U.S. Department of the Interior a U.S. Geological Survey

U.S. Geological Survey

Programs in Alaska

JUNEAU

ASIAN ROUTES

POLAR

ROUTES

NORTH

AMERICAN

ROUTES

ACTIVE VOLCANO 

EXPLANATION

FAIRBANKS

ANCHORAGE

Since the late 1890’s, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) has been mapping, 

collecting, and interpreting earth-science 

data in Alaska. This long-term endeavor 

continues today, enhanced by the inclusion 

of the National Biological Service in 1996. 

The USGS, with six offices in Alaska, provides information about the State’s natural 

hazards, landscape, natural resources, fish, 

wildlife, and environment.

Volcanoes

Volcanic eruptions are a part of life in 

Alaska. One of the most vital roles of the 

USGS is to define and mitigate the risk of 

these volcanoes. The USGS uses modern 

geologic techniques to determine and portray the likelihood and severity of potential 

volcanic eruptions, thereby contributing to 

community preparedness and minimizing 

their impact.

Alaska has more than 40 active volcanoes 

that have averaged two significant eruptions 

every year since 1945. Most of Alaska's volcanoes lie along a 1,600-mile arc from the 

Aleutian Islands, through the Alaskan Peninsula, and into south-central Alaska (fig. 1). 

Damage from these volcanoes has amounted 

to more than $400 million in the last decade. 

Ashfall from eruptions in upper Cook Inlet 

has repeatedly affected communities in 

Alaska, most recently in 1992. Additionally, 

volcanic ash is a severe threat to jet aircraft 

that fly over the North Pacific Ocean. On an 

average of 4 days each year, explosive eruptions send clouds of ash directly into international air-traffic routes in and near Alaska. 

Anchorage International Airport is the busiest cargo hub in the United States. With 

cargo and passenger air traffic in the North 

Pacific steadily rising, rapid detection and 

notification of eruptions beneath Alaskan air 

routes are increasingly critical.

To address this need, the Alaska Volcano 

Observatory (AVO), a cooperative program 

of the USGS, the University of Alaska Geophysical Institute, and the Alaska Division of 

Geological and Geophysical Surveys, was 

established in 1988. The AVO has three principal objectives: to monitor volcanoes and 

issue timely eruption notifications, to assess 

and communicate volcanic hazards, and to 

provide information that might assist in mitigation of volcano risks.

Successful advance warnings by the AVO 

during the 1989-90 eruptions of Redoubt 

Volcano, the 1992 eruptions of Spurr Volcano, and recently in nearby Kamchatka, 

Russia, reduced personal, social, and financial impacts on affected communities. 

Earthquakes 

Alaska is the most earthquake-prone 

State in the Nation and one of the most seismically active regions in the world. A magnitude 7 earthquake occurs almost every 

year; a magnitude 8 or greater earthquake 

occurs about every 14 years. Many critical 

transportation, communication, and oil 

transfer facilities in Alaska are located in 

regions of high earthquake risk. The USGS, 

in cooperation with the University of Alaska 

and other Federal agencies, records earthquake activity in the State, and helps to 

define the seismic hazards. In addition, the 

USGS is a partner in the Alaska Earthquake 

Information Center in Fairbanks, which performs round-the-clock earthquake recording and analysis and disseminates 

information on the State's earthquakes to the 

public, media, and government agencies. 

Floods

Many of Alaska's communities and transportation facilities are located along large 

rivers and are subject to flooding caused by 

rainfall, seasonal meltwater, and ice dams. 

USGS personnel survey flooded areas such 

as south-central Alaska in 1995 (fig. 2) by 

collecting and assessing information about 

water levels, discharge, and damage so that 

flood frequencies and magnitudes along rivers and streams throughout the State can be 

predicted. The information is used for flood 

warning, flood-plain management, and risk 

assessment purposes by such agencies as the 

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the Federal 

Emergency Management Agency, the 

National Weather Service, the Alaska 

Department of Community and Regional 

Affairs, other governmental planning and 

zoning agencies, and by insurers, industry, 

developers, and private landowners. Unstable channel bottoms and riverbanks, high 

stream sediment loads, and streamflow 

Index of Subjects

Volcanoes

Earthquakes

Floods

Biological Resources

Global Change

Energy and Mineral Resources

Water Resources

Mapping

Figure 1. International air traffic corridors and 

active volcanoes in Alaska.

