Spatiotemporal variation of surface shortwave forcing from fire-induced albedo change in interior Alaska
Shengli Huang, Devendra Dahal, Heping Liu, Suming Jin, Claudia J. Young, Shuang Liu, Shu-Guang Liu
2015, Canadian Journal of Forest Research (45) 276-285
The albedo change caused by both fires and subsequent succession is spatially heterogeneous, leading to the need to assess the spatiotemporal variation of surface shortwave forcing (SSF) as a component to quantify the climate impacts of high-latitude fires. We used an image reconstruction approach to compare postfire albedo with the...
Testing the use of bulk organic δ13C, δ15N, and Corg:Ntot ratios to estimate subsidence during the 1964 great Alaska earthquake
Adrian M. Bender, Robert C. Witter, Matthew Rogers
2015, Quaternary Science Reviews (113) 134-146
During the Mw 9.2 1964 great Alaska earthquake, Turnagain Arm near Girdwood, Alaska subsided 1.7 ± 0.1 m based on pre- and postearthquake leveling. The coseismic subsidence in 1964 caused equivalent sudden relative sea-level (RSL) rise that is stratigraphically preserved as mud-over-peat contacts where intertidal silt buried peaty marsh surfaces. Changes in intertidal microfossil...
Permafrost-associated gas hydrate: is it really approximately 1% of the global system?
Carolyn Ruppel
2015, Journal of Chemical & Engineering Data (60) 429-436
Permafrost-associated gas hydrates are often assumed to contain ∼1 % of the global gas-in-place in gas hydrates based on a study26 published over three decades ago. As knowledge of permafrost-associated gas hydrates has grown, it has become clear that many permafrost-associated gas hydrates are inextricably linked to an associated conventional...
Demography of the Pacific walrus (Odobenus rosmarus divergens): 1974-2006
Rebecca L. Taylor, Mark S. Udevitz
2015, Marine Mammal Science (31) 231-254
Global climate change may fundamentally alter population dynamics of many species for which baseline population parameter estimates are imprecise or lacking. Historically, the Pacific walrus is thought to have been limited by harvest, but it may become limited by global warming-induced reductions in sea ice. Loss of sea ice, on...
Variations in population vulnerability to tectonic and landslide-related tsunami hazards in Alaska
Nathan J. Wood, Jeff Peters
2015, Natural Hazards (75) 1811-1831
Effective tsunami risk reduction requires an understanding of how at-risk populations are specifically vulnerable to tsunami threats. Vulnerability assessments primarily have been based on single hazard zones, even though a coastal community may be threatened by multiple tsunami sources that vary locally in terms of inundation extents and wave arrival...
Introduced northern pike consumption of salmonids in Southcentral Alaska
Adam Sepulveda, David S. Rutz, Aaron W Dupuis, Patrick A Shields, Kristine J. Dunker
2015, Ecology of Freshwater Fish (24) 519-531
The impacts of introduced northern pike (Esox lucius) on salmonid populations have attracted much attention because salmonids are popular subsistence, sport and commercial fish. Concern over the predatory effects of introduced pike on salmonids is especially high in Southcentral Alaska, where pike were illegally introduced to the Susitna River basin...
The conservation of sea otters: a prelude
James L. Bodkin, Shawn E. Larson
2015, Book chapter, Sea Otter Conservation
The story of sea otters over the past 275 years chronicles their decline to near extinction and the roads to recovery that cross various conflicts, and in the end provides lessons that will aid the conservation of other threatened species and compromised ecosystems. Sea otters inspire strong human emotions ranging...
Brood rearing ecology of King Eiders breeding on the North Slope of Alaska
Laura M. Phillips, Abby N. Powell
2015, Wilson Journal of Ornithology (121) 430-434
Influences of glacial melt and permafrost thaw on the age of dissolved organic carbon in the Yukon River basin
George R. Aiken, Robert G.M. Spencer, Robert G. Striegl, Paul F. Schuster, Peter A. Raymond
2014, Global Biogeochemical Cycles (28) 525-537
Responses of near-surface permafrost and glacial ice to climate change are of particular significance for understanding long-term effects on global carbon cycling and carbon export by high-latitude northern rivers. Here we report Δ14C-dissolved organic carbon (DOC) values and dissolved organic matter optical data for the Yukon River, 15...
