Sample records for alaska marine highway

  1. 2010 Annual Traffic Volume Report : Alaska Marine Highway System

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2010-01-01

    The Alaska Marine Highway System (AMHS) serves 31 Alaska ports by transporting passengers and vehicles between coastal communities. This service helps meet the social, educational, health and economic needs of Alaskans.

  2. 2011 Annual Traffic Volume Report : Alaska Marine Highway System

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2011-01-01

    The Alaska Marine Highway System (AMHS) serves 31 Alaska ports by transporting passengers and vehicles between coastal communities. This service helps meet the social, educational, health and economic needs of Alaskans.

  3. 2009 Annual Traffic Volume Report : Alaska Marine Highway System

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2009-01-01

    The Alaska Marine Highway System (AMHS) serves 30 Alaska ports by transporting passengers and vehicles between coastal communities. This service helps meet the social, educational, health and economic needs of Alaskans.

  4. 78 FR 7336 - Safety Zone; Alaska Marine Highway System Port Valdez Ferry Terminal, Port Valdez; Valdez, AK

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2013-02-01

    ... 1625-AA00 Safety Zone; Alaska Marine Highway System Port Valdez Ferry Terminal, Port Valdez; Valdez, AK... Alaska Marine Highway System (AMHS) Port Valdez Ferry Terminal. The purpose of the safety zone is to... Security Delegation No. 0170.1. A representative of the Alaska Marine Highway System requested that the...

  5. 2006 Annual Traffic Volume Report : Alaska Marine Highway System

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2006-01-01

    The Alaska Marine Highway System (AMHS) serves Alaskan communities by transporting passengers and vehicles between coastal communities. This service helps meet the social, educational, health and economic needs of Alaskans.

  6. 2008 Annual Traffic Volume Report : Alaska Marine Highway System

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2008-01-01

    The Alaska Marine Highway System (AMHS) serves Alaskan communities by transporting passengers and vehicles between coastal communities. This service helps meet the social, educational, health and economic needs of Alaskans.

  7. 2007 Annual Traffic Volume Report : Alaska Marine Highway System

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2007-01-01

    The Alaska Marine Highway System (AMHS) serves Alaskan communities by transporting passengers and vehicles between coastal communities. This service helps meet the social, educational, health and economic needs of Alaskans.

  8. Alaskan Marine Highway System analysis.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2011-10-01

    The Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities (DOT&PF) has contracted with a team of consultants, led by the University of Alaska Fairbanks, to conduct a comprehensive analysis of the Alaska Marine Highway System (AMHS) and make recom...

  9. 75 FR 19670 - Marine Highway Projects

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2010-04-15

    ... DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION Maritime Administration Marine Highway Projects ACTION: Solicitation of applications for Marine highway projects. SUMMARY: The Department of Transportation is soliciting applications for Marine Highway Projects as specified in the America's Marine Highway Program Final Rule, MARAD...

  10. ALASKA MARINE VHF VOICE

    Science.gov Websites

    Tsunamis 406 EPIRB's National Weather Service Marine Forecasts ALASKA MARINE VHF VOICE Marine Forecast greater danger near shore or any shallow waters? NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PRODUCTS VIA ALASKA MARINE VHF VOICE NOAA broadcasts offshore forecasts, nearshore forecasts and storm warnings on marine VHF channels

  11. Performance of depressed medians on divided highways in Alaska.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2015-07-01

    The population of Alaska especially the city of Anchorage is steadily increasing. As a result, traffic volumes are higher and demands to : add lanes to existing highways is increasing in order to relieve congestion. In Alaska, an expressway or freewa...

  12. 75 FR 18095 - America's Marine Highway Program

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2010-04-09

    ... domestic water transportation services as an alternative means of moving containerized and wheeled freight... marine highway into the transportation planning process; and research improvements in efficiencies and... conducting research related to marine highway development. The program should improve system capacity and...

  13. 46 CFR 393.6 - Research on Marine Highway Transportation.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-10-01

    ...-469 AMERICA'S MARINE HIGHWAY PROGRAM § 393.6 Research on Marine Highway Transportation. (a) Summary... as appropriate, within the limits of available resources, to conduct research in support of America's...

  14. 46 CFR 393.6 - Research on Marine Highway Transportation.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-10-01

    ...-469 AMERICA'S MARINE HIGHWAY PROGRAM § 393.6 Research on Marine Highway Transportation. (a) Summary... as appropriate, within the limits of available resources, to conduct research in support of America's...

  15. 46 CFR 393.6 - Research on Marine Highway Transportation.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-10-01

    ...-469 AMERICA'S MARINE HIGHWAY PROGRAM § 393.6 Research on Marine Highway Transportation. (a) Summary... as appropriate, within the limits of available resources, to conduct research in support of America's...

  16. 46 CFR 393.6 - Research on Marine Highway Transportation.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-10-01

    ...-469 AMERICA'S MARINE HIGHWAY PROGRAM § 393.6 Research on Marine Highway Transportation. (a) Summary... as appropriate, within the limits of available resources, to conduct research in support of America's...

  17. 46 CFR 393.6 - Research on Marine Highway Transportation.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-10-01

    ...-469 AMERICA'S MARINE HIGHWAY PROGRAM § 393.6 Research on Marine Highway Transportation. (a) Summary... as appropriate, within the limits of available resources, to conduct research in support of America's...

  18. Molluscan evidence for early middle Miocene marine glaciation in southern Alaska

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Marincovich, L.

    1990-01-01

    Profound cooling of Miocene marine climates in southern Alaska culminated in early middle Miocene coastal marine glaciation in the northeastern Gulf of Alaska. This climatic change resulted from interaction of the Yakutat terrane with southern Alaska beginning in late Oligocene time. The ensuing extreme uplift of the coastal Chugach and St. Elias Mountains resulted in progressive regional cooling that culminated in coastal marine glaciation beginning in the early middle Miocene (15-16 Ma) and continuing to the present. The counterclockwise flow of surface water from the frigid northeastern Gulf of Alaska resulted in a cold-temperate shallow-marine environment in the western Gulf of Alaska, as it does today. Ironically, dating of Gulf of Alaska marine glaciation as early middle Miocene is strongly reinforced by the presence of a few tropical and subtropical mollusks in western Gulf of Alaska faunas. Shallow-marine waters throughout the Gulf of Alaska were cold-temperate to cold in the early middle Miocene, when the world ocean was undergoing peak Neogene warming. -Author

  19. Subsurface flow recently triggered the development of taliks under a sub-Arctic road embankment: a prelude to the collapse of the Alaska Highway?

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Chen, L.; Fortier, D.; Sliger, M.; McKenzie, J. M.; Murchison, P.

    2017-12-01

    The Alaska Highway extends over 2200 km between central Alaska, U.S.A. and northern British-Columbia, Canada. This transportation corridor is crucial for the economy of Alaska as it is the only terrestrial link between mainland Alaska and the contiguous United States. Northern British Columbia and southwestern Yukon also greatly benefit from this highway for the transportation of goods and people across this remote corner of Canada. About a quarter of the Alaska Highway is built on permafrost, which is typically ice-rich and at a temperature near the point of thawing. Degradation of the permafrost under the embankment has led to severe structural damages to the highway such as deep longitudinal cracks, extended depressions, potholes and sinkholes. Here we present thermal data from the Beaver Creek experimental road test section in southwestern Yukon. Our study investigates convective heat transfers linked to subsurface water flow under the road embankment based on seven years (2009 to 2016) of thermal monitoring. Observation results demonstrate that snowmelt water infiltration in the spring causes rapid temperature increase of the upper portion of the embankment. Later in the summer, subsurface flow under the highway embankment can lead to step temperature-increase rates, which can be 200 times larger than those via conductive heat transfers. In the fall water trapped under the road significantly delays freeze back of the active layer and contributes to higher permafrost temperature. During the monitoring period, we observed the initiation and growth of taliks along sub-surface flow paths. Positive feedback mechanisms related to water flow through the taliks significantly increased permafrost degradation. Such taliks represent an un-precedent and presumably irreversible thermal state of the highway. Similar terrain conditions which severely threaten the structural integrity of the infrastructure on the short term are numerous along the Alaska Highway corridor.

  20. Alternative Low-Sulfur Diesel Fuel Transition Program for Alaska Final Rule

    EPA Pesticide Factsheets

    This final rule will implement the requirements for sulfur, cetane and aromatics for highway, nonroad, locomotive and marine diesel fuel produced in, imported into, and distributed or used in the rural areas of Alaska.

  1. 46 CFR 393.4 - Marine Highway Projects.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-10-01

    ... transportation system research, data, and analysis used to develop or support the business model. (vii) Proposed.... Designated Marine Highway Projects may receive support from the Department as described in this section. (b... congestion-related impacts. (2) Identify proposed water transportation services that represent the greatest...

  2. 46 CFR 393.4 - Marine Highway Projects.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-10-01

    ... transportation system research, data, and analysis used to develop or support the business model. (vii) Proposed.... Designated Marine Highway Projects may receive support from the Department as described in this section. (b... congestion-related impacts. (2) Identify proposed water transportation services that represent the greatest...

  3. Scenic Byways, Transportation & Public Facilities, State of Alaska

    Science.gov Websites

    Sterling Highway: north segment Sterling Highway: south segment Taylor & Top of the World Highways Highway Taylor Highway & Top of the World Highway Alaska Railroad Prince of Wales Island Road System Highway - northern segment Taylor & Top of the World Highways Alaska Railroad Alaska Railroad Parks

  4. Effects of the earthquake of March 27, 1964, on the Alaska highway system: Chapter C in The Alaska earthquake, March 27, 1964: effects on transportation, communications, and utilities

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Kachadoorian, Reuben

    1968-01-01

    The great earthquake that struck Alaska about 5:36 p.m., Alaska standard time, Friday, March 27, 1964 (03:36:1.3.0, Greenwich mean time, March 28, 1964), severely crippled the highway system in the south-central part of the State. All the major highways and most secondary roads were impaired. Damage totaled more than $46 million, well over $25 million to bridges and nearly $21 million to roadways. Of the 204 bridges in south-central Alaska, 141 were damaged; 92 were severely damaged or destroyed. The earthquake damaged 186 of the 830 miles of roadway in south-central Alaska, 83 miles so severely that replacement or relocation was required. Earthquake damage to the roadways and bridges was chiefly by (1) seismic shaking, (2) compaction of fills as well as the underlying sediments, (3) lateral displacement of the roadway and bridges, (4) fractures, (5) landslides, (6) avalanches, (7) inundation by seismic sea waves, (8) scouring by seismic sea waves, (9) regional tectonic subsidence, causing inundation and erosion by high tides in subsided areas. The intensity of damage was controlled primarily by the geologic environment (including the depth of the water table) upon which the highway structures rested, and secondarily by the engineering characteristics of the structures. Structures on bedrock were only slightly damaged if at all, whereas those on unconsolidated sediments were slightly to severely damaged, or were completely destroyed by seismic shaking. The low-lying areas underlain by saturated sediments, such as the Snow River Crossing and Turnagain Arm sections of the Seward-Anchorage Highway, were the most severely damaged stretches of the highway system in south-central Alaska. At Snow River and Turnagain Arm, the sediments underlying the roadway are fine grained and the water table is shallow. These factors were responsible for the intense damage along this stretch of the highway. All the bridges on the Copper River Highway except for one on bedrock were

  5. Marine debris in five national parks in Alaska.

    PubMed

    Polasek, L; Bering, J; Kim, H; Neitlich, P; Pister, B; Terwilliger, M; Nicolato, K; Turner, C; Jones, T

    2017-04-15

    Marine debris is a management issue with ecological and recreational impacts for agencies, especially on remote beaches not accessible by road. This project was implemented to remove and document marine debris from five coastal National Park Service units in Alaska. Approximately 80km of coastline were cleaned with over 10,000kg of debris collected. Marine debris was found at all 28 beaches surveyed. Hard plastics were found on every beach and foam was found at every beach except one. Rope/netting was the next most commonly found category, present at 23 beaches. Overall, plastic contributed to 60% of the total weight of debris. Rope/netting (14.6%) was a greater proportion of the weight from all beaches than foam (13.3%). Non-ferrous metal contributed the smallest amount of debris by weight (1.7%). The work forms a reference condition dataset of debris surveyed in the Western Arctic and the Gulf of Alaska within one season. Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

  6. Spatial and temporal variation in marine birds in the north Gulf of Alaska: The value of marine bird monitoring within Gulf Watch Alaska

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Kuletz, Kathy J.; Esler, Daniel N.

    2015-01-01

    Birds offer useful insights into marine ecosystems. Marine birds are responsive to spatial and temporal variation in the environment, that often originates with fluctuations in oceanographic and climatic drivers and permeates up through food webs to conspicuous top predators such as seabirds (Coyle and Pinchuk 2005, Speckman et al. 2005, Gonzales-Solis et al. 2009, Cushing et al., this report). In that way, marine birds are excellent assimilators, samplers, and indicators of the status of marine environments (Montevecchi 1993, Piatt et al. 2007b, Zador et al. 2013). Marine bird responses to dynamic marine ecosystems can be detected in a variety of metrics, including abundance, distribution, and productivity. For example, in the northern Gulf of Alaska (GOA), decadal-scale variation in oceanographic conditions has been associated with dramatic shifts in prey composition and abundance (Anderson and Piatt 1999). In turn, these shifts were more closely correlated with changes in abundance of fish-eating birds of Prince William Sound (PWS), such as pigeon guillemots (Golet et al. 2002) and marbled and Kittlitz’s murrelets (Kuletz et al. 2011a, 2011b), than in the abundance of species that primarily consume plankton or benthic prey (Agler et al. 1999, Cushing et al., this report). Birds also are responsive to anthropogenic influences in marine environments, including commercial fishing, contamination, introduction of non-native species, coastal development, offshore resource extraction, and vessel traffic. A major anthropogenic perturbation in the northern GOA was the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill, in which marine birds suffered high immediate mortality (Piatt and Ford 1996). Additionally, several species showed long-term evidence of declines in the oiled areas of PWS (Lance et al. 2001), as well as impacts to reproductive success years later (Golet et al. 2002). However, the degree of direct impact and vulnerability to chronic injury, which was related to exposure to

  7. Glaciers along proposed routes extending the Copper River Highway, Alaska

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Glass, R.L.

    1996-01-01

    Three inland highway routes are being considered by the Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities to connect the community of Cordova in southcentral Alaska to a statewide road system. The routes use part of a Copper River and Northwest Railway alignment along the Copper River through mountainous terrain having numerous glaciers. An advance of any of several glaciers could block and destroy the roadway, whereas retreating glaciers expose large quantities of unconsolidated, unvegetated, and commonly ice-rich sediments. The purpose of this study was to map historical locations of glacier termini near these routes and to describe hazards associated with glaciers and seasonal snow. Historical and recent locations of glacier termini along the proposed Copper River Highway routes were determined by reviewing reports and maps and by interpreting aerial photographs. The termini of Childs, Grinnell, Tasnuna, and Woodworth Glaciers were 1 mile or less from a proposed route in the most recently available aerial photography (1978-91); the termini of Allen, Heney, and Schwan Glaciers were 1.5 miles or less from a proposed route. In general, since 1911, most glaciers have slowly retreated, but many glaciers have had occasional advances. Deserted Glacier and one of its tributary glaciers have surge-type medial moraines, indicating potential rapid advances. The terminus of Deserted Glacier was about 2.1 miles from a proposed route in 1978, but showed no evidence of surging. Snow and rock avalanches and snowdrifts are common along the proposed routes and will periodically obstruct the roadway. Floods from ice-dammed lakes also pose a threat. For example, Van Cleve Lake, adjacent to Miles Glacier, is as large as 4.4 square miles and empties about every 6 years. Floods from drainages of Van Cleve Lake have caused the Copper River to rise on the order of 20 feet at Million Dollar Bridge.

  8. Alaska Arctic marine fish ecology catalog

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Thorsteinson, Lyman K.; Love, Milton S.

    2016-08-08

    The marine fishes in waters of the United States north of the Bering Strait have received new and increased scientific attention over the past decade (2005–15) in conjunction with frontier qualities of the region and societal concerns about the effects of Arctic climate change. Commercial fisheries are negligible in the Chukchi and Beaufort Seas, but many marine species have important traditional and cultural values to Alaska Native residents. Although baseline conditions are rapidly changing, effective decisions about research and monitoring investments must be based on reliable information and plausible future scenarios. For the first time, this synthesis presents a comprehensive evaluation of the marine fish fauna from both seas in a single reference. Although many unknowns and uncertainties remain in the scientific understanding, information presented here is foundational with respect to understanding marine ecosystems and addressing dual missions of the U.S. Department of the Interior for energy development and resource conservation. 

  9. 77 FR 19004 - Fishing Capacity Reduction Program for the Southeast Alaska Purse Seine Salmon Fishery

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2012-03-29

    ... Capacity Reduction Program for the Southeast Alaska Purse Seine Salmon Fishery AGENCY: National Marine... Salmon Fishery. DATES: Comments must be submitted on or before 5 p.m. EST April 13, 2012. ADDRESSES: Send... Seine Salmon Buyback, 1315 East-West Highway, Silver Spring, MD 20910 (see FOR FURTHER INFORMATION...

  10. Analyzing Driver Behavior in Passing Zones with Differential Speed Limits on Two-Lane Two-Way Undivided Highways in Alaska

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2017-12-01

    Due to the relatively high crash rates attributed to two lane highways in Alaska, solutions have been explored to improve safety by providing passing lanes to give drivers a better chance to pass the slow moving vehicles. Drivers of slow moving vehic...