Figure 2. Flooding of the Kenai Peninsula. 

Photograph courtesy of the Anchorage Daily 

News.

Earth Science in the Public Service
diversion by icings frequently contribute to 

high maintenance costs for highways, 

bridges, and culverts throughout the State. 

The USGS, in cooperation with the Alaska 

Department of Transportation and Public 

Facilities, surveys selected bridge sites and 

collects hydraulic data for analysis of 

bridge-scour processes. The information is 

used to assess bridges that may be at risk of 

failure during floods.

Biological Resources

USGS biologists study fish, wildlife and 

their habitats in marine, freshwater, and terrestrial ecosystems throughout Alaska and in 

other circumpolar countries. The mission of 

the new Biological Resources Division 

(BRD, formerly the National Biological Service) of the USGS is to provide the scientific 

understanding and technologies needed to 

support the sound management and conservation of our Nations's biological resources.

The USGS has two BRD organizations in 

Alaska: the Alaska Cooperative Research 

Unit at the University of Alaska in Fairbanks 

and the Alaska Biological Science Center in 

Anchorage. The program of the Cooperative 

Unit is directed at understanding the ecology 

of Alaska's fish and wildlife, evaluating 

impacts of land use and development on 

these resources, and relating effects of social 

and economic needs to production and harvest of natural populations. 

Research programs of the Alaska Biological Science Center in Anchorage address:

• The role of arctic and subarctic ecosystems 

in maintaining wild stocks of nationally 

important marine mammals and fish;

• The ecology of marine mammals and their 

role and effect as top-end consumers in 

arctic and subarctic marine ecosystems;

• The role of arctic and subarctic ecosystems 

in maintaining migratory bird populations; and

• The ecology of terrestrial mammals and the 

role of top herbivores and carnivores in 

arctic and subarctic ecosystems.

Natural resource management issues 

addressed by the Alaska Center include:

• Impacts of petroleum exploration, development, and pollution on terrestrial and 

marine mammals, migratory birds, 

fishes, and marine invertebrates;

• Sport and subsistence harvests of declining 

populations of arctic nesting waterfowl;

• Subsistence harvest of polar bear, Pacific 

walrus, and sea otters;

• Declining populations of marine mammals 

and migratory birds and unknown trends 

of prey species in the Bering–Chukchi 

Sea Ecosystem in western Alaska;

• Management of wolves and brown bears 

and their prey in and around Alaska's 

national parks and preserves; and

• The impacts of hatchery enhancement on 

wild stocks of Pacific salmon and their 

exploitation by commercial, subsistence, 

and sport fishing interests.

The Center has field stations at Denali 

National Park and Preserve, Kodiak National 

Wildlife Refuge, and Glacier Bay National 

Park and Preserve. Most of the biological 

research is conducted in Alaska. However, 

part of the research also is international in 

scope and includes cooperative agreements 

with Russia to study marine mammals, 

migratory birds, Pacific salmon, and polar 

bears; with Canada to study caribou; and 

with Mexico to study shared migratory bird 

populations. 

 Field studies are ongoing in Prince William Sound, Cook Inlet, Gulf of Alaska, the 

Bering and Chukchi Seas, and units of the 

National Wildlife Refuge system (including 

the Arctic, Kodiak, Izembek, Yukon Delta, 

Kenai, and Alaska Maritime Refuges), and 

units of the National Park system (including 

Denali, Wrangell–St. Elias, Glacier Bay, 

Katmai, and Kenai Fjords National Parks 

and Preserves).

Glacier Bay and Prince William Sound– 

Copper River are two of 12 regions in the 

Nation selected for ecosystem initiatives by 

the Department of the Interior (DOI). The 

USGS piloted and funded a partnership 

effort of Federal, State and Native organizations in these two regions to promote an 

ecosystem perspective for the continued use 

and wise management of natural, cultural, 

and other resources, and to work faster and 

more economically in partnership rather 

than alone.

