Migration strategies supporting salmonids in Arctic Rivers: A case study of Arctic Cisco and Dolly Varden
Michael P. Carey, Vanessa R. von Biela, Randy J Brown, Christian E. Zimmerman
2021, Animal Migrations (8) 132-143
Amphidromous fish such as Dolly Varden (Salvelinus malma) and Arctic Cisco (Coregonus autumnalis) have distinct life histories that facilitate their success in Arctic environments. Both species spawn in freshwater and make annual migrations between marine, brackish, or freshwater environments. Dolly Varden rear for one or more years in freshwater before...
Characterizing methane emission hotspots from thawing permafrost
Clayton D. Elder, David R. Thompson, Andrew K Thorpe, Hrishikesh Chandanpurkar, Philip J Hanke, Nicholas Hasson, Stephanie R. James, Burke J. Minsley, Neal J. Pastick, David Olefeldt, Katey M Walter Anthony, Charles E. Miller
2021, Global Biogeochemical Cycles (35)
Methane (CH4) emissions from climate-sensitive ecosystems within the northern permafrost region represent a potentially large but highly uncertain source, with current estimates spanning a factor of seven (11–75 Tg CH4 yr−1). Accelerating permafrost thaw threatens significant increases in pan-Arctic CH4 emissions, amplifying the permafrost carbon feedback. We used airborne imaging...
Predicting thermal responses of an Arctic lake to whole-lake warming manipulation
Qunhui Zhang, Jiming Jin, Phaedra E. Budy, Sarah E. Null, Xiaochun Wang, Casey A. Pennock
2021, Geophysical Research Letters (48)
We investigated how lake thermal processes responded to whole lake warming manipulation in an arctic lake through observations and numerical modeling. The warming manipulation was conducted by artificially heating the epilimnion as a proxy for climate warming. We performed numerical modeling with an improved lake scheme based on the Community...
Guiding the Arctic Rivers Project Climate Model Development: Results from the Climate Information Survey
Nicole M. Herman-Mercer
2021, Report
No abstract available. ...
Life-history attributes of Arctic-breeding birds drive uneven responses to environmental variability across different phases of the reproductive cycle
Daniel R. Ruthrauff, Vijay P. Patil, Jerry W. Hupp, David H. Ward
2021, Ecology and Evolution (11) 18514-18530
Animals exhibit varied life-history traits that reflect adaptive responses to their environments. For Arctic-breeding birds, traits related to diet, egg nutrient allocation, clutch size, and chick growth are predicted to be under increasing selection pressure due to rapid climate change and increasing environmental variability across high-latitude...
Subsurface swimming and stationary diving are metabolically cheap in adult Pacific walruses (Odobenus rosmarus divergens)
Alicia Borque-Espinosa, Karyn D. Rode, Diana Ferrero-Fernandex, Anabel Forte, Romana Capaccioni-Azzati, Andreas Fahlman
2021, Journal of Experimental Biology (224)
Walruses rely on sea-ice to efficiently forage and rest between diving bouts while maintaining proximity to prime foraging habitat. Recent declines in summer sea ice have resulted in walruses hauling out on land where they have to travel farther to access productive benthic habitat while...
Changing impacts of Alaska-Aleutian subduction zone tsunamis in California under future sea-level rise
Tina Dura, Andra Garner, Robert Weiss, Robert E. Kopp, Simon E. Engelhart, Robert C. Witter, Richard W. Briggs, Charles Mueller, Alan Nelson, Benjamin P. Horton
2021, Nature (12)
The amplification of coastal hazards such as distant-source tsunamis under future relative sea-level rise (RSLR) is poorly constrained. In southern California, the Alaska-Aleutian subduction zone has been identified as an earthquake source region of particular concern for a worst-case scenario distant-source tsunami. Here, we explore how...
Diet-driven mercury contamination is associated with polar bear gut microbiota
Sophie Watson, Melissa McKinney, Massimo Pindo, Matthew Bull, Todd C. Atwood, Heidi Hauffe, Sarah Perkins
2021, Scientific Reports (11)
The gut microbiota may modulate the disposition and toxicity of environmental contaminants within a host but, conversely, contaminants may also impact gut bacteria. Such contaminant-gut microbial connections, which could lead to alteration of host health, remain poorly known and are rarely studied in free-ranging wildlife. The...