  11. Safety Information, Transportation & Public Facilities, State of Alaska

    Science.gov Websites

    Department of Transportation & Public Facilities/ Safety Information Search DOT&PF State of Alaska DOT&PF> Safety Information DOT&PF Safety Information link to 511 511.alaska.gov - Traveler Information link to AHSO Alaska Highway Safety Office link to HSIP Highway Safety Improvement Program link to

  12. Use of H2Ri wicking fabric to prevent frost boils in the Dalton Highway Beaver Slide area, Alaska final report.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2012-08-01

    Many roads in Alaska, such as the Dalton Highway, experience degradation during spring thaw due to the downslope running of shallow groundwater. The water flow : down the slope and pools up in the road embankments, where it freezes, causing frost boi...

  13. Publications - STATEMAP Project | Alaska Division of Geological &

    Science.gov Websites

    ., 2008, Surficial-geologic map of the Salcha River-Pogo area, Big Delta Quadrangle, Alaska: Alaska , Engineering - geologic map, Alaska Highway corridor, Delta Junction to Dot Lake, Alaska: Alaska Division of geologic map of the Salcha River-Pogo area, Big Delta Quadrangle, Alaska: Alaska Division of Geological

  14. Marine Science Training Program for Alaska Native Students

    DTIC Science & Technology

    1991-08-01

    Seward Marine Center or Kasitsna Bay. In 1989 we decided that a more intensive internship with direct faculty involvement would be more effective ...at UAF provides orientation activities for prospective Native students from the states rural high schools. In addition RSS provides the Alaska Native...opportunity to explore the effects of science upon their daily lives will attract student to careers into oceanic and related sciences and further

  15. Publications - Geospatial Data | Alaska Division of Geological &

    Science.gov Websites

    from rocks collected in the Richardson mining district, Big Delta Quadrangle, Alaska: Alaska Division , 40Ar/39Ar data, Alaska Highway corridor from Delta Junction to Canada border, parts of Mount Hayes

  16. Early marine growth in relation to marine-stage survival rates for Alaska sockeye salmon (Oncorhynchus nerka)

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Farley, Edward V.; Murphy, J.M.; Adkison, Milo D.; Eisner, Lisa B.; Helle, J.H.; Moss, J.H.; Nielsen, Jennifer L.

    2007-01-01

    We tested the hypothesis that larger juvenile sockeye salmon (Oncorhynchus nerka) in Bristol Bay, Alaska, have higher marine-stage survival rates than smaller juvenile salmon. We used scales from returning adults (33 years of data) and trawl samples of juveniles (n= 3572) collected along the eastern Bering Sea shelf during August through September 2000−02. The size of juvenile sockeye salmon mirrored indices of their marine-stage survival rate (e.g., smaller fish had lower indices of marine-stage survival rate). However, there was no relationship between the size of sockeye salmon after their first year at sea, as estimated from archived scales, and brood-year survival size was relatively uniform over the time series, possibly indicating size-selective mortality on smaller individuals during their marine residence. Variation in size, relative abundance, and marine-stage survival rate of juvenile sockeye salmon is likely related to ocean conditions affecting their early marine migratory pathways along the eastern Bering Sea shelf.

  17. Building a DNA barcode library of Alaska's non-marine arthropods.

    PubMed

    Sikes, Derek S; Bowser, Matthew; Morton, John M; Bickford, Casey; Meierotto, Sarah; Hildebrandt, Kyndall

    2017-03-01

    Climate change may result in ecological futures with novel species assemblages, trophic mismatch, and mass extinction. Alaska has a limited taxonomic workforce to address these changes. We are building a DNA barcode library to facilitate a metabarcoding approach to monitoring non-marine arthropods. Working with the Canadian Centre for DNA Barcoding, we obtained DNA barcodes from recently collected and authoritatively identified specimens in the University of Alaska Museum (UAM) Insect Collection and the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge collection. We submitted tissues from 4776 specimens, of which 81% yielded DNA barcodes representing 1662 species and 1788 Barcode Index Numbers (BINs), of primarily terrestrial, large-bodied arthropods. This represents 84% of the species available for DNA barcoding in the UAM Insect Collection. There are now 4020 Alaskan arthropod species represented by DNA barcodes, after including all records in Barcode of Life Data Systems (BOLD) of species that occur in Alaska - i.e., 48.5% of the 8277 Alaskan, non-marine-arthropod, named species have associated DNA barcodes. An assessment of the identification power of the library in its current state yielded fewer species-level identifications than expected, but the results were not discouraging. We believe we are the first to deliberately begin development of a DNA barcode library of the entire arthropod fauna for a North American state or province. Although far from complete, this library will become increasingly valuable as more species are added and costs to obtain DNA sequences fall.

  18. Tracing biogeochemical subsidies from glacier runoff into Alaska's coastal marine food webs.

    PubMed

    Arimitsu, Mayumi L; Hobson, Keith A; Webber, D'Arcy N; Piatt, John F; Hood, Eran W; Fellman, Jason B

    2018-01-01

    Nearly half of the freshwater discharge into the Gulf of Alaska originates from landscapes draining glacier runoff, but the influence of the influx of riverine organic matter on the trophodynamics of coastal marine food webs is not well understood. We quantified the ecological impact of riverine organic matter subsidies to glacier-marine habitats by developing a multi-trophic level Bayesian three-isotope mixing model. We utilized large gradients in stable (δ 13 C, δ 15 N, δ 2 H) and radiogenic (Δ 14 C) isotopes that trace riverine and marine organic matter sources as they are passed from lower to higher trophic levels in glacial-marine habitats. We also compared isotope ratios between glacial-marine and more oceanic habitats. Based on isotopic measurements of potential baseline sources, ambient water and tissues of marine consumers, estimates of the riverine organic matter source contribution to upper trophic-level species including fish and seabirds ranged from 12% to 44%. Variability in resource use among similar taxa corresponded to variation in species distribution and life histories. For example, riverine organic matter assimilation by the glacier-nesting seabirds Kittlitz's murrelet (Brachyramphus brevirostris) was greater than that of the forest-nesting marbled murrelet (B. marmoratus). The particulate and dissolved organic carbon in glacial runoff and near surface coastal waters was aged (12100-1500 years BP 14 C-age) but dissolved inorganic carbon and biota in coastal waters were young (530 years BP 14 C-age to modern). Thus terrestrial-derived subsidies in marine food webs were primarily composed of young organic matter sources released from glacier ecosystems and their surrounding watersheds. Stable isotope compositions also revealed a divergence in food web structure between glacial-marine and oceanic sites. This work demonstrates linkages between terrestrial and marine ecosystems, and facilitates a greater understanding of how climate

  19. Tracing biogeochemical subsidies from glacier runoff into Alaska's coastal marine food webs

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Arimitsu, Mayumi L.; Hobson, Keith A.; Webber, D'Arcy N.; Piatt, John F.; Hood, Eran W.; Fellman, Jason B.

    2018-01-01

    Nearly half of the freshwater discharge into the Gulf of Alaska originates from landscapes draining glacier runoff, but the influence of the influx of riverine organic matter on the trophodynamics of coastal marine food webs is not well understood. We quantified the ecological impact of riverine organic matter subsidies to glacier-marine habitats by developing a multi-trophic level Bayesian three-isotope mixing model. We utilized large gradients in stable (δ13C, δ15N, δ2H) and radiogenic (Δ14C) isotopes that trace riverine and marine organic matter sources as they are passed from lower to higher trophic levels in glacial-marine habitats. We also compared isotope ratios between glacial-marine and more oceanic habitats. Based on isotopic measurements of potential baseline sources, ambient water and tissues of marine consumers, estimates of the riverine organic matter source contribution to upper trophic-level species including fish and seabirds ranged from 12% to 44%. Variability in resource use among similar taxa corresponded to variation in species distribution and life histories. For example, riverine organic matter assimilation by the glacier-nesting seabirds Kittlitz's murrelet (Brachyramphus brevirostris) was greater than that of the forest-nesting marbled murrelet (B. marmoratus). The particulate and dissolved organic carbon in glacial runoff and near surface coastal waters was aged (12100–1500 years BP 14C-age) but dissolved inorganic carbon and biota in coastal waters were young (530 years BP 14C-age to modern). Thus terrestrial-derived subsidies in marine food webs were primarily composed of young organic matter sources released from glacier ecosystems and their surrounding watersheds. Stable isotope compositions also revealed a divergence in food web structure between glacial-marine and oceanic sites. This work demonstrates linkages between terrestrial and marine ecosystems, and facilitates a greater understanding of how climate-driven changes

  20. The State of Alaska Agency Directory

    Science.gov Websites

    State Government Jobs Federal Jobs Starting a Small Business Living Get a Driver License Get a Hunting /Fishing License Get a Birth Certificate, Marriage License, etc. Alaska Permanent Fund Dividend Statewide Highway Conditions Take a University Class Look up Alaska Laws Recreation Find a Recreational Area Alaska

  1. Life cycle costs for Alaska bridges.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2014-08-01

    A study was implemented to assist the Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities (ADOT&PF) with life cycle costs for : the Alaska Highway Bridge Inventory. The study consisted of two parts. Part 1 involved working with regional offices...

  2. Seabird, fish, marine mammal, and oceanography coordinated investigations (SMMOCI) in Sitka Sound, Alaska, July 2000

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Piatt, John F.; Dragoo, Donald E.

    2005-01-01

    Surveys for seabirds and marine mammals were conducted in and near Sitka Sound, Alaska (Fig. 1) from the M/V Tiĝlax̂ during 12-16 July 2000 (Table 1, Fig. 1). The objective was to characterize the marine environment in the vicinity of St. Lazaria Island, one of ten seabird colonies monitored annually by the Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge (See Dragoo et al. 2003). In addition to censusing seabirds and mammals encountered on line transects, local oceanography was characterized by measuring water temperature and salinity continuously at the sea surface, and by taking profiles of the water column on a series of CTD transects. The relative abundance of zooplankton and fish biomass was measured using a dual -frequency echosounder. Significant acoustic targets were sampled with a m id-water trawl net. Long-lines were se t twice to catch and characterize diets of large demersal fish species.Rosenthal et al. (1981 and 1982) studied the bottomfish component of the nearshore habitats in southeastern Alaska including the Sitka Sound area during the summers of 1980 and 1981, allowing comparisons of our findings to those from the earlier works. There are no previous surveys for seabirds or marine mammals in this area with which we can compare our surveys.

  3. Deep-seated gravitational slope deformations near the Trans-Alaska Pipeline, east-central Alaska Range, Alaska, USA

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Newman, S. D.; Clague, J. J.; Rabus, B.; Stead, D.

    2013-12-01

    Multiple, active, deep-seated gravitational slope deformations (DSGSD) are present near the Trans-Alaska Pipeline and Richardson Highway in the east-central Alaska Range, Alaska, USA. We documented spatial and temporal variations in rates of surface movement of the DSGSDs between 2003 and 2011 using RADARSAT-1 and RADARSAT-2 D-InSAR images. Deformation rates exceed 10 cm/month over very large areas (>1 km2) of many rock slopes. Recent climatic change and strong seismic shaking, especially during the 2002 M 7.9 Denali Fault earthquake, appear to have exacerbated slope deformation. We also mapped DSGSD geological and morphological characteristics using field- and GIS-based methods, and constructed a conceptual 2D distinct-element numerical model of one of the DSGSDs. Preliminary results indicate that large-scale buckling or kink-band slumping may be occurring. The DSGSDs are capable of generating long-runout landslides that might impact the Trans-Alaska Pipeline and Richardson Highway. They could also block tributary valleys, thereby impounding lakes that might drain suddenly. Wrapped 24-day RADARSAT-2 descending spotlight interferogram showing deformation north of Fels Glacier. The interferogram is partially transparent and is overlaid on a 2009 WorldView-1 panchromatic image. Acquisition interval: August 2 - August 26, 2011. UTM Zone 6N.

  4. A multi-scale permafrost investigation along the Alaska Highway Corridor based on airborne electromagnetic and auxiliary geophysical data

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Minsley, B. J.; Kass, M. A.; Bloss, B.; Pastick, N.; Panda, S. K.; Smith, B. D.; Abraham, J. D.; Burns, L. E.

    2012-12-01

    More than 8000 square kilometers of airborne electromagnetic (AEM) data were acquired along the Alaska Highway Corridor in 2005-2006 by the Alaska Department of Natural Resources Division of Geological and Geophysical Surveys. Because this large AEM dataset covers diverse geologic and permafrost settings, it is an excellent testbed for studying the electrical geophysical response from a wide range of subsurface conditions. These data have been used in several recent investigations of geology, permafrost, and infrastructure along the highway corridor. In this study, we build on existing interpretations of permafrost features by re-inverting the AEM data using traditional least squares inversion techniques as well as recently developed stochastic methods aimed at quantifying uncertainty in geophysical data. Ground-based geophysical measurements, including time-domain electromagnetic soundings, surface nuclear magnetic resonance soundings, and shallow frequency-domain electromagnetic profiles, have also been acquired to help validate and extend the AEM interpretations. Here, we focus on the integration of different types of data to yield an improved characterization of permafrost, including: methods to discriminate between geologic and thermal controls on resistivity; identifying relationships between shallow resistivity and active layer thickness by incorporating auxiliary remote sensing data and ground-based measurements; quantifying apparent slope-aspect-resistivity relationships, where south-facing slopes appear less resistive than north-facing slopes within similar geologic settings; and investigating an observed decrease in resistivity beneath several areas associated with recent fires.

  5. Publications - SR 60 | Alaska Division of Geological & Geophysical Surveys

    Science.gov Websites

    Mapping Advisory Board STATEMAP Publications Geophysics Program Information Geophysical Survey ; Aeromagnetic Survey; Airborne Geophysical Survey; Alaska Highway Corridor; Alaska Peninsula; Alaska, State of ; Bismuth; Chalcopyrite; Chandalar Mining District; Cleary Summit; Coal; Conductivity Survey; Construction

  6. Publications - IC 60 | Alaska Division of Geological & Geophysical Surveys

    Science.gov Websites

    Mapping Advisory Board STATEMAP Publications Geophysics Program Information Geophysical Survey (500.0 K) Keywords Admiralty Island; Aeromagnetic Data; Aeromagnetic Map; Aeromagnetic Survey; Airborne Geophysical Survey; Alaska Highway Corridor; Alaska Peninsula; Alaska, State of; Ambler; Ambler Mineral Belt

  7. Publications - PIR 2008-3B | Alaska Division of Geological & Geophysical

    Science.gov Websites

    , Delta Junction to Dot Lake, Alaska Authors: Reger, R.D., and Solie, D.N. Publication Date: Dec 2008 : Download below or please see our publication sales page for more information. Quadrangle(s): Big Delta , Alaska Highway corridor, Delta Junction to Dot Lake, Alaska: Alaska Division of Geological &

  8. Report of the workshop on enhancing methods for locating, accessing, and integrating population and environmental data related to marine resources in Alaska. Held in Anchorage, Alaska on April 5-7, 1994. Final report

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Hoover-Miller, A.

    1995-03-01

    Many federal and state agencies and private institutions have conducted and are conducting research related to Alaska`s living marine resources. Data from this research are not being stored in a central repository and there is no convenient means for scientists and managers to locate and access it. Recent advances in computer technology could help overcome this problem. To examine the possibilities created by such advances, the Marine Mammal Commission sponsored a workshop in Anchorage, Alaska on 5-7 April 1994. Discussions during and following the workshop lead to recommendations, described in this report, on ways to improve knowledge of and communicationmore » among users regarding the existence, nature, and availability of potentially useful data.« less

  9. Using ecosystem indicators to track effects of recent warm conditions in Alaska's Large Marine Ecosystems

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Zador, S.; Ormseth, O.; Renner, H.

    2016-02-01

    A comprehensive suite of ecosystem indicators, defined simply here as time-series of data that measure some component of an ecosystem, can provide a holistic and long-term view of ecosystem status and response to change. In Alaska, marine ecosystem indicators are tracked in the Gulf of Alaska, Aleutian Islands and eastern Bering Sea to inform annual ecosystem assessments for managers and scientists, and in particular, to inform ecosystem-based fisheries management. We will present the most recent indicator-based assessments of these three large marine ecosystems (LMEs) that integrate data from climate and oceanographic indicators through lower and upper-trophic biological indicators and highlight regional and species-specific apparent responses to the recent warm anomalies in the North Pacific. We will use comparisons among the three LMEs to illustrate how the effects of the anomalies may propagate through ecosystems and food webs. In general, we expect to see more changes in indicators' status that may be attributed to the Warm Blob in the Gulf of Alaska relative to the other LMEs, as a result of the proximity of the Gulf of Alaska to the areas where the temperature anomalies originated. In the eastern Bering Sea, which is separated from the North Pacific by the Aleutian Island chain, we expect to see more modulated responses. We will discuss the types of biological indicators that are expected to show direct responses to temperatures, such as changes in species distribution, compared to those that may show lagged effects.

  10. Prey consumption and energy transfer by marine birds in the Gulf of Alaska

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Hunt, G.L.; Drew, G.S.; Jahncke, J.; Piatt, John F.