Global Change

The USGS helped sponsor an invitational 

workshop at the University of Alaska in 

Fairbanks in June 1997, designed to identify 

tangible effects of global change on the Arctic environment. Participants identified 

impacts on ocean-fish systems, coastal 

zones, land ecosystems, resources, and 

infrastructure. They also discussed research 

and management strategies to prepare for 

and respond to these changes. Issues of 

importance to Alaska have been identified 

for discussion at national conferences 

addressing the impact of global change.

Changes in the distribution of snow and 

ice in the Arctic are recognized as early indicators of global climate change. The USGS 

helps to monitor these changes in Alaska by 

measuring changes in ice volumes and in 

glacier discharge and movement. Field data 

are collected and used to calibrate remotely 

sensed information for the entire Arctic. 

This information is used by international 

cooperators and others in studies of global 

climate change.

Perennially frozen ground (permafrost) 

underlies about 85 percent of Alaska. USGS 

permafrost studies, which played a major 

role in the success of engineered structures 

such as the Trans-Alaska Pipeline, now are 

being used to help monitor climate change. 

USGS scientists are studying borehole temperatures on the North Slope and have found 

that this region already has warmed 2 to 4 

degrees Celsius during this century.

Ongoing studies of plant fossils (leaves, 

wood, and pollen) from Alaska by USGS 

scientists provide important insights on the 

relationships between climate change and 

ecosystem changes. Fossils from natural 

exposures and sediment cores permit 

detailed reconstructions of past environments under a variety of climates during the 

past 18 million years. 

In 1989, the USGS initiated the Arctic 

Processes and Land Characterization 

project, which has grown into an international activity that addresses circumpolar 

vegetation and ecoregion mapping activities. 

Twenty ecoregions of Alaska have been 

mapped and described by the USGS, in 

cooperation with the U.S. Environmental 

Protection Agency and Colorado State University, to serve as a framework for organizing and interpreting environmental data 

relevant to a wide range of regional ecological concerns. The ecoregions of Alaska are 

described in the “Ecoregions Map of North 

America,” and further efforts are underway 

to delineate ecoregions of all the northern 

circumpolar areas. These data support international programs that are designed to assess 

and monitor global resources.

The “Arctic Environmental Data Directory” was developed in 1988 by the USGS 

and is being used as the initial repository for 

information on the Arctic in support of the 

Arctic Research and Policy Act. The directory can be accessed through the World 

Wide Web at:

http://www-ak.wr.usgs.gov/aedd/
Energy and Mineral Resources

 Alaskan oil production peaked in 1988, 

and since then has declined at a rate of 

nearly 4 percent per year. However, the 

Prudhoe Bay oil field is the largest in North 

America, and production from it and five 

other nearby North Slope oil fields amounts 

to about one-quarter of U.S. oil production.

USGS investigations of oil and gas production are directed at an improved understanding of onshore oil and gas resources in 

Alaska to reduce uncertainty in estimating 

the amount of undiscovered oil and gas. Current activities include studies on the North 

Slope, Interior Alaskan basins, gas-hydrates, 

coalbed methane, and petroleum systems. 

The activities are conducted in cooperation 

with State and Federal agencies, universities, 

and private industry.

Information on the undiscovered oil and 

gas resources of Alaska, which is part of the 

1995 national assessment, is available on 

CD-ROM and in a pamphlet. Alaskan coal 

studies by the USGS are being included in 

the national assessment of undiscovered 

coal resources.

The USGS continues to assess the undiscovered mineral resource potential of Federal public lands in Alaska as required by the 

Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act of 1980. The USGS activities are 

designed to collect high-quality data used in 

assessments, understand the processes of ore 

genesis, and identify the environmental 

impact of naturally weathering mineral 

occurrences and in developed mines. This 

information is critical to making wise 

resource-management decisions.

Digital data bases of geologic, geochemical, geophysical, and mineral information 

in digital formats make them more easily 

analyzed and accessible. These are being 

prepared in cooperation with the State of 

Alaska, other Federal agencies, academia, 

and industry.