Knowledge gaps update to the 2019 IPCC special report on the ocean and cryosphere: Prospects to refine coastal flood hazard assessments and adaptation strategies with at-risk communities of Alaska
Dee Williams, Li H. Erikson
2021, Frontiers in Climate (3)
This article reviews the status of knowledge gaps and co-production process challenges that impede coastal flood hazard resilience planning in communities of northwestern Alaska, where threat levels are high. Discussion focuses on the state of knowledge arising after preparation of the 2019 IPCC Special Report on the Ocean and Cryosphere...
Selected crater and small caldera lakes in Alaska: Characteristics and hazards
Christopher F. Waythomas
2021, Frontiers in Earth Science (9)
This study addresses the characteristics, potential hazards, and both eruptive and non-eruptive role of water at selected volcanic crater lakes in Alaska. Crater lakes are an important feature of some stratovolcanoes in Alaska. Of the volcanoes in the state with known Holocene eruptive activity, about one third have summit crater...
Simultaneous effusive and explosive cinder cone eruptions at Veniaminof Volcano, Alaska
Christopher F. Waythomas
2021, Volcanica (4) 295-307
Historical eruptions of Veniaminof Volcano, Alaska have all occurred at a 300-m-high cinder cone within the icefilled caldera that characterizes the volcano. At least six of nineteen historical eruptions involved simultaneous explosive and effusive activity from separate vents. Eruptions in 1944, 1983–1984, 1993–1994, 2013, 2018 and 2021 included periods of explosive ash-producing Strombolian...
Bar-tailed Godwits Limosa lapponica in Alaska: Revisiting population estimates from the staging grounds
Daniel R. Ruthrauff, Zak Pohlen, Heather M. Wilson, James Johnson
2021, Wader Study (128) 255-264
Bar-tailed Godwits Limosa lapponica baueri breed in Alaska and spend the nonbreeding season primarily in eastern Australia and New Zealand. Long-term declines spurred recent surveys at nonbreeding sites that yielded a revised population estimate of ~126,000 godwits. We conducted aerial surveys for Bar-tailed Godwits in 2018 and 2019 at pre-migratory...
Alaska natural gas hydrate production testing: Test site selection, characterization and testing operations
Timothy Collett
2021, Report
This Interagency Agreement supports the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and its research partners in understanding, predicting, and testing the recoverability and potential production characteristics of onshore natural gas hydrate in the Greater Prudhoe Bay area on the Alaska North Slope (ANS: Prudhoe Bay, Kuparuk River, and Milne...
Maps of the Arctic Alaska boundary area as defined by the U.S. Arctic Research and Policy Act—Including geospatial characteristics of select marine and terrestrial features
Dee M. Williams, Christopher L. Richmond
2021, Scientific Investigations Map 3484
This pamphlet presents a series of general reference maps showing relevant geospatial features of the U.S. Arctic boundary as defined by the U.S. Congress since 1984. The first generation of the U.S. Arctic Research and Policy Act (ARPA) boundary maps was originally formatted and published in 2009 by a private...
Permafrost characterization and feature identification using public domain airborne electromagnetic data, interior Alaska
Abraham M. Emond, Ronald Daanen, Burke J. Minsley
2021, FastTIMES (26)
The Alaska Division of Geological & Geophysical Surveys (DGGS) airborne electromagnetic (AEM) data are an excellent resource for permafrost characterization. AEM data can be used for pingo identification, estimating permafrost thickness, estimating surface talik thickness, evaluating permafrost health (temperature), talik identification and more. Data examples are shown from discontinuous...
Gene expression profiles in two razor clam populations: Discerning drivers of population status
Heather A. Coletti, Lizabeth Bowen, Brenda Ballachey, Tammy L. Wilson, Shannon C. Waters, Michael Booz, Katrina L Counihan, Tuula E. Hollmen, Benjamin Pister
2021, Life (11)
With rapidly changing marine ecosystems, shifts in abundance and distribution are being documented for a variety of intertidal species. We examined two adjacent populations of Pacific razor clams (Siliqua patula) in lower Cook Inlet, Alaska. One population (east) supported a sport and personal use fishery, but...
New insights into dietary management of polar bears (Ursus maritimus) and brown bears (U. arctos)
Charles T. Robbins, Troy N Tollefson, Karyn D. Rode, Joy Erlenbach, Amanda J. Ardente
2021, Zoo Biology (41) 166-175
Although polar bears (Ursus maritimus) and brown bears (U. arctos) have been exhibited in zoological gardens for centuries, little is known about their nutritional needs. Multiple recent studies on both wild and captive polar bears and brown bears have found that they voluntarily select dietary macronutrient proportions...