    2005-01-01

    We investigated prey consumption by marine birds and their contribution to cross-shelf fluxes in the northern Gulf of Alaska. We utilized data from the North Pacific Pelagic Seabird Database for modeling energy demand and prey consumption. We found that prey consumption by marine birds was much greater over the continental shelf than it was over the basin. Over the shelf, subsurface-foraging marine birds dominated food consumption, whereas over the basin, surface-foraging birds took the most prey biomass. Daily consumption by marine birds during the non-breeding season ("winter") from September through April was greater than daily consumption during the breeding season, between May and August. Over the shelf, shearwaters, murres and, in winter, sea ducks, were the most important consumers. Over the basin, northern fulmars, gulls and kittiwakes predominated in winter and storm-petrels dominated in May to August. Our results suggest that marine birds contribute little to cross-shelf fluxes of energy or matter, but they do remove energy from the marine system through consumption, respiration and migration. ?? 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  11. Debris flow susceptibility mapping using a qualitative heuristic method and Flow-R along the Yukon Alaska Highway Corridor, Canada

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Blais-Stevens, A.; Behnia, P.

    2016-02-01

    This research activity aimed at reducing risk to infrastructure, such as a proposed pipeline route roughly parallel to the Yukon Alaska Highway Corridor (YAHC), by filling geoscience knowledge gaps in geohazards. Hence, the Geological Survey of Canada compiled an inventory of landslides including debris flow deposits, which were subsequently used to validate two different debris flow susceptibility models. A qualitative heuristic debris flow susceptibility model was produced for the northern region of the YAHC, from Kluane Lake to the Alaska border, by integrating data layers with assigned weights and class ratings. These were slope angle, slope aspect, surficial geology, plan curvature, and proximity to drainage system. Validation of the model was carried out by calculating a success rate curve which revealed a good correlation with the susceptibility model and the debris flow deposit inventory compiled from air photos, high-resolution satellite imagery, and field verification. In addition, the quantitative Flow-R method was tested in order to define the potential source and debris flow susceptibility for the southern region of Kluane Lake, an area where documented debris flow events have blocked the highway in the past (e.g. 1988). Trial and error calculations were required for this method because there was not detailed information on the debris flows for the YAHC to allow us to define threshold values for some parameters when calculating source areas, spreading, and runout distance. Nevertheless, correlation with known documented events helped define these parameters and produce a map that captures most of the known events and displays debris flow susceptibility in other, usually smaller, steep channels that had not been previously documented.

  12. Debris flow susceptibility mapping using a qualitative heuristic method and Flow-R along the Yukon Alaska Highway Corridor, Canada

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Blais-Stevens, A.; Behnia, P.

    2015-05-01

    This research activity aimed at reducing risk to infrastructure, such as a proposed pipeline route roughly parallel to the Yukon Alaska Highway Corridor (YAHC) by filling geoscience knowledge gaps in geohazards. Hence, the Geological Survey of Canada compiled an inventory of landslides including debris flow deposits, which were subsequently used to validate two different debris flow susceptibility models. A qualitative heuristic debris flow susceptibility model was produced for the northern region of the YAHC, from Kluane Lake to the Alaska border, by integrating data layers with assigned weights and class ratings. These were slope angle, slope aspect (derived from a 5 m × 5 m DEM), surficial geology, permafrost distribution, and proximity to drainage system. Validation of the model was carried out by calculating a success rate curve which revealed a good correlation with the susceptibility model and the debris flow deposit inventory compiled from air photos, high resolution satellite imagery, and field verification. In addition, the quantitative Flow-R method was tested in order to define the potential source and debris flow susceptibility for the southern region of Kluane Lake, an area where documented debris flow events have blocked the highway in the past (e.g., 1988). Trial and error calculations were required for this method because there was not detailed information on the debris flows for the YAHC to allow us to define threshold values for some parameters when calculating source areas, spreading, and runout distance. Nevertheless, correlation with known documented events helped define these parameters and produce a map that captures most of the known events and displays debris flow susceptibility in other, usually smaller, steep channels that had not been previously documented.

  13. 2002 Alaska traffic collisions

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2004-09-01

    Traffic collisions injured 6370 and killed 89 Alaskans during 2002. There were, on average, : 36.5 crashes per day and 1.5 crashes per hour. One person died on Alaska highways every : 4.1 days. : There were 272 traffic collisions per 100 million ...

  14. Performance analysis of the Dowling multi-lane roundabouts in Anchorage, Alaska.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2010-06-01

    The first multi-lane roundabouts in Alaska were constructed in 2004 at the ramps of the Dowling Road/Seward Highway interchange in : Anchorage. These serve as junctions for commuters accessing the Seward Highway. As vehicle traffic in Anchorage conti...

  15. Mercury in gray wolves (Canis lupus) in Alaska: Increased exposure through consumption of marine prey

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    McGrew, Ashley K.; Ballweber, Lora R.; Moses, Sara K.; Stricker, Craig A.; Beckmen, Kimberlee B.; Salman, Mo D.; O’Hara, Todd M.

    2013-01-01

    Mercury (Hg) bioaccumulates in the tissues of organismsand biomagnifies within food-webs. Graywolves (Canis lupus) in Alaska primarily acquire Hg through diet; therefore, comparing the extent of Hg exposure inwolves, in conjunction with stable isotopes, from interior and coastal regions of Alaska offers important insight into their feeding ecology. Liver, kidney, and skeletal muscle samples from 162 graywolves were analyzed for total mercury (THg) concentrations and stable isotopic signatures (δ13C, δ15N, and δ34S).Median hepatic THg concentrations were significantly higher in wolves with coastal access compared to wolves from interior Alaska. Stable isotope ratios, in conjunction with THg concentrations, provide strong evidence that coastal wolves are utilizing marine prey representing several trophic levels. The utilization of cross-ecosystem food resources by coastal wolves is clearly contributing to increased THg exposure, and may ultimately have negative health implications for these animals.

  16. Mercury in gray wolves (Canis lupus) in Alaska: increased exposure through consumption of marine prey.

    PubMed

    McGrew, Ashley K; Ballweber, Lora R; Moses, Sara K; Stricker, Craig A; Beckmen, Kimberlee B; Salman, Mo D; O'Hara, Todd M

    2014-01-15

    Mercury (Hg) bioaccumulates in the tissues of organisms and biomagnifies within food-webs. Gray wolves (Canis lupus) in Alaska primarily acquire Hg through diet; therefore, comparing the extent of Hg exposure in wolves, in conjunction with stable isotopes, from interior and coastal regions of Alaska offers important insight into their feeding ecology. Liver, kidney, and skeletal muscle samples from 162 gray wolves were analyzed for total mercury (THg) concentrations and stable isotopic signatures (δ(13)C, δ(15)N, and δ(34)S). Median hepatic THg concentrations were significantly higher in wolves with coastal access compared to wolves from interior Alaska. Stable isotope ratios, in conjunction with THg concentrations, provide strong evidence that coastal wolves are utilizing marine prey representing several trophic levels. The utilization of cross-ecosystem food resources by coastal wolves is clearly contributing to increased THg exposure, and may ultimately have negative health implications for these animals. © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  17. Performance analysis of the Dowling multi-lane roundabouts in Anchorage, Alaska : [summary].

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2010-06-01

    The first multi-lane roundabouts in Alaska were constructed in 2004 at the ramps of the Dowling Road/Seward Highway interchange in : Anchorage. These serve as junctions for commuters accessing the Seward Highway. As vehicle traffic in Anchorage conti...

  18. 76 FR 81247 - Fisheries of the Exclusive Economic Zone Off Alaska; Groundfish of the Gulf of Alaska; Amendment 88

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2011-12-27

    ... Atmospheric Administration 50 CFR Part 679 Fisheries of the Exclusive Economic Zone Off Alaska; Groundfish of... Exclusive Economic Zone Off Alaska; Groundfish of the Gulf of Alaska; Amendment 88 AGENCY: National Marine... conservation, management, safety, and economic gains realized under the Central Gulf of Alaska Rockfish Pilot...

  19. Application of the multi-dimensional surface water modeling system at Bridge 339, Copper River Highway, Alaska

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Brabets, Timothy P.; Conaway, Jeffrey S.

    2009-01-01

    The Copper River Basin, the sixth largest watershed in Alaska, drains an area of 24,200 square miles. This large, glacier-fed river flows across a wide alluvial fan before it enters the Gulf of Alaska. Bridges along the Copper River Highway, which traverses the alluvial fan, have been impacted by channel migration. Due to a major channel change in 2001, Bridge 339 at Mile 36 of the highway has undergone excessive scour, resulting in damage to its abutments and approaches. During the snow- and ice-melt runoff season, which typically extends from mid-May to September, the design discharge for the bridge often is exceeded. The approach channel shifts continuously, and during our study it has shifted back and forth from the left bank to a course along the right bank nearly parallel to the road.Maintenance at Bridge 339 has been costly and will continue to be so if no action is taken. Possible solutions to the scour and erosion problem include (1) constructing a guide bank to redirect flow, (2) dredging approximately 1,000 feet of channel above the bridge to align flow perpendicular to the bridge, and (3) extending the bridge. The USGS Multi-Dimensional Surface Water Modeling System (MD_SWMS) was used to assess these possible solutions. The major limitation of modeling these scenarios was the inability to predict ongoing channel migration. We used a hybrid dataset of surveyed and synthetic bathymetry in the approach channel, which provided the best approximation of this dynamic system. Under existing conditions and at the highest measured discharge and stage of 32,500 ft3/s and 51.08 ft, respectively, the velocities and shear stresses simulated by MD_SWMS indicate scour and erosion will continue. Construction of a 250-foot-long guide bank would not improve conditions because it is not long enough. Dredging a channel upstream of Bridge 339 would help align the flow perpendicular to Bridge 339, but because of the mobility of the channel bed, the dredged channel would

  20. Engaging Scientists in K-12 Professional Development and Curriculum Development in the Context of Alaska's Large Marine Ecosystems

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Sigman, M.; Anderson, A.; Deans, N. L.; Dublin, R.; Dugan, D.; Matsumoto, G. I.; Warburton, J.

    2012-12-01

    Alaska marine ecosystem-based professional development workshops have proven to be a robust context for engaging scientists from a variety of disciplines in overcoming barriers to communication and collaboration among scientists and educators. Scientists came away from scientist-teacher workshops with effective K-12 outreach strategies as well as a deeper understanding about how to contribute meaningfully to K-12 education. The establishment of the Alaskan Center for Ocean Sciences Education Excellence (COSEE-AK) in 2009 was the catalyst for a series of professional development workshops related to the North Pacific Research Board's (NPRB) marine focus areas (Bering Sea/Aleutian Islands, Gulf of Alaska, and Arctic Ocean) for Integrated Ecosystem Research Programs (IERPs). During 2010-2012, COSEE-AK and NPRB partnered with the Arctic Research Consortium of the U.S. (ARCUS), the Alaska Ocean Observing System (AOOS), and the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI) to support a five-day professional development workshop focused on each ecosystem. The workshops brought together three types of participants: 1) Alaska-focused marine ecosystem scientists; 2) rural Alaskan teachers living within each ecosystem; and 3) teachers from outside Alaska who had research experiences with scientists in the ecosystem. Over the course of the workshops, we developed a workshop model with four objectives: 1) to increase the science content knowledge of educators and their ability to teach ecosystem science; 2) to provide the scientists an opportunity to have broader impacts from their research on educators and Alaska Native and rural students; 3) to increase the knowledge and skills of educator and scientist participants to provide effective learning experiences for K-12 students; and 4) to facilitate the collaborative development of lesson plans. A total of 28 scientists and 41 educators participated in the three workshops. The success of the workshop for the educators was

  1. Marine tephrochronology of the Mt. Edgecumbe volcanic field, southeast Alaska, USA

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Addison, Jason A.; Beget, James E.; Ager, Thomas A.; Finney, Bruce P.

    2010-01-01

    The Mt. Edgecumbe Volcanic Field (MEVF), located on Kruzof Island near Sitka Sound in southeast Alaska, experienced a large multiple-stage eruption during the last glacial maximum (LGM)-Holocene transition that generated a regionally extensive series of compositionally similar rhyolite tephra horizons and a single well-dated dacite (MEd) tephra. Marine sediment cores collected from adjacent basins to the MEVF contain both tephra-fall and pyroclastic flow deposits that consist primarily of rhyolitic tephra and a minor dacitic tephra unit. The recovered dacite tephra correlates with the MEd tephra, whereas many of the rhyolitic tephras correlate with published MEVF rhyolites. Correlations were based on age constraints and major oxide compositions of glass shards. In addition to LGM-Holocene macroscopic tephra units, four marine cryptotephras were also identified. Three of these units appear to be derived from mid-Holocene MEVF activity, while the youngest cryptotephra corresponds well with the White River Ash eruption at not, vert, similar 1147 cal yr BP. Furthermore, the sedimentology of the Sitka Sound marine core EW0408-40JC and high-resolution SWATH bathymetry both suggest that extensive pyroclastic flow deposits associated with the activity that generated the MEd tephra underlie Sitka Sound, and that any future MEVF activity may pose significant risk to local population centers.

  2. Sex, Adiposity, and Hypertension Status Modify the Inverse Effect of Marine Food Intake on Blood Pressure in Alaska Native (Yup'ik) People.

    PubMed

    Beaulieu-Jones, Brendin R; O'Brien, Diane M; Hopkins, Scarlett E; Moore, Jason H; Boyer, Bert B; Gilbert-Diamond, Diane

    2015-05-01

    Alaska Native people currently have a higher prevalence of hypertension than do nonnative Alaskans, although in the 1950s hypertension was rare among Alaska Native people. A novel biomarker of marine foods, the nitrogen isotope ratio (δ¹⁵N) in RBCs was shown to be negatively associated with systolic and diastolic blood pressure. Few studies have examined how individual characteristics modify the association of marine food intake with blood pressure. This exploratory analysis examined whether sex, adiposity, and hypertension modify the inverse association between marine food intake and blood pressure. We used covariate-adjusted linear models to describe the association between δ¹⁵N and blood pressure in 873 adult Alaska Native (Yup'ik) people who resided in 8 communities in southwest Alaska. We separately stratified by sex, body mass index (BMI) group, abdominal obesity, and hypertension status and assessed the interaction between δ¹⁵N and participant characteristics on blood pressure via likelihood ratio tests. The association between δ¹⁵N and systolic blood pressure was modified by sex, BMI status, and abdominal obesity, with the inverse association observed only in the male (β = -1.5; 95% CI: -2.4, -0.6 : , nonobese BMI (β = -1.7; 95% CI: -2.5, -1.0), and non-abdominally obese (β = -1.6; 95% CI: -2.4, -0.9) strata (all P-interaction < 0.0001). A reduction in diastolic blood pressure associated with δ¹⁵N was observed in the nonobese BMI (β = -1.1; 95% CI: -1.7, -0.5) and non-abdominally obese (β = -1.1; 95% CI: -1.7, -0.5) strata, although only the interaction between BMI group and δ¹⁵N with diastolic blood pressure was significant. The inverse association between δ¹⁵N and both systolic and diastolic blood pressure was observed in nonhypertensive individuals, although the comparison had limited power. The results were consistent with those identified by using combined RBC concentrations of eicosapentaenoic acid and docosahexaenoic

  3. Pollen, vegetation, and climate relationships along the Dalton Highway, Alaska, USA: a basis for holocene paleoecological and paleoclimatic studies

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Short, S.K.; Andrews, J.T.; Webber, P.J.

    The Dalton Highway extends from Fairbanks, in the interior of Alaska, to Prudhoe Bay on the Arctic Coastal Plain. Over this 600-km transect, July temperatures vary from 17 to 5/sup 0/C. Studies of vegetation along the Dalton Highway identified nine major zones. During the vegetation survey moss polsters were collected within the survey quadrats. Two hundred and nineteen individual moss polsters document regional variations in the modern pollen spectra along this vegetation/climate transect. Treeline is distinguished by a change from dominance by spruce and shrub (especially alder) pollen to the south to herb and shrub (especially willow) pollen dominance tomore » the north; a shift from high modern pollen concentration values to very low values is also noted. Discriminant analysis indicated that the vegetation zones are also defined by different pollen assemblages, suggesting that former changes in vegetation during the Holocene, as recorded in peat deposits, could be interpreted from pollen diagrams. Transfer functions were developed to examine the statistical association between the modern pollen rain and several climatic parameters. The correlation between pollen taxa and mean July temperature was r = 0.84. The most important taxa in the equation are Picea, Alnus, Pinus, Sphagnum, and Betula. 59 references, 7 figures, 4 tables.« less

  4. Crustal structure of the alaska range orogen and denali fault along the richardson highway

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Fisher, M.A.; Pellerin, L.; Nokleberg, W.J.; Ratchkovski, N.A.; Glen, J.M.G.

    2007-01-01

    A suite of geophysical data obtained along the Richardson Highway crosses the eastern Alaska Range and Denali fault and reveals the crustal structure of the orogen. Strong seismic reflections from within the orogen north of the Denali fault dip as steeply as 25?? north and extend downward to depths between 20 and 25 km. These reflections reveal what is probably a shear zone that transects most of the crust and is part of a crustal-scale duplex structure that probably formed during the Late Cretaceous. These structures, however, appear to be relict because over the past 20 years, they have produced little or no seismicity despite the nearby Mw = 7.9 Denali fault earthquake that struck in 2002. The Denali fault is nonreflective, but we interpret modeled magnetotelluric (MT), gravity, and magnetic data to propose that the fault dips steeply to vertically. Modeling of MT data shows that aftershocks of the 2002 Denali fault earthquake occurred above a rock body that has low electrical resistivity (>10 ohm-m), which might signify the presence of fluids in the middle and lower crust. Copyright ?? 2007 The Geological Society of America.