Prevalence of pure versus mixed snow cover pixels across spatial resolutions in alpine environments: implications for binary and fractional remote sensing approaches
David J. Selkowitz, Richard Forster, Megan K. Caldwell
2014, Remote Sensing (6) 12478-12508
Remote sensing of snow-covered area (SCA) can be binary (indicating the presence/absence of snow cover at each pixel) or fractional (indicating the fraction of each pixel covered by snow). Fractional SCA mapping provides more information than binary SCA, but is more difficult to implement and may not be feasible with...
A reply to Jepsen, N., K. Aarestrup and S.J. Cooke. Tagging fish in the field: ethical and procedural considerations. A comment to the recent paper of D. Mulcahy; Legal, ethical and procedural bases for the use of aseptic techniques to implant electronic devices, ( Journal of Fish and Wildlife Management 4: 211–219)
Daniel M. Mulcahey
2014, Journal of Fish and Wildlife Management (5) 445-449
Effects of invasive European bird cherry (Prunus padus) on leaf litter processing by aquatic invertebrate shredder communities in urban Alaskan streams
David A. Roon, Mark S. Wipfli, Tricia L. Wurtz
2014, Hydrobiologia (736) 17-30
European bird cherry (Prunus padus) (EBC) is an invasive ornamental tree that is spreading rapidly in riparian forests of urban Alaska. To determine how the spread of EBC affects leaf litter processing by aquatic invertebrate shredders, we conducted complementary leaf pack experiments in two streams located in Anchorage, Alaska. The...
Wildlife health in a rapidly changing North: focus on avian disease
Caroline R. Van Hemert, John M. Pearce, Colleen M. Handel
2014, Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment (12) 548-556
Climate-related environmental changes have increasingly been linked to emerging infectious diseases in wildlife. The Arctic is facing a major ecological transition that is expected to substantially affect animal and human health. Changes in phenology or environmental conditions that result from climate warming may promote novel species assemblages as host and...
Sources and sinks of carbon in boreal ecosystems of interior Alaska: a review
Thomas A. Douglas, Miriam C. Jones, Christopher A. Hiemstra
2014, Elementa: Science of the anthropocene (2)
Boreal regions store large quantities of carbon but are increasingly vulnerable to carbon loss due to disturbance and climate warming. The boreal region, underlain by discontinuous permafrost, presents a challenging landscape for itemizing current and potential carbon sources and sinks in the boreal soil and vegetation. The roles of fire,...
Nitrogen cycling processes and microbial community composition in bed sediments in the Yukon River at Pilot Station
Deborah A. Repert, Jennifer C. Underwood, Richard L. Smith, Bongkeun Song
2014, Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences (119) 2328-2344
Information on the contribution of nitrogen (N)-cycling processes in bed sediments to river nutrient fluxes in large northern latitude river systems is limited. This study examined the relationship between N-cycling processes in bed sediments and N speciation and loading in the Yukon River near its mouth at the Bering Sea....
Satellite tracking of the migration of Whooper Swans Cygnus cygnus wintering in Japan
Tetsuo Shimada, Noriyuki M. Yamaguchi, N. Hijikata, Emiko N. Hiraoka, Jerry W. Hupp, Paul L. Flint, Ken-ichi Tokita, Go Fujita, Kiyoshi Uchida, F. Sato, Masayuki Kurechi, John M. Pearce, Andrew M. Ramey, Hiroyoshi Higuchi
2014, Ornithological Science (13) 67-75
We satellite-tracked Whooper Swans Cygnus cygnus wintering in northern Japan to document their migration routes and timing, and to identify breeding areas. From 47 swans that we marked at Lake Izunuma-Uchinuma, Miyagi Prefecture, northeast Honshu, and at Lake Kussharo, east Hokkaido, we observed 57 spring and 33 autumn migrations from...
Free-living waterfowl and shorebirds
Daniel M. Mulcahey
Gary West, Darryl Heard, Nigel Caulkett, editor(s)
2014, Book chapter, Zoo animal and wildlife immobilization and anesthesia
No abstract available....