Arctic Alaska Basin, Hanna Trough and Beaufortian Rifted Margin Composite Tectono-Sedimentary Elements
David W. Houseknecht
2021, Book chapter, Geological Society, London, Memoirs
The Arctic Alaska Composite Tectono-Sedimentary Element (AA CTSE) as defined for this volume comprises Mississippian to Lower Cretaceous strata beneath the Alaska North Slope and the Beaufort and Chukchi Seas of the Arctic Ocean. The AA CTSE rests on Devonian and older sedimentary and metasedimentary rocks, considered economic basement for...
South Africa's experimental fisheries closures and recovery of the endangered African penguin
William J. Sydeman, George L. Hunt Jr., E.K. Pikitch, Julia K. Parrish, John F. Piatt, P Dee Boersma, Les Kaufman, Daniel W. Anderson, Sarah Ann Thompson, Richard B. Sherley
2021, ICES Journal of Marine Science (78) 3538-3543
In a scientifically-transformative project, South Africa implemented a decade-long field experiment to understand how fisheries may be affecting its most iconic seabird, the African penguin Spheniscus demersus. This unique effort prohibits the take of anchovy and sardine within relatively small areas around four African penguin breeding colonies, two in the...
Long-term variation in polar bear body condition and maternal investment relative to a changing environment
Todd C. Atwood, Karyn D. Rode, David C. Douglas, Kristin S. Simac, Anthony Pagano, Jeffrey F. Bromaghin
2021, Global Ecology and Conservation (32)
In the Arctic, warming air and ocean temperatures have resulted in substantial changes to sea ice, which is primary habitat for polar bears (Ursus maritimus). Reductions in extent, duration, and thickness have altered sea ice dynamics, which influences the ability of polar bears...
Syn-eruptive hydration of volcanic ash records pyroclast-water interaction in explosive eruptions
Michael R. Hudak, Ilya N. Bindeman, Matthew W. Loewen, Thomas Giachetti
2021, Geophysical Research Letters (48)
Magma-water interaction can dramatically influence the explosivity of volcanic eruptions. However, syn- and post-eruptive diffusion of external (non-magmatic) water into volcanic glass remains poorly constrained and may bias interpretation of water in juvenile products. Hydrogen isotopes in ash from the 2009 eruption of Redoubt Volcano, Alaska, record...
Depths inferred from velocities estimated by remote sensing: A flow resistance equation-based approach to mapping multiple river attributes at the reach scale
Carl J. Legleiter, Paul J. Kinzel
2021, Remote Sensing (13)
Remote sensing of flow conditions in stream channels could facilitate hydrologic data collection, particularly in large, inaccessible rivers. Previous research has demonstrated the potential to estimate flow velocities in sediment-laden rivers via particle image velocimetry (PIV). In this study, we introduce a new framework for also obtaining...
Hazard-consistent seismic losses and collapse capacities for light-frame wood buildings in California and Cascadia
Robert Edward Chase, Abbie B. Liel, Nicolas Luco, Zach Bullock
2021, Bulletin of Earthquake Engineering (19) 6615-6639
We evaluate the seismic performance of modern seismically designed wood light-frame (WLF) buildings, considering regional seismic hazard characteristics that influence ground motion duration and frequency content and, thus, seismic risk. Results show that WLF building response correlates strongly with ground motion spectral shape but weakly with duration. Due to the...
Strong evidence for two disjunct populations of Black Scoters Melanitta americana in North America
Timothy D. Bowman, Scott G. Gilliland, Jason L Schamber, Paul L. Flint, Daniel Esler, W. Sean Boyd, Daniel H. Rosenberg, Jean-Pierre L. Savard, Matthew Perry, Jason E. Osenkowski
2021, Wildfowl (71) 179-192
Black Scoters Melanitta americana were marked with satellite transmitters on Atlantic and Pacific coasts of North America to examine continental-scale population delineation. Scoters marked on the different coasts did not overlap at any stage of the annual cycle, suggesting that birds in the two regions could be monitored and managed as separate...
Seven decades of coastal change at Barter Island, Alaska: Exploring the importance of waves and temperature on erosion of coastal permafrost bluffs
Ann E. Gibbs, Li H. Erikson, Benjamin M. Jones, Bruce M. Richmond, Anita C Engelstad
2021, Remote Sensing (13)
Observational data of coastal change over much of the Arctic are limited largely due to its immensity, remoteness, harsh environment, and restricted periods of sunlight and ice-free conditions. Barter Island, Alaska, is one of the few locations where an extensive, observational dataset exists, which enables a detailed assessment of the...