  5. 78 FR 29248 - Fisheries of the Exclusive Economic Zone Off Alaska; Alaska Plaice in the Bering Sea and Aleutian...

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2013-05-20

    .... 121018563-3418-02] RIN 0648-XC687 Fisheries of the Exclusive Economic Zone Off Alaska; Alaska Plaice in the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands Management Area AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS...: NMFS is prohibiting retention of Alaska plaice in the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands management area...

  6. 76 FR 33171 - Fisheries of the Exclusive Economic Zone Off Alaska; Alaska Plaice in the Bering Sea and Aleutian...

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2011-06-08

    .... 101126521-0640-02] RIN 0648-XA482 Fisheries of the Exclusive Economic Zone Off Alaska; Alaska Plaice in the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands Management Area AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS... management area (BSAI). This action is necessary to prevent exceeding the 2011 Alaska plaice total allowable...

  7. Off-Highway Transportation-Related Fuel Use

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Davis, S.C.

    2004-05-08

    The transportation sector includes many subcategories--for example, on-highway, off-highway, and non-highway. Use of fuel for off-highway purposes is not well documented, nor is the number of off-highway vehicles. The number of and fuel usage for on-highway and aviation, marine, and rail categories are much better documented than for off-highway land-based use. Several sources document off-highway fuel use under specific conditions--such as use by application (e.g., recreation) or by fuel type (e.g., gasoline). There is, however, no single source that documents the total fuel used off-highway and the number of vehicles that use the fuel. This report estimates the fuel usagemore » and number of vehicles/equipment for the off-highway category. No new data have been collected nor new models developed to estimate the off-highway data--this study is limited in scope to using data that already exist. In this report, unless they are being quoted from a source that uses different terminology, the terms are used as listed below. (1) ''On-highway/on-road'' includes land-based transport used on the highway system or other paved roadways. (2) ''Off-highway/off-road'' includes land-based transport not using the highway system or other paved roadways. (3) ''Non-highway/non-road'' includes other modes not traveling on highways such as aviation, marine, and rail. It should be noted that the term ''transportation'' as used in this study is not typical. Generally, ''transportation'' is understood to mean the movement of people or goods from one point to another. Some of the off-highway equipment included in this study doesn't transport either people or goods, but it has utility in movement (e.g., a forklift or a lawn mower). Along these lines, a chain saw also has utility in movement, but it cannot transport itself (i.e., it must be carried) because it does not have wheels. Therefore, to estimate the transportation-related fuel used off-highway, transportation equipment is defined

  8. 78 FR 18965 - Takes of Marine Mammals Incidental to Specified Activities; Taking Marine Mammals Incidental to...

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2013-03-28

    ... Drilling Program in the Chukchi Sea, Alaska AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National... numbers of marine mammals, by harassment, incidental to conducting offshore exploration drilling on Outer... offshore exploration drilling on OCS leases in the Chukchi Sea, Alaska, during the 2014 open-water season...

  9. Sex, Adiposity, and Hypertension Status Modify the Inverse Effect of Marine Food Intake on Blood Pressure in Alaska Native (Yup’ik) People123

    PubMed Central

    Beaulieu-Jones, Brendin R; O’Brien, Diane M; Hopkins, Scarlett E; Moore, Jason H; Boyer, Bert B; Gilbert-Diamond, Diane

    2015-01-01

    Background: Alaska Native people currently have a higher prevalence of hypertension than do nonnative Alaskans, although in the 1950s hypertension was rare among Alaska Native people. A novel biomarker of marine foods, the nitrogen isotope ratio (δ15N) in RBCs was shown to be negatively associated with systolic and diastolic blood pressure. Few studies have examined how individual characteristics modify the association of marine food intake with blood pressure. Objective: This exploratory analysis examined whether sex, adiposity, and hypertension modify the inverse association between marine food intake and blood pressure. Methods: We used covariate-adjusted linear models to describe the association between δ15N and blood pressure in 873 adult Alaska Native (Yup’ik) people who resided in 8 communities in southwest Alaska. We separately stratified by sex, body mass index (BMI) group, abdominal obesity, and hypertension status and assessed the interaction between δ15N and participant characteristics on blood pressure via likelihood ratio tests. Results: The association between δ15N and systolic blood pressure was modified by sex, BMI status, and abdominal obesity, with the inverse association observed only in the male (β = −1.5; 95% CI: −2.4, −0.6), nonobese BMI (β = −1.7; 95% CI: −2.5, −1.0), and non–abdominally obese (β = −1.6; 95% CI: −2.4, −0.9) strata (all P-interaction < 0.0001). A reduction in diastolic blood pressure associated with δ15N was observed in the nonobese BMI (β = −1.1; 95% CI: −1.7, −0.5) and non–abdominally obese (β = −1.1; 95% CI: −1.7, −0.5) strata, although only the interaction between BMI group and δ15N with diastolic blood pressure was significant. The inverse association between δ15N and both systolic and diastolic blood pressure was observed in nonhypertensive individuals, although the comparison had limited power. The results were consistent with those identified by using combined RBC

  10. Persistence of triclopyr in Alaska subarctic environments

    USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

    Field dissipation and vertical mobility of the butoxyethyl ester of triclopyr was assessed in two distinct geographic locations within the state of Alaska. Interior sites near Delta Junction included vegetated plots within highway rights-of-way (ROW) and Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) fields and...

  11. Asphalt concrete properties and performance in Alaska : final report

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    1981-07-01

    This report examines asphalt pavement properties of 117 older highway sections within the State of Alaska. Principal research objectives included: 1) documentation of commonly measured physical properties of the asphalt concrete cores and extracted a...

  12. GhostNet marine debris survey in the Gulf of Alaska--satellite guidance and aircraft observations.

    PubMed

    Pichel, William G; Veenstra, Timothy S; Churnside, James H; Arabini, Elena; Friedman, Karen S; Foley, David G; Brainard, Russell E; Kiefer, Dale; Ogle, Simeon; Clemente-Colón, Pablo; Li, Xiaofeng

    2012-01-01

    Marine debris, particularly debris that is composed of lost or abandoned fishing gear, is recognized as a serious threat to marine life, vessels, and coral reefs. The goal of the GhostNet project is the detection of derelict nets at sea through the use of weather and ocean models, drifting buoys and satellite imagery to locate convergent areas where nets are likely to collect, followed by airborne surveys with trained observers and remote sensing instruments to spot individual derelict nets. These components of GhostNet were first tested together in the field during a 14-day marine debris survey of the Gulf of Alaska in July and August 2003. Model, buoy, and satellite data were used in flight planning. A manned aircraft survey with visible and IR cameras and a LIDAR instrument located debris in the targeted locations, including 102 individual pieces of debris of anthropogenic or terrestrial origin. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

  13. 40 CFR 60.4216 - What requirements must I meet for engines used in Alaska?

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-07-01

    ... engines used in Alaska? 60.4216 Section 60.4216 Protection of Environment ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY... alternative plan for implementing the requirements of 40 CFR part 60, subpart IIII, for public-sector electrical utilities located in rural areas of Alaska not accessible by the Federal Aid Highway System. This...

  14. Frozen soil lateral resistance for the seismic design of highway bridge foundations : [summary].

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2012-12-01

    With recent seismic activity and earthquakes in Alaska and throughout the Pacific Rim, seismic design is becoming an increasingly important public safety concern for : highway bridge designers. Hoping to generate knowledge that can improve the seismi...

  15. Asphalt concrete properties and performance in Alaska : executive summary

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    1982-01-01

    A major study of asphalt concrete properties and performance of Alaska's highways was completed in 1982. The project data base was obtained from 117 statewide pavement sections through numerous core samples and measurements of cracking, patching and ...

  16. Ground temperatures across the old and new roads at mile 130, Richardson highway during 1954-62

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Jin, H.; Brewer, M.C.; Perkins, R.A.; ,

    2002-01-01

    Year-round studies of the geothermal impacts of road construction in a "warm" permafrost area were undertaken during 1954-1962 at six road sections across the Richardson and Glenn Highways, in the vicinity of Glennallen, Alaska. As a result, significant information was obtained regarding the temperatures, and changes in temperatures, in the permafrost beneath and adjacent to the highway sections.

  17. 78 FR 80385 - Takes of Marine Mammals Incidental to Specified Activities; Taking Marine Mammals Incidental to...

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2013-12-31

    ...NMFS received an application from Apache Alaska Corporation (Apache) for an Incidental Harassment Authorization (IHA) to take marine mammals, by harassment, incidental to a proposed 3D seismic survey in Cook Inlet, Alaska, between March 1, 2014, and December 31, 2014. Pursuant to the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA), NMFS requests comments on its proposal to issue an IHA to Apache to take, by Level B harassment only, five species of marine mammals during the specified activity.

  18. 76 FR 32142 - Proposed Information Collection; Comment Request; Alaska Saltwater Sportfishing Economic Survey

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2011-06-03

    ... Collection; Comment Request; Alaska Saltwater Sportfishing Economic Survey AGENCY: National Oceanic and... a survey to collect data for conducting economic analyses of marine sport fishing in Alaska. This survey is necessary to understand the factors that affect the economic value of marine recreational...

  19. 75 FR 46912 - Draft 2010 Marine Mammal Stock Assessment Reports

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2010-08-04

    ... reviewed the Alaska, Atlantic, and Pacific regional marine mammal stock assessment reports (SARs) in accordance with the Marine Mammal Protection Act. SARs for marine mammals in the Alaska, Atlantic, and... SARs. DATES: Comments must be received by November 2, 2010. ADDRESSES: The 2010 draft SARs, summaries...

  20. 20th-century glacial-marine sedimentation in Vitus Lake, Bering Glacier, Alaska, U.S.A.

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Molnia, B.F.; Post, A.; Carlson, P.R.

    1996-01-01

    Vitus Lake, the ice-marginal basin at the southeastern edge of Bering Glacier, Alaska, U.S.A., is a site of modern, rapid, glacial-marine sedimentation. Rather than being a fresh-water lake, Vitus Lake is a tidally influenced, marine to brackish embayment connected to the Pacific Ocean by an inlet, the Seal River. Vitus Lake consists of five deep bedrock basins, separated by interbasinal highs. Glacial erosion has cut these basins as much as 250 m below sea level. High-resolution seismic reflection surveys conducted in 1991 and 1993 of four of Vitus Lake's basins reveal a complex, variable three-component acoustic stratigraphy. Although not fully sampled, the stratigraphy is inferred to be primarily glacial-marine units of (1) basal contorted and deformed glacial-marine and glacial sediments deposited by basal ice-contact processes and submarine mass-wasting; (2) acoustically well-stratified glacial-marine sediment, which unconformably overlies the basal unit and which grades upward into (3) acoustically transparent or nearly transparent glacial-marine sediment. Maximum thicknesses of conformable glacial-marine sediment exceed 100 m. All of the acoustically transparent and stratified deposits in Vitus Lake are modern in age, having accumulated between 1967 and 1993. The basins where these three-part sequences of "present-day" glacial-marine sediment are accumulating are themselves cut into older sequences of stratified glacial and glacial-marine deposits. These older units outcrop on the islands in Vitus Lake. In 1967, as the result of a major surge, glacier ice completely filled all five basins. Subsequent terminus retreat, which continued through August 1993, exposed these basins, providing new locations for glacial-marine sediment accumulation. A correlation of sediment thicknesses measured from seismic profiles at specific locations within the basins, with the year that each location became ice-free, shows that the sediment accumulation at some locations

  1. Satellite Sounder Data Assimilation for Improving Alaska Region Weather Forecast

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Zhu, Jiang; Stevens, E.; Zhang, X.; Zavodsky, B. T.; Heinrichs, T.; Broderson, D.

    2014-01-01

    A case study and monthly statistical analysis using sounder data assimilation to improve the Alaska regional weather forecast model are presented. Weather forecast in Alaska faces challenges as well as opportunities. Alaska has a large land with multiple types of topography and coastal area. Weather forecast models must be finely tuned in order to accurately predict weather in Alaska. Being in the high-latitudes provides Alaska greater coverage of polar orbiting satellites for integration into forecasting models than the lower 48. Forecasting marine low stratus clouds is critical to the Alaska aviation and oil industry and is the current focus of the case study. NASA AIRS/CrIS sounder profiles data are used to do data assimilation for the Alaska regional weather forecast model to improve Arctic marine stratus clouds forecast. Choosing physical options for the WRF model is discussed. Preprocess of AIRS/CrIS sounder data for data assimilation is described. Local observation data, satellite data, and global data assimilation data are used to verify and/or evaluate the forecast results by the MET tools Model Evaluation Tools (MET).

  2. 76 FR 33172 - Fisheries of the Exclusive Economic Zone Off Alaska; Alaska Plaice in the Bering Sea and Aleutian...

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2011-06-08

    ... fishery in the (BSAI) exclusive economic zone according to the Fishery Management Plan for Groundfish of.... 101126521-0640-02] RIN 0648-XA483 Fisheries of the Exclusive Economic Zone Off Alaska; Alaska Plaice in the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands Management Area AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS...

  3. Marine geology of the Near Islands Shelf, Alaska

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Scruton, Philip Challacombe

    1953-01-01

    During the summer of 1950 on the insular shelf surrounding the Near Islands, Alaska, 193 oceanographic stations were occupied from aboard the U. S. Geological Survey vessel EIDER. Bottom character and temperature observations were made at these stations. The composition and size distribution characteristics of the bottom samples have been determined. Components of terrigenous origin are angular to subangular sand and silt and angular to well rounded granules, pebbles, and cobbles, all composed of little-altered fragments of the fine grained insular rocks. Components of marine origin are the skeletons of Foraminifera, diatoms, and sponges and the broken shells of a few species of mollusks and of one echinoid species. A chart, based also on the study of approximately 600 USC&GS bottom notations, was prepared to show the distribution of these components of the sediments. Bed rock is exposed on most of the shelf; where sediment occurs terrigenous components are generally most important near shore, whereas marine components are more important seaward of the islands. Studies of the Foraminifera fauna and the diatom flora (identified by K. E. Lohman) and the few mollusks of quantitative importance show these organisms to be forms characteristic of cold or deep water or occurring in a wide range of temperature conditions. The Foraminifera exhibit depth zonation which seems to be controlled in part by temperature and in part by depth or some other variable which is a function of depth. Sphericity and roundness studies made on pebbles from the shelf, the beaches, and the fluvio-glacial deposits together with shelf topographic features and Foraminifera from sediment deposited before ice wastage was complete suggest the shelf was not subjected to prolonged surf action during the post-glacial rise of sea level. To aid in interpreting the sediments and their distribution several subaerial and marine environmental factors were investigated. Those factors found to be of most

  4. Engineering Geology | Alaska Division of Geological & Geophysical Surveys

    Science.gov Websites

    Tidal Datum Portal Climate and Cryosphere Hazards Coastal Hazards Program Guide to Geologic Hazards in Tidal Datum Portal Climate and Cryosphere Hazards Coastal Hazards Program Guide to Geologic Hazards in Highway and development of avalanche susceptibility and prediction models near Atigun Pass. Alaska coastal

  5. 76 FR 72680 - Marine Mammals

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2011-11-25

    .... 15750] Marine Mammals AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and Atmospheric... research on marine mammals in Alaska. ADDRESSES: The permit and related documents are available for review... requested permit has been issued under the authority of the Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972, as amended...

  6. Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development

    Science.gov Websites

    ; Workforce Development > Alaska Maritime Workforce Development Plan FIND A MARITIME JOB SIGN UP TO RECEIVE MARITIME JOB UPDATES REQUEST A PRESENTATION OF THE PLAN TO YOUR ORGANIZATION CONTACT US Homer Marine Trades Association Resolution in Support of the Alaska Maritime Workforce Development Plan Kenai Peninsula Borough

  7. Using Integrated Ecosystem Observations from Gulf Watch Alaska to Assess the Effects of the 2014/2015 Pacific Warm Anomaly in the Northern Gulf of Alaska

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Holderied, K.; Neher, T. H.; McCammon, M.; Hoffman, K.; Hopcroft, R. R.; Lindeberg, M.; Ballachey, B.; Coletti, H.; Esler, D.; Weingartner, T.

    2016-02-01

    The response of nearshore and coastal pelagic ecosystems in the northern Gulf of Alaska to the 2014-2015 Pacific Ocean warm anomaly is being assessed with multi-disciplinary observations of the Gulf Watch Alaska long-term ecosystem monitoring program. Gulf Watch Alaska is an integrated, multi-agency program, funded by the Exxon Valdez oil spill Trustee Council to track populations of nearshore and pelagic species injured by the 1989 oil spill, as well as the marine conditions that affect those species. While the primary program goals are to support management and sustained recovery of species injured directly and indirectly by the spill, the integration of oceanographic observations with monitoring of nearshore and pelagic food webs also facilitates detection and assessment of ecosystem changes. The initial 5-year phase of the Gulf Watch Alaska program was started in 2012 and has provided marine ecosystem observations through the transition in late 2013 from anomalously cool to anomalously warm ocean conditions in the Gulf of Alaska. We review results from and linkages between oceanographic, whale, seabird, intertidal, and plankton monitoring projects in Prince William Sound, Cook Inlet and the northern Gulf of Alaska shelf. We also assess the different ecosystem responses observed between the summers of 2014 and 2015, with the region experiencing unusual amounts of seabird and marine mammal mortalities and harmful algal bloom events in 2015.

  8. Permafrost Changes along the Alaska Highway Corridor, Southern Yukon, from Ground Temperature Measurements and DC Electrical Resistivity Tomography

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Duguay, M. A.; Lewkowicz, A. G.; Smith, S.