Alaska is the site of several significant 

mineral deposits and mineral districts. The 

USGS is studying the regional setting and 

processes of the genesis of these deposits 

and districts.

In Wrangell–St. Elias National Park, the 

environmental impact of past mining activity 

is being evaluated to help park managers 

make prudent land-management decisions. 

Geochemical baseline studies are being 

established for areas around mines that 

might undergo future development (as private holdings inside the Park).

Naturally occurring concentrations of 

toxic elements such as mercury and arsenic 

are being investigated in parts of east-central 

Alaska and in southwestern Alaska to compare them with concentrations of those elements induced by mining.

The USGS supports accurate, standardized geologic mapping in each State through 

the STATEMAP program. Alaska has used 

funds from the USGS for geologic mapping 

near Fairbanks in support of mineralresource-oriented studies and to address significant hazards including landslides and 

earthquakes. The new mapping also is 

important for mineral exploration and for 

updating existing geologic maps.

Water Resources

The USGS serves as the central repository and distribution agency for surfacewater, ground-water, and water-quality data. 

These data are used to address issues such as 

the availability, allocation, and use of the 

resource; purity of drinking-water supplies; 

flood risk and flood-plain management; 

engineering design and construction; fish 

and wildlife management; and waste disposal control and remediation. 

The USGS has operated and maintained 

hydrologic data-collection networks in 

Alaska since 1946, in cooperation with other 

Federal, State, and local agencies. The data 

collected are reported annually in a publication titled “Water Resources Data—Alaska,” 

and also are available on the World Wide 

Web. The USGS currently records water discharge at 85 gaging stations, peak-flow data 

at 60 crest-gage stations, water levels at 

more than 180 observation wells, and water 

quality at several key sites. Data from more 

than 2600 sites are included in the surfacewater database.

An essential role of the USGS in Alaska 

is to investigate the vulnerability of drinking-water supplies to contamination. Such 

investigations recently were conducted at 65 

Federal Aviation Administration facilities 

across the State, 5 current or former military 

installations, the University of Alaska at 

Fairbanks, Fairbanks International Airport, 

and the Alaska Railroad industrial area in 

Fairbanks. The results of investigations in 

the Fairbanks area are being incorporated 

into an areawide ground-water model for 

predicting water-table elevations and 

ground-water flow directions. Information of 

this type is used by individual property owners, developers, land-use planners, municipal officials, and resource-management and 

health agencies.

In Alaska, the Cook Inlet region has 

been selected for study under the USGS 

National Water-Quality Assessment Program. An important goal of the program is 

to make relevant findings about current 

conditions, trends, and major factors that 

affect water quality.

The effects of riverbank development on 

fish habitat are of increasing concern to fishery management agencies. The Kenai River 

is the most popular sport fishing river in 

south-central Alaska, and areas of the river's 

banks are densely developed by private landowners. Supported by the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, the USGS has 

investigated the hydraulic conditions near 

selected manmade streamside structures to 

assess the effects of development upon juvenile salmon habitat in the river. The resulting 

information will help to plan management 

programs for the Kenai River.

Mapping 

A network of magnetic observatories continuously records the Earth’s magnetic field 

nationwide. Three of the 13 geomagnetic 

observatories operated by the USGS are 

located in Alaska—at Barrow, College, and 

Sitka. The College International Geophysical Observatory near Fairbanks is a new and 

modern facility, operated in cooperation 

with the Geophysical Institute of the University of Alaska. Magnetic data obtained by 

the observatories are incorporated into nautical and aeronautical navigation charts and 

topographic maps.

In support of the USGS mission to provide information about the Earth and its 

physical resources, the National Mapping 

Program acquires and disseminates geographic, cartographic, and remote sensing 

information for Alaska. The program provides maps, technical assistance, and 

research programs that apply to the needs of 

the region and the Nation. The USGS carries out these activities in Alaska primarily 

through the development of cooperative programs and partnerships with agencies and 

organizations involved with resource mapping and the management community. These 

cooperative arrangements result in cost savings to the participating organizations and to 

private citizens who also use the products 

and services of the program.

