="Learn more about Kittiwake from...
Dietary biomagnification of organochlorine contaminants in Alaskan polar bears
T.W. Bentzen, Erich H. Follmann, Steven C. Amstrup, G.S. York, M. J. Wooller, D.C.G. Muir, T. M. O'Hara
2008, Canadian Journal of Zoology (86) 177-191
Concentrations of organochlorine contaminants in the adipose tissue of polar bears (Ursus maritimus Phipps, 1774) vary throughout the Arctic. The range in concentrations has not been explained fully by bear age, sex, condition, location, or reproductive status. Dietary pathways expose polar bears to a variety of contaminant profiles and concentrations....
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...
Silurian gastropoda from southeastern and west-central Alaska
D.M. Rohr, R. B. Blodgett, J. Fryda
2008, Journal of Paleontology (82) 604-611
Additional Silurian (Ludlovian) gastropods are described from the Heceta Formation in the Alexander terrane on Prince of Wales Island, southeastern Alaska. Species include Spinicharybdis krizi n. sp., Spinicharybdis boucoti n. sp., Morania wagneri n. sp., Haplospira craigi n. sp., Australonema sp., Pachystrophia cf. gotlandica (Lindstro??m, 1884), and Medfrazyga gilmulli n....
Assigning king eiders to wintering regions in the Bering Sea using stable isotopes of feathers and claws
S. Oppel, A.N. Powell
2008, Marine Ecology Progress Series (373) 149-156
Identification of wintering regions for birds sampled during the breeding season is crucial to understanding how events outside the breeding season may affect populations. We assigned king eiders captured on breeding grounds in northern Alaska to 3 broad geographic wintering regions in the Bering Sea using stable carbon and nitrogen...
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...
Predators of Dusky Canada Goose goslings and the effect of transmitters on gosling survival
T.F. Fondell, J.B. Grand, David A. Miller, R. Michael Anthony
2008, Journal of Field Ornithology (79) 399-407
The population of Dusky Canada Geese (Branta canadensis occidentalis) has been in long-term decline, likely due to reduced breeding productivity. To identify causes of mortality, we monitored goslings marked with radio transmitters on the western Copper River Delta, Alaska, from 1997 to 1999. Almost all gosling mortality (96%; 81 of...
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...
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...
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...
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...
Recent extreme avalanches: Triggered by climate change?
C. Huggel, J. Caplan-Auerbach, Rick Wessels
2008, Eos, Transactions, American Geophysical Union (89) 469-470
On 25 September 2008, seismo meters operated by the Alaska Volcano Observatory (AVO) registered strong ground shaking. On the basis of previous experience with such large seismic signals, AVO personnel were able to rapidly identify the seismic event as an avalanche. Two days later, an AVO overflight of Iliamna volcano,...
Radar imaging of winter seismic survey activity in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska
Benjamin M. Jones, Russ Rykhus, Z. Lu, C.D. Arp, D.J. Selkowitz
2008, Polar Record (44) 227-231
During the spring of 2006, Radarsat-1 synthetic aperture radar (SAR) imagery was acquired on a continual basis for the Teshekpuk Lake Special Area (TLSA), in the northeast portion of the National Petroleum Reserve, Alaska (NPR-A) in order to monitor lake ice melting processes. During data processing, it was discovered that...
Estimation of walrus populations on sea ice with infrared imagery and aerial photography
Mark S. Udevitz, D. M. Burn, M.A. Webber
2008, Marine Mammal Science (24) 57-70
Population sizes of ice-associated pinnipeds have often been estimated with visual or photographic aerial surveys, but these methods require relatively slow speeds and low altitudes, limiting the area they can cover. Recent developments in infrared imagery and its integration with digital photography could allow substantially larger areas to be surveyed...
Discrimination of carbon and nitrogen isotopes from milk to serum and vibrissae in Alaska Steller sea lions (Eumetopias jubatus)
V.K. Stegall, Sean D. Farley, Lorrie D. Rea, K.W. Pitcher, R. O. Rye, C.L. Kester, C. A. Stricker, C.R. Bern
2008, Canadian Journal of Zoology (86) 17-23
Knowledge of diet-tissue stable isotope discrimination is required to properly interpret stable isotope values and to identify possible diet shifts, such as might be expected from nursing through weaning. This study compared ??13C and ??15N of paired serum and vibrissal roots with those of ingested milk (n = 52) from...
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...