    2011-12-01

    A natural gas pipeline running across permafrost terrain from Prudhoe Bay, Alaska, through Canada to US markets was first proposed more than 30 years ago. In the intervening period, mean annual air temperatures in the region have risen by 0.5-1.0°C and it is probable that the ground has also warmed. Renewed interest in the pipeline has meant that information on permafrost and geotechnical conditions within the Alaska Highway Corridor of the southern Yukon must be updated for engineering design and the assessment of environmental impacts. To accomplish this goal, results from 1977-1981 drilling and ground temperature monitoring programs within the proposed pipeline corridor were used in combination with air photo analysis to select sites potentially sensitive to climate change. The sites are distributed across the extensive and sporadic discontinuous permafrost zones over a distance of 475 km between Beaver Creek and Whitehorse. To date, 11 targeted boreholes with permafrost have been found and cased to permit renewed ground temperature monitoring. By the end of summer 2011, it is expected that another 7 will have been instrumented. Measurable temperature increases relative to the 1970s are expected, except where values were previously just below 0°C. In the latter case, if the sites are still in permafrost, latent heat effects may have substantially moderated the temperature increase. Electrical resistivity tomography surveys are also being conducted to characterize the local permafrost distribution and geotechnical conditions. These 2D resistivity profiles will be used with the ground temperatures to examine current conditions and response to climate change and vegetation disturbance.

  9. National Weather Service Marine Text Forecasts

    Science.gov Websites

    Offshore NAVTEX Bay and Coastal Surf Zone Recreational Marine Weather Statements Special Marine Warnings Marine Weather Messages Alaska Bay and Coastal Great Lakes Open Lake Great Lakes Nearshore Great Lakes

  10. Performance Analysis of the Dowling Multi-Lane Roundabouts, in Anchorage, Alaska.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2010-06-01

    The first multi-lane roundabouts in Alaska were constructed in 2004 at the ramp : terminals of the Dowling/New Seward Highway interchange in Anchorage. The Dowling : roundabouts are currently operating at capacity for a short period of time during th...

  11. 77 FR 44472 - Safety Zone; Port Valdez, Alaska Maritime Highway System Ferry Terminal

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2012-07-30

    ... Game, which does not afford time for public feedback on a safety zone that will be in effect only when... month of July, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game has announced fishing openers in the Port of... an Alaska Department of Fish and Game fish opener that includes the 200-yard radius surrounding the...

  12. Soda Creek springs - metamorphic waters in the eastern Alaska Range

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Richter, D.H.; Donaldson, D.E.; Lamarre, R.A.

    1973-01-01

    The Soda Creek springs are a group of small, cold mineral springs on the southern flank of the eastern Alaska Range. The spring waters contain anomalous concentrations of carbon dioxide, sodium, chlorine, sulfate, boron, and ammonia and are actively precipitating deposits of calcite and aragonite. Sparingly present in these deposits are mixed-layer illite-montmorillonite clays and zeolite minerals. Low-temperaturemetamorphic reactions in subjacent marine sedimentary rocks of Jurassic and Cretaceous age may have produced the fluids and silicate minerals. With only a few exceptions, cool bicarbonate-rich springs in Alaska are concentrated south of the Denali fault system in south-central Alaska, southeastern Alaska, and along the Kaltag-Tintina fault system. These areas are characterized by active or recently activetectonism, major faults and folds, and an abundance of marine sedimentary rocks.

  13. 75 FR 38991 - Taking and Importing Marine Mammals; Taking Marine Mammals Incidental to Space Vehicle and...

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2010-07-07

    ... Importing Marine Mammals; Taking Marine Mammals Incidental to Space Vehicle and Missile Launch Operations at... application from the Alaska Aerospace Corporation (AAC) for authorization to take marine mammals incidental to launching space launch vehicles, long range ballistic target missiles, and other smaller missile systems at...

  14. 75 FR 81970 - Marine Mammals; File No. 14245; Permit To Conduct Research on Marine Mammals; Receipt of Application

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2010-12-29

    ...: National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Commerce. ACTION: Notice; receipt of application. SUMMARY: Notice is hereby given that National Marine Fisheries Service, National Marine Mammal Laboratory (NMML), Alaska Fisheries Science Center (Dr. John Bengtson...

  15. Canada seeks US financing waiver to clear Alaska Gas Pipeline's path

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Corrigan, R.

    1981-09-26

    A Canadian official outlines in an interview his government's hope that the US will proceed with the financing and construction of the Alaska Highway natural gas pipeline. The Canadian portion of the pipeline was begun under good faith because Canada sees her best interests served when US supply needs are met and when both countries have the energy to develop and prosper. Canada asks the Reagan administration to present Congress with a waiver package that will facilitate financing by eliminating a prohibition against pipeline share ownership by the owners of gas in Alaska. (DCK)

  16. 78 FR 24731 - Taking Marine Mammals Incidental to Specified Activities; Taking Marine Mammals Incidental to an...

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2013-04-26

    ... Drilling Program in the Chukchi Sea, Alaska AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National... conducting offshore exploration drilling on Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) leases in the Chukchi Sea, Alaska... incidental to COP's offshore exploration drilling in the Chukchi Sea during the 2014 open- [[Page 24732...

  17. 76 FR 25308 - Marine Mammals

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2011-05-04

    ...-XA165 Marine Mammals AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and Atmospheric... Jennifer Burns, Ph.D., University of Alaska Anchorage, Biology Department, 3101 Science Circle, Anchorage, AK, has been issued a permit to conduct [[Page 25309

  18. High Resolution Regional Climate Simulations over Alaska

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Monaghan, A. J.; Clark, M. P.; Arnold, J.; Newman, A. J.; Musselman, K. N.; Barlage, M. J.; Xue, L.; Liu, C.; Gutmann, E. D.; Rasmussen, R.

    2016-12-01

    In order to appropriately plan future projects to build and maintain infrastructure (e.g., dams, dikes, highways, airports), a number of U.S. federal agencies seek to better understand how hydrologic regimes may shift across the country due to climate change. Building on the successful completion of a series of high-resolution WRF simulations over the Colorado River Headwaters and contiguous USA, our team is now extending these simulations over the challenging U.S. States of Alaska and Hawaii. In this presentation we summarize results from a newly completed 4-km resolution WRF simulation over Alaska spanning 2002-2016 at 4-km spatial resolution. Our aim is to gain insight into the thermodynamics that drive key precipitation processes, particularly the extremes that are most damaging to infrastructure.

  19. A conservation assessment for the marbled murrelet in southeast Alaska.

    Treesearch

    Anthony R. DeGange

    1996-01-01

    This assessment summarizes available information on the marbled murrelet in southeast Alaska and evaluates its current status. Marbled murrelets are broadly distributed across marine waters throughout southeast Alaska. They are abundant, numbering at least in the low hundreds of thousands. Marbled murrelets are believed to be at increasing risk in biogeographic...

  20. 77 FR 41754 - Fishing Capacity Reduction Program for the Southeast Alaska Purse Seine Salmon Fishery

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2012-07-16

    ... Capacity Reduction Program for the Southeast Alaska Purse Seine Salmon Fishery AGENCY: National Marine... program in the Southeast Alaska purse seine salmon fishery. NMFS conducted a referendum to approve the..., Chief, Financial Services Division, NMFS, Attn: SE Alaska Purse Seine Salmon Buyback, 1315 East-West...

  1. 77 FR 26744 - Fishing Capacity Reduction Program for the Southeast Alaska Purse Seine Salmon Fishery

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2012-05-07

    ... Capacity Reduction Program for the Southeast Alaska Purse Seine Salmon Fishery AGENCY: National Marine... of reduction payment tender of Southeast Alaska purse seine salmon permits. SUMMARY: The National... Southeast Alaska purse seine salmon fishery. The program authorizes NMFS to make payments to permit holders...

  2. Causes and consequences of marine mammal population declines in southwest Alaska: a food-web perspective.

    PubMed

    Estes, J A; Doak, D F; Springer, A M; Williams, T M

    2009-06-27

    Populations of sea otters, seals and sea lions have collapsed across much of southwest Alaska over the past several decades. The sea otter decline set off a trophic cascade in which the coastal marine ecosystem underwent a phase shift from kelp forests to deforested sea urchin barrens. This interaction in turn affected the distribution, abundance and productivity of numerous other species. Ecological consequences of the pinniped declines are largely unknown. Increased predation by transient (marine mammal-eating) killer whales probably caused the sea otter declines and may have caused the pinniped declines as well. Springer et al. proposed that killer whales, which purportedly fed extensively on great whales, expanded their diets to include a higher percentage of sea otters and pinnipeds following a sharp reduction in great whale numbers from post World War II industrial whaling. Critics of this hypothesis claim that great whales are not now and probably never were an important nutritional resource for killer whales. We used demographic/energetic analyses to evaluate whether or not a predator-prey system involving killer whales and the smaller marine mammals would be sustainable without some nutritional contribution from the great whales. Our results indicate that while such a system is possible, it could only exist under a narrow range of extreme conditions and is therefore highly unlikely.

  3. 40 CFR 1042.605 - Dressing engines already certified to other standards for nonroad or heavy-duty highway engines...

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-07-01

    ... other standards for nonroad or heavy-duty highway engines for marine use. 1042.605 Section 1042.605... § 1042.605 Dressing engines already certified to other standards for nonroad or heavy-duty highway... conformity from one of the following programs: (i) Heavy-duty highway engines (40 CFR part 86). (ii) Land...

  4. Off-highway vehicle technology roadmap.

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    NONE

    2002-02-07

    The off-highway sector is under increasing pressure to reduce operating costs (including fuel costs) and to reduce emissions. Recognizing this, the Society of Automotive Engineers and the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) convened a workshop in April 2001 (ANL 2001) to (1) determine the interest of the off-highway sector (consisting of agriculture, construction, surface mining, inland marine) in crafting a shared vision of off-highway, heavy machines of the future and (2) identify critical research and development (R&D) needs for minimizing off-highway vehicle emissions while cost-effectively maintaining or enhancing system performance. The workshop also enabled government and industry participants to exchangemore » information. During the workshop, it became clear that the challenges facing the heavy, surface-based off-highway sector can be addressed in three major machine categories: (1) engine/aftertreatment and fuels/lubes, (2) machine systems, and (3) thermal management. Working groups convened to address these topical areas. The status of off-highway technologies was determined, critical technical barriers to achieving future emission standards were identified, and strategies and technologies for reducing fuel consumption were discussed. Priority areas for R&D were identified. Given the apparent success of the discussions at the workshop, several participants from industry agreed to help in the formation of a joint industry/government ''roadmap'' team. The U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Heavy Vehicle Technologies has an extensive role in researching ways to make heavy-duty trucks and trains more efficient, with respect to both fuel usage and air emissions. The workshop participants felt that a joint industry/government research program that addresses the unique needs of the off-highway sector would complement the current research program for highway vehicles. With industry expertise, in-kind contributions, and federal government funding (coupled with

  5. 78 FR 33810 - Fishing Capacity Reduction Program for the Southeast Alaska Purse Seine Salmon Fishery

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2013-06-05

    ... Capacity Reduction Program for the Southeast Alaska Purse Seine Salmon Fishery AGENCY: National Marine... reduction loan for the fishing capacity reduction program in the Southeast Alaska purse seine salmon fishery... July 22, 2012. Since then, all harvesters of Southeast Alaska purse seine salmon must pay the fee and...

  6. Pink salmon ( Oncorhynchus gorbuscha) marine survival rates reflect early marine carbon source dependency

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Kline, Thomas C., Jr.; Boldt, Jennifer L.; Farley, Edward V., Jr.; Haldorson, Lewis J.; Helle, John H.

    2008-05-01

    Marine survival rate (the number of adult salmon returning divided by the number of salmon fry released) of pink salmon runs propagated by Prince William Sound, Alaska (PWS) salmon hatcheries is highly variable resulting in large year-to-year run size variation, which ranged from ∼20 to ∼50 million during 1998-2004. Marine survival rate was hypothesized to be determined during their early marine life stage, a time period corresponding to the first growing season after entering the marine environment while they are still in coastal waters. Based on the predictable relationships of 13C/ 12C ratios in food webs and the existence of regional 13C/ 12C gradients in organic carbon, 13C/ 12C ratios of early marine pink salmon were measured to test whether marine survival rate was related to food web processes. Year-to-year variation in marine survival rate was inversely correlated to 13C/ 12C ratios of early marine pink salmon, but with differences among hatcheries. The weakest relationship was for pink salmon from the hatchery without historic co-variation of marine survival rate with other PWS hatcheries or wild stocks. Year-to-year variation in 13C/ 12C ratio of early marine stage pink salmon in combination with regional spatial gradients of 13C/ 12C ratio measured in zooplankton suggested that marine survival was driven by carbon subsidies of oceanic origin (i.e., oceanic zooplankton). The 2001 pink salmon cohort had 13C/ 12C ratios that were very similar to those found for PWS carbon, i.e., when oceanic subsidies were inferred to be nil, and had the lowest marine survival rate (2.6%). Conversely, the 2002 cohort had the highest marine survival (9.7%) and the lowest mean 13C/ 12C ratio. These isotope patterns are consistent with hypotheses that oceanic zooplankton subsidies benefit salmon as food subsidies, or as alternate prey for salmon predators. Oceanic subsidies are manifestations of significant exchange of material between PWS and the Gulf of Alaska. Given

  7. The kelp highway hypothesis: marine ecology, the coastal migration theory, and the peopling of the Americas

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Erlandson, Jon M.; Graham, Michael H.; Bourque, Bruce J.; Corbett, Debra; Estes, James A.; Steneck, Robert S.

    2007-01-01

    In this article, a collaborative effort between archaeologists and marine ecologists, we discuss the role kelp forest ecosystems may have played in facilitating the movement of maritime peoples from Asia to the Americas near the end of the Pleistocene. Growing in cool nearshore waters along rocky coastlines, kelp forests offer some of the most productive habitats on earth, with high primary productivity, magnified secondary productivity, and three-dimensional habitat supporting a diverse array of marine organisms. Today, extensive kelp forests are found around the North Pacific from Japan to Baja California. After a break in the tropicswhere nearshore mangrove forests and coral reefs are highly productivekelp forests are also found along the Andean Coast of South America. These Pacific Rim kelp forests support or shelter a wealth of shellfish, fish, marine mammals, seabirds, and seaweeds, resources heavily used historically by coastal peoples. By about 16,000 years ago, the North Pacific Coast offered a linear migration route, essentially unobstructed and entirely at sea level, from northeast Asia into the Americas. Recent reconstructions suggest that rising sea levels early in the postglacial created a highly convoluted and island-rich coast along Beringia's southern shore, conditions highly favorable to maritime hunter-gatherers. Along with the terrestrial resources available in adjacent landscapes, kelp forests and other nearshore habitats sheltered similar suites of food resources that required minimal adaptive adjustments for migrating coastal peoples. With reduced wave energy, holdfasts for boats, and productive fishing, these linear kelp forest ecosystems may have provided a kind of kelp highway for early maritime peoples colonizing the New World.

  8. 76 FR 52940 - Draft 2011 Marine Mammal Stock Assessment Reports

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2011-08-24

    ... Marine Mammal Stock Assessment Reports AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic... reviewed the Alaska, Atlantic, and Pacific regional marine mammal stock assessment reports (SARs) in... of reports to: Chief, Marine Mammal and Sea Turtle Conservation Division, Office of Protected...

  9. Marine benthic habitat mapping of the West Arm, Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve, Alaska

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Hodson, Timothy O.; Cochrane, Guy R.; Powell, Ross D.

    2013-01-01

    Seafloor geology and potential benthic habitats were mapped in West Arm, Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve, Alaska, using multibeam sonar, groundtruthed observations, and geological interpretations. The West Arm of Glacier Bay is a recently deglaciated fjord system under the influence of glacial and paraglacial marine processes. High glacially derived sediment and meltwater fluxes, slope instabilities, and variable bathymetry result in a highly dynamic estuarine environment and benthic ecosystem. We characterize the fjord seafloor and potential benthic habitats using the recently developed Coastal and Marine Ecological Classification Standard (CMECS) by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and NatureServe. Due to the high flux of glacially sourced fines, mud is the dominant substrate within the West Arm. Water-column characteristics are addressed using a combination of CTD and circulation model results. We also present sediment accumulation data derived from differential bathymetry. These data show the West Arm is divided into two contrasting environments: a dynamic upper fjord and a relatively static lower fjord. The results of these analyses serve as a test of the CMECS classification scheme and as a baseline for ongoing and future mapping efforts and correlations between seafloor substrate, benthic habitats, and glacimarine processes.

  10. Aerial surveys of endangered cetaceans and other marine mammals in the northwestern Gulf of Alaska and southeastern Bering Sea. Final report

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Brueggeman, J.J.; Green, G.A.; Grotefendt, R.A.

    1987-09-01

    Aerial surveys were conducted in the Northwestern Gulf of Alaska and southeastern Bering Sea to determine the abundance, distribution, and habitat use patterns of endangered cetaceans and other marine mammals. Four species of cetaceans listed by the Federal Government as endangered were observed: gray, humpback, finback, and sperm whales. Sightings were also made to seven nonendangered species of cetaceans: minke, Cuvier's beaked, Baird's beaked, belukha, and killer whales, and Dall and harbor porpoises. Results show that the project area is an important feeding ground for relatively large numbers of humpback and finback whales and lower numbers of gray whale migrationmore » route between seasonal ranges. The project area also supports a variety of other marine mammals both seasonally and annually.« less

  11. 75 FR 49759 - Takes of Marine Mammals Incidental to Specified Activities; Taking Marine Mammals Incidental to...