Geophysical interpretation of U, Th, and rare earth element mineralization of the Bokan Mountain peralkaline granite complex, Prince of Wales Island, southeast Alaska
Anne E. McCafferty, Douglas B. Stoeser, Bradley S. Van Gosen
2014, Interpretation (2) SJ47-SJ63
A prospectivity map for rare earth element (REE) mineralization at the Bokan Mountain peralkaline granite complex, Prince of Wales Island, southeastern Alaska, was calculated from high-resolution airborne gamma-ray data. The map displays areas with similar radioelement concentrations as those over the Dotson REE-vein-dike system, which is characterized by moderately high...
The 2010 slow slip event and secular motion at Kilauea, Hawai`i inferred from TerraSAR-X InSAR data
Jingyi Chen, Howard A. Zebker, Paul Segall, Asta Miklius
2014, Journal of Geophysical Research B: Solid Earth (119) 6667-6683
We present here an Small BAseline Subset (SBAS) algorithm to extract both transient and secular ground deformations on the order of millimeters in the presence of tropospheric noise on the order of centimeters, when the transient is of short duration and known time, and the background deformation is smooth in...
Northwest
Philip W. Mote, Amy K. Snover, Susan M. Capalbo, Sanford D. Eigenbrode, Patricia Glick, Jeremy S. Littell, Richard Raymondi, Spencer Reeder
2014, Book chapter, National Climate Assessment
Key Messages 1. Changes in the timing of streamflow related to changing snowmelt are already observed and will continue, reducing the supply of water for many competing demands and causing far-reaching ecological and socioeconomic consequences. 2. In the coastal zone, the effects of sea level rise, erosion, inundation, threats to...
Lesser Yellowlegs (Tringa flavipes)
T. Lee Tibbitts, William Moskoff
2014, The Birds of North America
No abstract available...
Using dissolved organic matter age and composition to detect permafrost thaw in boreal watersheds of interior Alaska
Jonathan A. O'Donnell, George R. Aiken, Michelle Ann Walvoord, Peter A. Raymond, Kenna D. Butler, Mark M. Dornblaser, Katherine Heckman
2014, Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences (119) 2155-2170
Recent warming at high latitudes has accelerated permafrost thaw, which can modify soil carbon dynamics and watershed hydrology. The flux and composition of dissolved organic matter (DOM) from soils to rivers are sensitive to permafrost configuration and its impact on subsurface hydrology and groundwater discharge. Here, we evaluate the utility...
Reanalysis of historical U.S. Geological Survey sediment samples for geochemical data from the western part of the Wrangellia terrane, Anchorage, Gulkana, Healy, Mt. Hayes, Nabesna, and Talkeetna Mountains quadrangles, Alaska
Melanie B. Werdon, Jaime S. Azain, Matthew Granitto
2014, Report
The State of Alaska’s Strategic and Critical Minerals (SCM) Assessment project, a State-funded Capital Improvement Project (CIP), is designed to evaluate Alaska’s statewide potential for SCM resources. The SCM Assessment is being implemented by the Alaska Division of Geological & Geophysical Surveys (DGGS), and involves obtaining new airborne-geophysical, geological, and...
Postglacial eruptive history, geochemistry, and recent seismicity of Aniakchak volcano, Alaska Peninsula
Charles R. Bacon, Christina A. Neal, Thomas P. Miller, Robert G. McGimsey, Christopher J. Nye
2014, Professional Paper 1810
Aniakchak is a Pleistocene to Holocene composite volcano of the Alaska–Aleutian arc that suffered at least one caldera-forming eruption in postglacial time and last erupted in 1931. The oldest recognized postglacial eruption, Aniakchak I, produced andesite ignimbrite ca. 9,500–7,500 14C yr B.P. Subsequently, a vent northeast of the summit issued dacite–rhyodacite magma...
The National Climate Change and Wildlife Science Center annual report for 2013
Elda Varela-Acevedo
2014, Circular 1402
In 2008, Congress created the National Climate Change and Wildlife Science Center (NCCWSC) within the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). The center was formed to respond to the demands of natural resource managers for rigorous scientific information and effective tools for assessing and responding to climate change. Located at the USGS...