Topographic maps are among the most 

popular and versatile products of the USGS. 

These maps depict elevation and natural and 
For More

Information

Terrain

Transportation

Digital Aerial

Photograph

Scanned Map

cultural features of the landscape, such as 

lakes and streams, highways and railroads, 

boundaries, and geographic names. Topographic maps have a wide range of uses in 

Alaska, from civil engineering and natural 

resource monitoring to outdoor activities of 

hiking, exploring, hunting and back-country 

fishing expeditions.

The USGS, in response to the increasing 

demand of Federal and State land-management agencies for digital map and data products, has undertaken a program to complete 

a digitally based mapping program at 

1:63,360 scale for the entire State. This digital mapping program, done in partnership 

with those agencies, will provide comprehensive statewide coverage for hydrography 

(lakes, rivers, shorelines), terrain (digital 

elevation models), transportation (roads, 

pipelines, railroads), aerial photography 

(digital orthophoto quads), as well as a computer scanned image of each USGS paper 

map product that exists for the State (fig. 3). 

This cooperative effort, funded largely by 

the DOI, also relies heavily on private industry participation; because the bulk of the 

actual work of digitizing the maps is performed by contractors.

The Alaska mapping and resource management community is heavily invested in 

computer-based mapping and Geographic 

Information Systems (GIS) technology. In 

direct support of computer mapping and GIS 

technology, the USGS operates a geoprocessing computer laboratory in Anchorage, 

the only one of its kind in the Nation. This 

facility provides government agencies with 

access to data from earth orbiting satellites, 

digital image processing systems, and GIS 

software to address a broad range of natural 

resource issues.

The key to the development of the Alaska 

digital mapping program has been the

Alaska Geographic Data Committee 

(AGDC). The AGDC, which consists of 19 

Federal and five State agencies, was established by the USGS and other Federal and 

State agencies to coordinate Alaska mapping 

requirements and geospatial data-development projects, to define and implement standards, and to review and respond to 

initiatives of the Federal Geographic Data 

Committee (FGDC). The USGS, in support 

of the digital mapping programs promoted 

by the AGDC, has developed an AGDC 

Geospatial Data Clearinghouse, which 

provides access by way of the Internet to all 

of the geospatial data holdings of the participating agencies. The USGS and the AGDC, 

through their efforts in increasing the 

production and accessibility of geospatial 

information, are helping Federal, State, and 

local agencies and institutions to address 

and solve concerns of these agencies and 

society.

Earth Science Information Centers 

(ESIC’s) provide information about the 

USGS, its programs, products, and technological developments to the public, and also 

offer USGS products for purchase (fig. 4). 

An ESIC office in Anchorage and a Stateaffiliate office at the Geophysical Institute in 

Fairbanks provide information on topics 

such as cartography, geography, biology, 

digital data, remote sensing, geology, geophysics, geochemistry, hydrology, geohydrology, aerial photography, and land use. 

These offices are supported by the USGS 

with reference materials, technical assistance, training and outreach activities, and 

access to USGS data bases.

Figure 4. An Advanced Very High Resolution 

Radiometer satellite image of Alaska produced by 

the USGS.

Figure 3. Four digital map data products 

produced by the USGS. (Eagle River, Alaska).

USGS state representative

4230 University Drive Suite 230

Anchorage, AK 99508-4664

(907) 786-7100

Fax: (907) 786-7150

Email: dc_ak@usgs.gov

Additional natural science

information can be found by

accessing the USGS Home Page

on the World Wide Web at

http://www.usgs.gov/

For more information on

all USGS reports and products

(including maps, images,

and computerized data), call

1-800-USA-MAPS

The USGS provides maps,

reports, and information to help

others meet their needs to manage,

develop, and protect America’s

water, energy, mineral, biological, and

land resources. We help find the natural

resources needed to build tomorrow,

and supply the scientific understanding

 needed to help minimize or mitigate the

effects of natural hazards and environmental damage caused by natural and

human activities. The results of our

efforts touch the daily life of almost

every American.

U.S. Geological Survey

Fact Sheet FS-001-96