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2010-08-13

    ...In accordance with the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA) regulations, notification is hereby given that NMFS has issued an Incidental Harassment Authorization (IHA) to Statoil USA E&P Inc. (Statoil) to take, by harassment, small numbers of 12 species of marine mammals incidental to a marine seismic survey program in the Chukchi Sea, Alaska, during the 2010 Arctic open water season.

  12. Effects of changing sea ice on marine mammals and subsistence hunters in northern Alaska from traditional knowledge interviews.

    PubMed

    Huntington, Henry P; Quakenbush, Lori T; Nelson, Mark

    2016-08-01

    Marine mammals are important sources of food for indigenous residents of northern Alaska. Changing sea ice patterns affect the animals themselves as well as access to them by hunters. Documenting the traditional knowledge of Iñupiaq and Yupik hunters concerning marine mammals and sea ice makes accessible a wide range of information relevant to understanding the ecosystem to which humans belong. We interviewed hunters in 11 coastal villages from the northern Bering Sea to the Beaufort Sea. Hunters reported extensive changes in sea ice and weather that have affected the timing of marine mammal migrations, their distribution and behaviour and the efficacy of certain hunting methods. Amidst these changes, however, hunters cited offsetting technological benefits, such as more powerful and fuel-efficient outboard engines. Other concerns included potential impacts to subsistence hunting from industrial activity such as shipping and oil and gas development. While hunters have been able to adjust to some changes, continued environmental changes and increased disturbance from human activity may further challenge their ability to acquire food in the future. There are indications, however, that innovation and flexibility provide sources of resilience. © 2016 The Authors.

  13. The trans-Alaska pipeline controversy: Technology, conservation, and the frontier

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Coates, P.A.

    1991-01-01

    The Trans-Alaska Pipeline was the object of perhaps the most passionately fought conservation battle in the U.S. Although numerous authors documented the pipeline construction during its construction, there is, surprisingly, no previous scholarly treatment of this event written by an historian. Coates is an environmental historian who views the most interesting aspect of the controversy to be [open quote]its relationship to earlier engineering projects and technological innovations in Alaska and the debates that accompanied them.[close quotes] Thus, he describes how the conservationist and environmental ideas arose during numerous earlier major Alaskan projects and controversies, including the Alaska Highway (1938-41), Canolmore » Pipeline (1943-45), exploration of Naval Petroleum Reserve Number Four (Pet 4, 1944-1953), DEWline (1953-57), oil development in the Kenai National Moose Range (1957-58), statehood (1958), the creation of the Arctic Wildlife Refuge (1960), Project Chariot (1958-63), and Rampart Dam (1959-67). The history starts with the acquisition of Alaska in 1867 and finishes about the time of the Valdez oil spill in 1989.« less

  14. An evaluation of improved structural materials in marine piling.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    1980-11-01

    A study to evaluate the production and field performance of marine piling fabricated with improved structural materials is currently being performed by the Oregon State Highway Division under the sponsorship of the Federal Highway Administration. In ...

  15. 76 FR 40674 - Fisheries of the Exclusive Economic Zone Off Alaska; Scallops

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2011-07-11

    ...-XA421 Fisheries of the Exclusive Economic Zone Off Alaska; Scallops AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries... July 26, 1995. The scallop fisheries in the U.S exclusive economic zone off Alaska are jointly managed... alternatives evaluated to address this action, and the environmental, social, and economic impacts of the...

  16. Impacts of the Jones Act on the Alaska forest products trade.

    Treesearch

    K.C. Jackson; C.W. McKetta

    1986-01-01

    Alaska forest products trade flows for 1982 were studied to determine the effects of the Merchant Marine Act of 1920 (the Jones Act). Information was collected from timber producers, forest product industries, and waterborne shippers in Alaska, British Columbia, and the Pacific Northwest. Trade flows were simulated, using a partial equilibrium model based on resource...

  17. 78 FR 43861 - Taking and Importing Marine Mammals; Taking Marine Mammals Incidental to Space Vehicle and...

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2013-07-22

    ... Importing Marine Mammals; Taking Marine Mammals Incidental to Space Vehicle and Missile Launch Operations at..., notification is hereby given that a Letter of Authorization (LOA) has been issued to the Alaska Aerospace Corporation (AAC) to take two species of pinnipeds incidental to space vehicle and missile launch operations...

  18. Improving passing lane safety and efficiency for Alaska's rural non-divided highways.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2014-06-01

    A series of experiments using a fixed-base driving simulator were conducted to examine the potential safety and operational : benefits of several highway safety interventions for reducing collision risk. Our approach sought to go beyond typical mitig...

  19. Infiltration of stormwater from highway operations to reduce coastal pollution.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2012-12-01

    The coastal waters of Hawaii are extremely important for recreation as well as for the health of : the marine environment. Runoff from the construction and operation of highways can be a : source of pollution to coastal waters. Individual states in t...

  20. Effects of currents and tides on fine-scale use of marine bird habitats in a Southeast Alaska hotspot

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Drew, Gary S.; Piatt, John F.; Hill, David J.

    2013-01-01

    Areas with high species richness have become focal points in the establishment of marine protected areas, but an understanding of the factors that support this diversity is still incomplete. In coastal areas, tidal currents—modulated by bathymetry and manifested in variable speeds—are a dominant physical feature of the environment. However, difficulties resolving tidally affected currents and depths at fine spatial-temporal scales have limited our ability to understand their influence the distribution of marine birds. We used a hydrographic model of the water mass in Glacier Bay, Alaska to link depths and current velocities with the locations of 15 common marine bird species observed during fine-scale boat-based surveys of the bay conducted during June of four consecutive years (2000-2003). Marine birds that forage on the bottom tended to occupy shallow habitats with slow-moving currents; mid-water foragers used habitats with intermediate depths and current speeds; and surface-foraging species tended to use habitats with fast-moving, deep waters. Within foraging groups there was variability among species in their use of habitats. While species obligated to foraging near bottom were constrained to use similar types of habitat, species in the mid-water foraging group were associated with a wider range of marine habitat characteristics. Species also showed varying levels of site use depending on tide stage. The dramatic variability in bottom topography—especially the presence of numerous sills, islands, headlands and channels—and large tidal ranges in Glacier Bay create a wide range of current-affected fine-scale foraging habitats that may contribute to the high diversity of marine bird species found there.

  1. High-mast light poles anchor nut loosening in Alaska : an investigation of field monitoring and finite-element analysis.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2014-09-01

    High mast lighting poles (HMLPs) are tall, roadside structures effective for lighting large areas of highways and intersections. The Alaska Department of Transportation : and Public Facilities (AKDOT&PF) maintains 118 such poles in the greater Anchor...

  2. Distribution of ground-nesting marine birds along shorelines in Glacier Bay, southeastern Alaska: An assessment related to potential disturbance by back-country users

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Arimitsu, Mayumi L.; Piatt, John F.; Romano, Marc D.

    2007-01-01

    With the exception of a few large colonies, the distribution of ground-nesting marine birds in Glacier Bay National Park in southeastern Alaska is largely unknown. As visitor use increases in back-country areas of the park, there is growing concern over the potential impact of human activities on breeding birds. During the 2003–05 breeding seasons, the shoreline of Glacier Bay was surveyed to locate ground-nesting marine birds and their nesting areas, including wildlife closures and historical sites for egg collection by Alaska Native peoples. The nesting distribution of four common ground-nesting marine bird species was determined: Arctic Tern (Sterna paradisaea), Black Oystercatcher (Haematopus bachmani), Mew Gull (Larus canus), and Glaucous-winged Gull (Larus glaucescens). Observations of less abundant species also were recorded, including Herring Gull (Larus argentatus), Red-throated Loon (Gavia stellata), Canada Goose (Branta canadensis), Willow Ptarmigan (Lagopus lagopus), Semipalmated Plover (Charadrius semipalmatus), Spotted Sandpiper (Actitis macularia), Least Sandpiper (Calidris minutilla), Parasitic Jaeger (Stercorarius parasiticus), and Aleutian Tern (Sterna aleutica). Nesting distribution for Arctic Terns was largely restricted to the upper arms of the bay and a few treeless islets in the lower bay, whereas Black Oystercatchers were more widely distributed along shorelines in the park. Mew Gulls nested throughout the upper bay in Geikie Inlet and in Fingers and Berg Bays, and most Glaucous-winged Gull nests were found at wildlife closures in the central and lower bays. Several areas were identified where human disturbance could affect breeding birds. This study comprises the first bay-wide survey for the breeding distribution of ground-nesting marine birds in Glacier Bay National Park, providing a minimum estimate of their numbers and distribution within the park. This information can be used to assess future human disturbance and track natural

  3. 49 CFR 27.75 - Federal Highway Administration-highways.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-10-01

    ... 49 Transportation 1 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Federal Highway Administration-highways. 27.75... Specific Operating Administration Programs: Airports, Railroads, and Highways § 27.75 Federal Highway Administration—highways. (a) New facilities—(1) Highway rest area facilities. All such facilities that will be...

  4. 49 CFR 27.75 - Federal Highway Administration-highways.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-10-01

    ... 49 Transportation 1 2014-10-01 2014-10-01 false Federal Highway Administration-highways. 27.75... Specific Operating Administration Programs: Airports, Railroads, and Highways § 27.75 Federal Highway Administration—highways. (a) New facilities—(1) Highway rest area facilities. All such facilities that will be...

  5. 49 CFR 27.75 - Federal Highway Administration-highways.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-10-01

    ... 49 Transportation 1 2013-10-01 2013-10-01 false Federal Highway Administration-highways. 27.75... Specific Operating Administration Programs: Airports, Railroads, and Highways § 27.75 Federal Highway Administration—highways. (a) New facilities—(1) Highway rest area facilities. All such facilities that will be...

  6. 49 CFR 27.75 - Federal Highway Administration-highways.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-10-01

    ... 49 Transportation 1 2012-10-01 2012-10-01 false Federal Highway Administration-highways. 27.75... Specific Operating Administration Programs: Airports, Railroads, and Highways § 27.75 Federal Highway Administration—highways. (a) New facilities—(1) Highway rest area facilities. All such facilities that will be...

  7. 49 CFR 27.75 - Federal Highway Administration-highways.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-10-01

    ... 49 Transportation 1 2011-10-01 2011-10-01 false Federal Highway Administration-highways. 27.75... Specific Operating Administration Programs: Airports, Railroads, and Highways § 27.75 Federal Highway Administration—highways. (a) New facilities—(1) Highway rest area facilities. All such facilities that will be...

  8. Field-trip guide to volcanic and volcaniclastic deposits of the lower Jurassic Talkeetna formation, Sheep Mountain, south-central Alaska

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Draut, Amy E.; Clift, Peter D.; Blodgett, Robert B.

    2006-01-01

    This guide provides information for a one-day field trip in the vicinity of Sheep Mountain, just north of the Glenn Highway in south-central Alaska. The Lower Jurassic Talkeetna Formation, consisting of extrusive volcanic and volcaniclastic sedimentary rocks of the Talkeetna arc complex, is exposed on and near Sheep Mountain. Field-trip stops within short walking distance of the Glenn Highway (approximately two hours’ drive from Anchorage) are described, which will be visited during the Geological Society of America Penrose meeting entitled Crustal Genesis and Evolution: Focus on Arc Lower Crust and Shallow Mantle, held in Valdez, Alaska, in July 2006. Several additional exposures of the Talkeetna Formation on other parts of Sheep Mountain that would need to be accessed with longer and more strenuous walking or by helicopter are also mentioned.

  9. Nighttime visibility of in-service pavement markings, pavement markers, and guardrail delineation in Alaska (with and without continuous lighting).

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2011-03-01

    This research determined the visibility of in-service pavement markings along lighted and unlighted highway sections, and compared : visibility of in-service pavement markings to the FHWA proposed minimum retroreflectivity levels for the Alaska Depar...

  10. A Collaborative and Mutually Beneficial Tribal Marine Science Workshop Format for Tribal Natural Resource Professionals, Marine Educators, and Researchers

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Matsumoto, George I.; Needham, Cathy; Opheim, Michael; Chen, Glenn

    2014-01-01

    The Tribal Marine Science Workshop has run annually since 2010. The workshop takes place at the Kasitsna Bay Laboratory, owned by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and operated by NOAA and the University of Alaska, Fairbanks, near Seldovia, Alaska. It is hosted by the Seldovia Village Tribe, sponsored by the Bureau of…

  11. Road facilitation of trematode infections in snails of northern Alaska.

    PubMed

    Urban, Mark C

    2006-08-01

    Road disturbances can influence wildlife health by spreading disease agents and hosts or by generating environmental conditions that sustain these agent and host populations. I evaluated field patterns of trematode infections in snails inhabiting ponds at varying distances from the Dalton Highway, a wilderness road that intersects northern Alaska. I also assessed the relationships between trematode infections and snail densities and six environmental variables: calcium concentration, aquatic vegetative cover canopy cover temperature, pond size, and community structure. Presence of trematode infections and snail density were negatively correlated with distance from the highway. Of the pond characteristics measured, only calcium concentration and vegetation density declined with distance from road. However neither variable was positively associated with snail density or trematode presence. One potential explanation for observed patterns is that vehicles, road maintenance, or vertebrate vectors attracted to the highway facilitate colonization of snails or trematodes. Emerging disease threats to biological diversity in northern ecosystems highlight the importance of understanding how roads affect disease transmission.

  12. Ocean acidification risk assessment for Alaska's fishery sector

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Mathis, J. T.; Cooley, S. R.; Lucey, N.; Colt, S.; Ekstrom, J.; Hurst, T.; Hauri, C.; Evans, W.; Cross, J. N.; Feely, R. A.

    2015-08-01

    The highly productive fisheries of Alaska are located in seas projected to experience strong global change, including rapid transitions in temperature and ocean acidification-driven changes in pH and other chemical parameters. Many of the marine organisms that are most intensely affected by ocean acidification (OA) contribute substantially to the state's commercial fisheries and traditional subsistence way of life. Prior studies of OA's potential impacts on human communities have focused only on possible direct economic losses from specific scenarios of human dependence on commercial harvests and damages to marine species. However, other economic and social impacts, such as changes in food security or livelihoods, are also likely to result from climate change. This study evaluates patterns of dependence on marine resources within Alaska that could be negatively impacted by OA and current community characteristics to assess the potential risk to the fishery sector from OA. Here, we used a risk assessment framework based on one developed by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change to analyze earth-system global ocean model hindcasts and projections of ocean chemistry, fisheries harvest data, and demographic information. The fisheries examined were: shellfish, salmon and other finfish. The final index incorporates all of these data to compare overall risk among Alaska's federally designated census areas. The analysis showed that regions in southeast and southwest Alaska that are highly reliant on fishery harvests and have relatively lower incomes and employment alternatives likely face the highest risk from OA. Although this study is an intermediate step toward our full understanding, the results presented here show that OA merits consideration in policy planning, as it may represent another challenge to Alaskan communities, some of which are already under acute socio-economic strains.

  13. 77 FR 19605 - Fisheries of the Exclusive Economic Zone Off Alaska; Pacific Salmon

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2012-04-02

    ...-BB77 Fisheries of the Exclusive Economic Zone Off Alaska; Pacific Salmon AGENCY: National Marine... exclusive economic zone (EEZ, 3 to 200 nautical miles) off Alaska are managed under the FMP. The FMP was... bycatch and bycatch mortality, (4) maximize economic and social benefits to the Nation over time, (5...

  14. Relative sea level and coastal environments in arctic Alaska during Marine Isotope Stage 5

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Farquharson, L. M.; Mann, D. H.; Jones, B. M.; Rittenour, T. M.; Grosse, G.; Groves, P.

    2015-12-01

    Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 5 was characterized by marked fluctuations in climate, the warmest being MIS 5e (124-119 ka) when relative sea level (RSL) stood 2-10 m higher than today along many coastlines. In northern Alaska, marine deposits now 5-10 m above modern sea level are assigned to this time period and termed the Pelukian transgression (PT). Complicating this interpretation is the possibility that an intra-Stage 5 ice shelf extended along the Alaskan coast, causing isostatic depression along its grounded margins, which caused RSL highs even during periods of low, global RSL. Here we use optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) to date inferred PT deposits on the Beaufort Sea coastal plain. A transition from what we interpret to be lagoonal mud to sandy tidal flat deposits lying ~ 2.75 m asl dates to 113+/-18 ka. Above this, a 5-m thick gravelly barrier beach dates to 95 +/- 20 ka. This beach contains well-preserved marine molluscs, whale vertebrae, and walrus tusks. Pleistocene-aged ice-rich eolian silt (yedoma) blanket the marine deposits and date to 57.6 +/-10.9 ka. Our interpretation of this chronostratigraphy is that RSL was several meters higher than today during MIS 5e, and lagoons or brackish lakes were prevalent. Gravel barrier beaches moved onshore as local RSL rose further after MIS 5e. The error range of the OSL age of the barrier-beach unit spans the remaining four substages of MIS 5; however, the highstand of RSL on this arctic coastline appears to occurr after the warmest part of the last interglacial and appears not to be coeval with the eustatic maximum reached at lower latitudes during MIS 5. One possibility is that RSL along the Beaufort Sea coast was affected by isostatic depression caused by an ice shelf associated with widespread, intra-Stage 5 glaciation that was out of phase with lower latitude glaciation and whose extent and timing remains enigmatic.

  15. 76 FR 4091 - Marine Mammals; File No. 15510

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2011-01-24

    ... DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration RIN 0648-XA165 Marine Mammals; File No. 15510 AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and Atmospheric... Jennifer Burns, Ph.D., University of Alaska Anchorage, Biology Department, 3101 Science Circle, Anchorage...

  16. 78 FR 42757 - Marine Mammals; File No. 17411

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2013-07-17

    ... DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration RIN 0648-XC541 Marine Mammals; File No. 17411 AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and Atmospheric... permit has been issued to Dr. Jennifer Burns, University of Alaska Anchorage, Biology Department...

  17. A Survey of Road Construction and Maintenance Problems in Central Alaska.

    DTIC Science & Technology

    1976-10-01

    recent natural disasters, such as the earthquake of 1964 and the Fairbanks flood in 1967, seriously set back the Alaskan highway program for several...problems as classifica- tion of natural road building materials, prevention of culvert icing, measurement of subgrade temperature, maintenance of slopes...Scarcity of clays or other material suitable for use as a binder in gravel surfacings poses additional problems throughout Alaska. Dust and stones

  18. 78 FR 13379 - Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve, Alaska; Proposed Mining Plan of Operations

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2013-02-27

    ...] Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve, Alaska; Proposed Mining Plan of Operations AGENCY: National...) unpatented placer claims within Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve. Public Availability: This plan...: Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve Headquarters, Mile 106.8 Richardson Highway, Post Office Box...

  19. 76 FR 3044 - Fisheries of the Exclusive Economic Zone Off Alaska; Sculpins, Sharks, Squid, and Octopus in the...

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2011-01-19

    ..., Squid, and Octopus in the Gulf of Alaska AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National... prohibiting directed fishing for sculpins, sharks, squid, and octopus in the Gulf of Alaska (GOA). This action..., and octopus in the GOA. DATES: Effective 1200 hrs, Alaska local time (A.l.t.), January 13, 2011...

  20. 78 FR 73454 - Fisheries of the Exclusive Economic Zone Off Alaska; Reallocation of Pacific Cod in the Central...

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2013-12-06

    ... in the Gulf of Alaska exclusive economic zone according to the Fishery Management Plan for Groundfish.... 120918468-3111-02] RIN 0648-XC976 Fisheries of the Exclusive Economic Zone Off Alaska; Reallocation of Pacific Cod in the Central Regulatory Area of the Gulf of Alaska Management Area AGENCY: National Marine...

  1. 78 FR 73454 - Fisheries of the Exclusive Economic Zone Off Alaska; Reallocation of Pacific Cod in the Western...

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2013-12-06

    .... 120918468-3111-02] RIN 0648-XC975 Fisheries of the Exclusive Economic Zone Off Alaska; Reallocation of Pacific Cod in the Western Regulatory Area of the Gulf of Alaska Management Area AGENCY: National Marine... the Western Regulatory Area of the Gulf of Alaska management area (GOA). This action is necessary to...

  2. 77 FR 54838 - Fisheries of the Exclusive Economic Zone Off Alaska; Reallocation of Pacific Cod in the Western...

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2012-09-06

    .... 111207737-2141-02] RIN 0648-XC205 Fisheries of the Exclusive Economic Zone Off Alaska; Reallocation of Pacific Cod in the Western Regulatory Area of the Gulf of Alaska Management Area AGENCY: National Marine... Alaska management area. This action is necessary to allow the 2012 total allowable catch of Pacific cod...

  3. 78 FR 55228 - Fisheries of the Exclusive Economic Zone Off Alaska; Reallocation of Pacific Cod in the Western...

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2013-09-10

    ... in the Gulf of Alaska exclusive economic zone according to the Fishery Management Plan for Groundfish.... 120918468-3111-02] RIN 0648-XC856 Fisheries of the Exclusive Economic Zone Off Alaska; Reallocation of Pacific Cod in the Western Regulatory Area of the Gulf of Alaska Management Area AGENCY: National Marine...

  4. 78 FR 14984 - Marine Mammals; File No. 17411

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2013-03-08

    ... DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration RIN 0648-XC541 Marine Mammals; File No. 17411 AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and Atmospheric.... Jennifer Burns, University of Alaska Anchorage, Biology Department, Anchorage, AK, has applied in due form...

  5. 75 FR 1595 - Pacific Halibut Fisheries; Limited Access for Guided Sport Charter Vessels in Alaska

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2010-01-12

    ... Halibut Fisheries; Limited Access for Guided Sport Charter Vessels in Alaska AGENCY: National Marine... charter halibut permit under the Limited Access System for Guided Sport Charter Vessels in Alaska... access system for charter vessels in the guided sport fishery for Pacific halibut in waters of...

  6. Off-Highway Gasoline Consuption Estimation Models Used in the Federal Highway Administration Attribution Process: 2008 Updates

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Hwang, Ho-Ling; Davis, Stacy Cagle

    2009-12-01

    This report is designed to document the analysis process and estimation models currently used by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) to estimate the off-highway gasoline consumption and public sector fuel consumption. An overview of the entire FHWA attribution process is provided along with specifics related to the latest update (2008) on the Off-Highway Gasoline Use Model and the Public Use of Gasoline Model. The Off-Highway Gasoline Use Model is made up of five individual modules, one for each of the off-highway categories: agricultural, industrial and commercial, construction, aviation, and marine. This 2008 update of the off-highway models was the secondmore » major update (the first model update was conducted during 2002-2003) after they were originally developed in mid-1990. The agricultural model methodology, specifically, underwent a significant revision because of changes in data availability since 2003. Some revision to the model was necessary due to removal of certain data elements used in the original estimation method. The revised agricultural model also made use of some newly available information, published by the data source agency in recent years. The other model methodologies were not drastically changed, though many data elements were updated to improve the accuracy of these models. Note that components in the Public Use of Gasoline Model were not updated in 2008. A major challenge in updating estimation methods applied by the public-use model is that they would have to rely on significant new data collection efforts. In addition, due to resource limitation, several components of the models (both off-highway and public-us models) that utilized regression modeling approaches were not recalibrated under the 2008 study. An investigation of the Environmental Protection Agency's NONROAD2005 model was also carried out under the 2008 model update. Results generated from the NONROAD2005 model were analyzed, examined, and compared, to the extent

  7. Hydraulic survey and scour assessment of Bridge 524, Tanana River at Big Delta, Alaska

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Heinrichs, Thomas A.; Langley, Dustin E.; Burrows, Robert L.; Conaway, Jeffrey S.

    2007-01-01

    Bathymetric and hydraulic data were collected August 26–28, 1996, on the Tanana River at Big Delta, Alaska, at the Richardson Highway bridge and Trans-Alaska Pipeline crossing. Erosion along the right (north) bank of the river between the bridge and the pipeline crossing prompted the data collection. A water-surface profile hydraulic model for the 100- and 500-year recurrence-interval floods was developed using surveyed information. The Delta River enters the Tanana immediately downstream of the highway bridge, causing backwater that extends upstream of the bridge. Four scenarios were considered to simulate the influence of the backwater on flow through the bridge. Contraction and pier scour were computed from model results. Computed values of pier scour were large, but the scour during a flood may actually be less because of mitigating factors. No bank erosion was observed at the time of the survey, a low-flow period. Erosion is likely to occur during intermediate or high flows, but the actual erosion processes are unknown at this time.

  8. The Effects of Changing Sea Ice on Marine Mammals and Their Hunters in Northern Alaska

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Huntington, H.; Quakenbush, L.; Nelson, M.

    2015-12-01

    Marine mammals are important sources of food for indigenous residents of northern Alaska. Changing sea ice patterns affect the animals themselves as well as access by hunters. Documenting the traditional knowledge of Iñupiaq and Yupik hunters concerning marine mammals and sea ice makes accessible a wide range of information and insight relevant to ecological understanding, conservation action, and the regulation of human activity. We interviewed hunters in villages from northern Bering Sea to the Beaufort Sea, focusing on bowhead whales, walrus, and ice seals. Hunters reported extensive changes in sea ice, with resulting effects on the timing of marine mammal migrations, the distribution and behavior of the animals, and the efficacy of certain hunting methods, for example the difficulty of finding ice thick enough to support a bowhead whale for butchering. At the same time, hunters acknowledged impacts and potential impacts from changing technology such as more powerful outboard engines and from industrial activity such as shipping and oil and gas development. Hunters have been able to adapt to some changes, for example by hunting bowhead whales in fall as well as spring on St. Lawrence Island, or by focusing their hunt in a shorter period in Nuiqsut to accommodate work schedules and worse weather. Other changes, such as reduced availability of ice seals due to rapid retreat of pack ice after spring break-up, continue to defy easy responses. Continued environmental changes, increased disturbance from human activity, and the introduction of new regulations for hunting may further challenge the ability of hunters to provide food as they have done to date, though innovation and flexibility may also provide new sources of adaptation.

  9. 78 FR 17886 - Fisheries of the Exclusive Economic Zone Off Alaska; Pollock in Statistical Area 630 in the Gulf...

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2013-03-25

    ... Statistical Area 630 in the Gulf of Alaska AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic.... SUMMARY: NMFS is opening directed fishing for pollock in Statistical Area 630 of the Gulf of Alaska (GOA... Statistical Area 630 of the GOA. DATES: Effective 1200 hrs, Alaska local time (A.l.t.), March 22, 2013...

  10. 76 FR 11393 - Fisheries of the Exclusive Economic Zone Off Alaska; Pollock in Statistical Area 630 in the Gulf...

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2011-03-02

    ... Statistical Area 630 in the Gulf of Alaska AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic.... SUMMARY: NMFS is opening directed fishing for pollock in Statistical Area 630 of the Gulf of Alaska (GOA... catch (TAC) of pollock in Statistical Area 630 of the GOA. DATES: Effective 1200 hrs, Alaska local time...

  11. 76 FR 10779 - Fisheries of the Exclusive Economic Zone Off Alaska; Pollock in Statistical Area 610 in the Gulf...

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2011-02-28

    ... Statistical Area 610 in the Gulf of Alaska AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic.... SUMMARY: NMFS is opening directed fishing for pollock in Statistical Area 610 of the Gulf of Alaska (GOA... pollock in Statistical Area 610 of the GOA. DATES: Effective 1200 hrs, Alaska local time (A.l.t...

  12. 77 FR 16950 - Fisheries of the Exclusive Economic Zone Off Alaska; Pollock in Statistical Area 630 in the Gulf...

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2012-03-23

    ... Statistical Area 630 in the Gulf of Alaska AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic.... SUMMARY: NMFS is opening directed fishing for pollock in Statistical Area 630 of the Gulf of Alaska (GOA... catch of pollock in Statistical Area 630 of the GOA. DATES: Effective 1200 hrs, Alaska local time (A.l.t...

  13. 76 FR 13097 - Fisheries of the Exclusive Economic Zone Off Alaska; Pollock in Statistical Area 630 in the Gulf...

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2011-03-10

    ... Statistical Area 630 in the Gulf of Alaska AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic.... SUMMARY: NMFS is opening directed fishing for pollock in Statistical Area 630 of the Gulf of Alaska (GOA... pollock in Statistical Area 630 of the GOA. DATES: Effective 1200 hrs, Alaska local time (A.l.t.), March 7...

  14. Interpretation of Stratified Fill, Frost Depths, Water Tables, and Massive Ice within Multi-Frequency Ground-Penetrating Radar Profiles Recorded Beneath Highways in Interior Alaska

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Arcone, S. A.

    2014-12-01

    Road Radar generally refers to ground-penetrating radar (GPR) surveys intended to investigate pavement construction using pulses centered above 1 GHz. In interior Alaska thick sand and gravel grading and its frozen state by late winter generally afford up to 10 m of signal penetration at lower frequencies. Consequently, this penetration potentially allows identification of pavement issues involving frost heave and thaw settlement, while the smooth surface allows assessment of GPR performance in permafrost areas under ideal survey conditions. Here I discuss profiles using pulse center frequencies from 50 to 360 MHz, recorded over sections of the Steese and Elliott Highways within and just north of Fairbanks, respectively, and of the Tok Highway near Glennallen. Construction fill is easily recognized by its stratification; where marginally present along the Elliott it is replaced by steeply dipping horizons from the underlying schist. The frost depth and water table horizons are recognized by phase attributes of the reflected pulse, as dictated by the contrasts present in dielectric permittivity, their relative depths, and their continuity. Undulating stratification in the sand and gravel fill indicates thaw settlement, as caused by the melting of buried massive ice. The Tok section reveals the top and likely the bottom of massive ice. Generally, signal penetration is greatly reduced beneath the water table and so the highest resolution, at 360 MHz, covers all horizons. There is rare evidence of a permafrost table because it is most likely masked or nearly coincident with the water table. Permafrost penetration in frozen silts is a long-standing problem for GPR, for which I discuss a possible cause related to Maxwell-Wagner dielectric relaxation losses associated with unfrozen water.

  15. Research on polar bears in Alaska, 1983-1985

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Amstrup, Steven C.

    1986-01-01

    Research on the ecology and status of polar bear populations in Alaska has continued since 1967. Research was a joint U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service/Alaska Department of Fish and Game effort until passage of the Marine Mammal Protection Act in 1972, and has been largely a Federal effort since then. In 1985, Alaskan polar beer research continues to be carried out by the Research Division of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (DOI). A recent reorganization removed authority for ecological research in Alaska from the Denver Wildlife Research Center, and vested it with the newly created Alaska Office of Fish and Wildlife Research. This new research office is the center for Federal fish and Wildlife related research throughout the state of Alaska and in its coastal waters.Although the responsibility for polar bear research lies with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, numerous other organizations and agencies deserve mention for their cooperation and support of the ongoing research. These include: the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (DOC), The U.S. Minerals Management Service (DOI), The Canadian Wildlife Service, The Northwest Territories Wildlife Service, the Yukon Wildlife Service, Dome Petroleum Ltd, Gulf Canada, and the Alaska Department of Fish and game.

  16. Ichthyophonus in sport-caught groundfishes from southcentral Alaska

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Harris, Bradley P.; Webster, Sarah R.; Wolf, Nathan; Gregg, Jacob L.; Hershberger, Paul

    2018-01-01

    This report of Ichthyophonus in common sport-caught fishes throughout the marine waters of southcentral Alaska represents the first documentation of natural Ichthyophonus infections in lingcod Ophiodon elongates and yelloweye rockfish Sebastes ruberrimus. In addition, the known geographic range of Ichthyophonus in black rockfish S. melanops has been expanded northward to include southcentral Alaska. Among all species surveyed, the infection prevalence was highest (35%, n = 334) in Pacific halibut Hippoglossus stenolepis. There were no gross indications of high-level infections or clinically diseased individuals. These results support the hypothesis that under typical conditions Ichthyophonus can occur at high infection prevalence accompanied with low-level infection among a variety of fishes throughout the eastern North Pacific Ocean, including southcentral Alaska.

  17. 78 FR 10102 - Fisheries of the Exclusive Economic Zone Off Alaska; Pacific Cod by Vessels Using Pot Gear in the...

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2013-02-13

    ... Vessels Using Pot Gear in the Central Regulatory Area of the Gulf of Alaska AGENCY: National Marine... gear in the Central Regulatory Area of the Gulf of Alaska (GOA). This action is necessary to prevent... pot gear in the Central Regulatory Area of the GOA. DATES: Effective 1200 hours, Alaska local time (A...

  18. 76 FR 18725 - Marine Mammals; File Nos. 14330 and 14335

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2011-04-05

    ... (Phoca vitulina) on St. Paul, St. George, Otter, and Walrus Islands, and Sea Lion Rock, all of the... marine mammals in Alaska: (File No. 14330) the Aleut Community of St. Paul Island, Tribal Government, Ecosystem Conservation Office, St. Paul Island, AK; and (File No. 14335) the Alaska SeaLife Center, Seward...

  19. Parasites of forage fishes in the vicinity of Steller sea lion (Eumetopias jubatus) habitat in Alaska.

    PubMed

    Moles, A; Heintz, R A

    2007-07-01

    Fish serve as intermediate hosts for a number of larval parasites that have the potential of maturing in marine mammals such as Steller sea lions (Eumetopias jubatus). We examined the prevalence of parasites from 229 fish collected between March and July 2002 near two islands used by Steller sea lions in Southeast Alaska and island habitats in the Aleutian Islands. Sea lion populations have remained steady in Southeast Alaska but have been declining over the last 30 yr in the Aleutian Islands. Even though the fish samples near the Southeast Alaska haul-outs were composed of numerous small species of fish and the Aleutian Islands catch was dominated by juveniles of commercially harvested species, the parasite fauna was similar at all locations. Eleven of the 20 parasite taxa identified were in their larval stage in the fish hosts, several of which have been described from mammalian final hosts. Four species of parasite were more prevalent in Southeast Alaska fish samples, and seven parasite species, including several larval forms capable of infecting marine mammals, were more prevalent in fish from the Aleutian Islands. Nevertheless, parasites available to Steller sea lions from common fish prey are not likely to be a major factor in the decline of this marine mammal species.

  20. Facts About Alaska, Alaska Kids' Corner, State of Alaska

    Science.gov Websites

    Skip to content State of Alaska myAlaska My Government Resident Business in Alaska Visiting Alaska State Employees State of Alaska Search Home Quick Links Departments Commissioners Employee Whitepages State Government Jobs Federal Jobs Starting a Small Business Living Get a Driver License Get a Hunting

  1. 77 FR 67580 - Fisheries of the Exclusive Economic Zone Off Alaska; Pacific Cod by Vessels Using Jig Gear in the...

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2012-11-13

    ... Vessels Using Jig Gear in the Central Regulatory Area of the Gulf of Alaska AGENCY: National Marine... vessels using jig gear in the Central Regulatory Area of the Gulf of Alaska (GOA). This action is... gear in the Central Regulatory Area of the GOA. DATES: Effective 1200 hrs, Alaska local time (A.l.t...

  2. 78 FR 7280 - Fisheries of the Exclusive Economic Zone Off Alaska; Pacific Cod by Vessels Using Pot Gear in the...

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2013-02-01

    ... Vessels Using Pot Gear in the Western Regulatory Area of the Gulf of Alaska AGENCY: National Marine... using pot gear in the Western Regulatory Area of the Gulf of Alaska (GOA). This action is necessary to... vessels using pot gear in the Western Regulatory Area of the GOA. DATES: Effective 1200 hrs, Alaska local...

  3. 77 FR 65640 - Fisheries of the Exclusive Economic Zone Off Alaska; Pacific Cod by Vessels Using Pot Gear in the...

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2012-10-30

    ... Vessels Using Pot Gear in the Central Regulatory Area of the Gulf of Alaska AGENCY: National Marine... vessels using pot gear in the Central Regulatory Area of the Gulf of Alaska (GOA). This action is... gear in the Central Regulatory Area of the GOA. DATES: Effective 1200 hrs, Alaska local time (A.l.t...

  4. Highway Statistics 1994

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    1995-10-01

    This is an annual report containing analyzed statistical data on motor fuel; motor vehicles; driver licensing; highway-user taxation; State highway finance; highway mileage; Federal aid for highways; highway finance data for municipalities, counties,...

  5. USGS Western Coastal and Marine Geology Team

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Johnson, Sam; Gibbons, Helen

    2007-01-01

    The Western Coastal and Marine Geology Team of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) studies the coasts of the western United States, including Alaska and Hawai‘i. Team scientists conduct research, monitor processes, and develop information about coastal and marine geologic hazards, environmental conditions, habitats, and energy and mineral resources. This information helps managers at all levels of government and in the private sector make informed decisions about the use and protection of national coastal and marine resources.

  6. 78 FR 21597 - Marine Mammals: Alaska Harbor Seal Habitats

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2013-04-11

    ... Office of Protected Resources, (301) 427-8402. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On March 12, 2013, NMFS... need to register for these workshops. Dated: April 5, 2013. Helen M. Golde, Acting Director, Office of... habitats in Alaska (78 FR 15669; March 12, 2013). During the workshops NMFS will present information...

  7. Effects of log dumping and rafting on the marine environment of southeast Alaska.

    Treesearch

    Bruce C. Pease

    1974-01-01

    The extent of water-dependent log handling and storage facilities in southeast Alaska is summarized, along with the available literature on the environmental impact of these facilities. Field studies were conducted at 16 sites and correlated with laboratory studies of leaching rates and toxicity of the four major wood species harvested in southeast Alaska. Significant...

  8. Applications of ERTS-1 imagery to terrestrial and marine environmental analyses in Alaska

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Anderson, D. M.; Mckim, H. L.; Crowder, W. K.; Haugen, R. K.; Gatto, L. W.; Marlar, T. L.

    1974-01-01

    ERTS-1 imagery provides a means of distinguishing and monitoring estuarine surface water circulation patterns and changes in the relative sediment load of discharging rivers on a regional basis. It also will aid local fishing industries by augmenting currently available hydrologic and navigation charts. The interpretation of geologic and vegetation features resulted in preparation of improved surficial geology, vegetation and permafrost terrain maps at a scale of 1:1 million utilizing ERTS-1 band 7 imagery. This information will be further utilized in a route and site selection study for the Nome to Kobuk Road in central Alaska. Large river icings along the proposed Alaska pipeline route have been monitored. Sea ice deformation and drift northeast of Point Barrow, Alaska has been measured and shorefast ice accumulation and ablation along the west coast of Alaska is being mapped for the spring and early summer seasons. These data will be used for route and site selection, regional environmental analysis, identification and inventory of natural resources, land use planning, and in land use regulation and management.

  9. Selection of preservatives for marine structural timbers in herring spawning areas.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2012-12-01

    Alaska marine harbors use wood for many structures that come in contact with saltwater, including piles, floats, and docks, because it is economical to buy and maintain. : However, wood immersed in saltwater is prone to attack by marine borers, vario...

  10. 78 FR 15669 - Marine Mammals: Alaska Harbor Seal Habitats

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2013-03-12

    ... that ship presence could be altering population birth/death rates, which are difficult to measure. A... Alaska are now experiencing high rates of ice loss due to climate change, which is likely to further... Inlet, Glacier Bay, found that vessel presence altered seal haulout patterns by increasing the rate of...

  11. Marine benthic habitat mapping of Muir Inlet, Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve, Alaska, with an evaluation of the Coastal and Marine Ecological Classification Standard III

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Trusel, Luke D.; Cochrane, Guy R.; Etherington, Lisa L.; Powell, Ross D.; Mayer, Larry A.

    2010-01-01

    Seafloor geology and potential benthic habitats were mapped in Muir Inlet, Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve, Alaska, using multibeam sonar, ground-truth information, and geological interpretations. Muir Inlet is a recently deglaciated fjord that is under the influence of glacial and paraglacial marine processes. High glacially derived sediment and meltwater fluxes, slope instabilities, and variable bathymetry result in a highly dynamic estuarine environment and benthic ecosystem. We characterize the fjord seafloor and potential benthic habitats using the Coastal and Marine Ecological Classification Standard (CMECS) recently developed by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and NatureServe. Substrates within Muir Inlet are dominated by mud, derived from the high glacial debris flux. Water-column characteristics are derived from a combination of conductivity temperature depth (CTD) measurements and circulation-model results. We also present modern glaciomarine sediment accumulation data from quantitative differential bathymetry. These data show Muir Inlet is divided into two contrasting environments: a dynamic upper fjord and a relatively static lower fjord. The accompanying maps represent the first publicly available high-resolution bathymetric surveys of Muir Inlet. The results of these analyses serve as a test of the CMECS and as a baseline for continued mapping and correlations among seafloor substrate, benthic habitats, and glaciomarine processes.

  12. Depositional environments and processes in Upper Cretaceous nonmarine and marine sediments, Ocean Point dinosaur locality, North Slope, Alaska

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Phillips, R.L.

    2003-01-01

    A 178-m-thick stratigraphic section exposed along the lower Colville River in northern Alaska, near Ocean Point, represents the uppermost part of a 1500 m Upper Cretaceous stratigraphic section. Strata exposed at Ocean Point are assigned to the Prince Creek and Schrader Bluff formations. Three major depositional environments are identified consisting, in ascending order, of floodplain, interdistributary-bay, and shallow-marine shelf. Nonmarine strata, comprising the lower 140 m of this section, consist of fluvial distributaries, overbank sediments, tephra beds, organic-rich beds, and vertebrate remains. Tephras yield isotopic ages between 68 and 72.9 Ma, generally consistent with paleontologic ages of late Campanian-Maastrichtian determined from dinosaur remains, pollen, foraminifers, and ostracodes. Meandering low-energy rivers on a low-gradient, low-relief floodplain carried a suspended-sediment load. The rivers formed multistoried channel deposits (channels to 10 m deep) as well as solitary channel deposits (channels 2-5 m deep). Extensive overbank deposits resulting from episodic flooding formed fining-upward strata on the floodplain. The fining-upward strata are interbedded with tephra and beds of organic-rich sediment. Vertical-accretion deposits containing abundant roots indicate a sheet flood origin for many beds. Vertebrate and nonmarine invertebrate fossils along with plant debris were locally concentrated in the floodplain sediment. Deciduous conifers as well as abundant wetland plants, such as ferns, horsetails, and mosses, covered the coastal plain. Dinosaur skeletal remains have been found concentrated in floodplain sediments in organic-rich bone beds and as isolated bones in fluvial channel deposits in at least nine separate horizons within a 100-m-thick interval. Arenaceous foraminifers in some organic-rich beds and shallow fluvial distributaries indicate a lower coastal plain environment with marginal marine (bay) influence. Marginal marine strata

  13. Provenance of Marine Sediment in the Gulf of Alaska, IODP Expedition 341: Links Between Sediment Derivation, Glacial Systems, and Exhumation of the Coastal Mountain Belts

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Allen, W. K.; Dunn, C. A.; Enkelmann, E.; Ridgway, K.; Colliver, L.

    2015-12-01

    Provenance analysis of Neogene sand and diamict beds from marine boreholes drilled by the IODP Expedition 341 provides a marine sedimentary record of the interactions between tectonics, climate and sediment deposition along a glaciated convergent margin. The 341 boreholes represent a cross-margin transect that sampled the continental shelf, slope, and deep sea Surveyor Fan of the Gulf of Alaska. Our dataset currently consists of ~ 650 detrital zircons selected for double dating method utilizing both detrital zircon fission track (FT) and U-Pb analysis from sand and diamict beds, as well as zircon U-Pb geochronology and apatite FT from igneous and gneissic clasts. Detrital zircon U-Pb geochronology of sand records dominant peak ages of 53, 62, 70, and 98 Ma with minor populations of 117, 154, and 170 Ma. Most of these ages can be correlated to primary igneous sources in the Coast Plutonic Complex, the Chugach Metamorphic Complex, the plutonic rocks of Wrangellia, and the Sanak-Baranoff plutonic belt. All samples analyzed to date, covering a 10 Myr range, share nearly identical detrital zircon populations suggesting similar primary sediment sources and reworking of sediment in thrust belts and accretionary prisms along this convergent margin. Plutonic and gneissic clasts collected from the boreholes on the shelf have already been double dated. These clasts have general U-Pb zircon crystallization ages of 52-54 Ma and apatite fission track cooling ages of 10-12 Ma. These results, along with previous published studies, indicate that these clasts were derived from the Chugach Metamorphic Complex and were eroded and transported by the Bagley Ice Field and Bering Glacier. Future results using this approach should allow us to pinpoint which parts of the exhumed onshore ranges and which glacial systems provided sediment to marine environments in the Gulf of Alaska.

  14. Fact Sheet: Alternative Low-Sulfur Diesel Fuel Transition Program for Alaska

    EPA Pesticide Factsheets

    This fact sheet summarizes EPA's final rule modifying the diesel fuel regulations to apply an effective date of 6-1-2010 for 15 ppm sulfur requirements for highway, nonroad, locomotive and marine diesel fuel produced/imported for, distributed

  15. Highway Statistics 1950

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    1952-01-01

    This publication, the sixth of an annual series, presents the 1950 statistical and analytical tables of general interest on motor fuel, motor vehicles, highway-user taxation, financing of State highways, highway mileage, and Federal aid for highways....

  16. Analyses of interactions between the marine terminal and highway operations : final report.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2014-04-01

    Changes in vessel sizes arriving at United States ports may influence the operating regimes and schedules at the port terminals However, the impacts to highway and rail operations outside of the port terminals because of changing port terminal operat...

  17. 75 FR 68767 - Taking of Threatened or Endangered Marine Mammals Incidental to Commercial Fishing Operations

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2010-11-09

    ...-based groundfish fisheries to incidentally take individuals from five marine mammal stocks listed as... or endangered marine mammals are not taken incidental to groundfish fisheries in Alaska, no other... marine mammals incidental to commercial fishing operations. Detailed descriptions of these fisheries can...

  18. 78 FR 4346 - Fisheries of the Exclusive Economic Zone Off Alaska; Pacific Cod by Catcher/Processors Using...

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2013-01-22

    .../Processors Using Trawl Gear in the Western Regulatory Area of the Gulf of Alaska AGENCY: National Marine... (C/Ps) using trawl gear in the Western Regulatory Area of the Gulf of Alaska (GOA). This action is... apportioned to C/Ps using trawl gear in the Western Regulatory Area of the GOA. DATES: Effective 1200 hours...

  19. 77 FR 9589 - Fisheries of the Exclusive Economic Zone Off Alaska; Pacific Cod by Catcher/Processors Using...

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2012-02-17

    .../Processors Using Trawl Gear in the Western Regulatory Area of the Gulf of Alaska AGENCY: National Marine... (C/Ps) using trawl gear in the Western Regulatory Area of the Gulf of Alaska (GOA). This action is... apportioned to C/Ps using trawl gear in the Western Regulatory Area of the GOA. DATES: Effective 1200 hrs...

  20. Highway Statistics 1995

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    1996-11-01

    This is an annual report containing analyzed statistical data on motor fuel, motor vehicles, driver licensing, highway-user taxation, State and local highway finance, highway mileage, and Federal-aid for highways, as well as information from the Nati...

  1. Occurrence and genotypic analysis of Trichinella species in Alaska marine-associated mammals of the Bering and Chukchi seas.

    PubMed

    Seymour, J; Horstmann-Dehn, L; Rosa, C; Lopez, J A

    2014-02-24

    The zoonotic parasite Trichinella is the causative agent of trichinellosis outbreaks in the circumpolar Arctic. Subsistence communities are particularly prone to trichinellosis due to traditional meat preparation methods and regional presence of a freeze-tolerant Trichinella species (Trichinella nativa). This study is the first application of a validated artificial digestion method in determining incidence of Trichinella sp. in Alaskan mammals. Infection incidence in pinniped species (Erignathus barbatus, Eumetopias jubatus, Odobenus rosmarus divergens, and Pusa hispida) was low, with only 1/57 ringed seals infected. Polymerase Chain Reaction assays indicate T. nativa as the only species present in northern Alaska. Analysis of an archived polar bear (Ursus maritimus) muscle sample shows freeze-tolerance and longevity for T. nativa to -20°C for 10 years and short-term freeze resistance to -80°C when morphology was used to determine presence of live larvae. However, larval motility suggests 0% survival. An approach that combines artificial digestion with PCR based species identification has excellent potential for Trichinella sp. detection and identification of archived tissues. Overall, Trichinella in Alaskan mammals, particularly marine mammals of subsistence importance, appears to be a minor problem. These modern diagnostic techniques provide accurate insight into the presence of Trichinella in the Alaskan marine environment. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  2. Safety issues involving marine containers on chassis.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2009-01-01

    This study performed by The University of Tennessee investigated safety related problems involving chassis used for transporting marine containers on US highways. In recent years, much concern has arisen regarding the safety implications of allegedly...

  3. Highway Statistics 1990

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    1991-10-01

    This publication is the 46th of an annual series. It presents the 1990 analyzed statistics of general interest on motor fuel, motor vehicles, driver licensing, highway-user taxation, State highway finance, highway mileage, and Federal aid for highway...

  4. Linking marine and freshwater growth in western Alaska Chinook salmon Oncorhynchus tshawytscha

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Ruggerone, G.T.; Nielsen, J.L.; Agler, B.A.

    2009-01-01

    The hypothesis that growth in Pacific salmon Oncorhynchus spp. is dependent on previous growth was tested using annual scale growth measurements of wild Chinook salmon Oncorhynchus tshawytscha returning to the Yukon and Kuskokwim Rivers, Alaska, from 1964 to 2004. First-year marine growth in individual O. tshawytscha was significantly correlated with growth in fresh water. Furthermore, growth during each of 3 or 4 years at sea was related to growth during the previous year. The magnitude of the growth response to the previous year's growth was greater when mean year-class growth during the previous year was relatively low. Length (eye to tail fork, LETF) of adult O. tshawytscha was correlated with cumulative scale growth after the first year at sea. Adult LETF was also weakly correlated with scale growth that occurred during freshwater residence 4 to 5 years earlier, indicating the importance of growth in fresh water. Positive growth response to previous growth in O. tshawytscha was probably related to piscivorous diet and foraging benefits of large body size. Faster growth among O. tshawytscha year classes that initially grew slowly may reflect high mortality in slow growing fish and subsequent compensatory growth in survivors. Oncorhynchus tshawytscha in this study exhibited complex growth patterns showing a positive relationship with previous growth and a possible compensatory response to environmental factors affecting growth of the age class.

  5. Stabilization Of Marine Clay Using Biomass Silica-Rubber Chips Mixture

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Marto, Aminaton; Ridzuan Jahidin, Mohammed; Aziz, Norazirah Abdul; Kasim, Fauziah; Zurairahetty Mohd. Yunus, Nor

    2016-11-01

    Marine clay is found widely along the coastal area and had caused expensive solutions in the construction of coastal highways. Hence, soil stabilization was suggested by some consultant to increase the strength of this soil in order to meet the highway construction requirement and also to achieve the specification for the development. Biomass Silica (BS), particularly the SH85 as a non-traditional stabilisation method, has been gaining more interest from the engineers recently. Rubber chips (RC), derived from waste rubber tyres, are considered ‘green’ element and had been used previously in some geotechnical engineering works. This paper presents the effect of using BS and RC as a mixture (BS-RC mixture), to increase the strength of marine clay for highway construction. Samples of marine clay, obtained from the West Coast Expressway project at Teluk Intan, Perak, were oven dried and grind to fine-grained sized. The marine clay was mixed with 9 % by weight proportion of BS- RC; that were 8%-l% and 7%-2%, respectively. For comparison purposes the result of BS-RC was compared to the result of stabilization by using 9% BS only. Laboratory tests were then carried out to determine the Atterberg limits and compaction characteristics of the untreated and treated marine clay. The Unconfined Compressive Strength (UCS) of the untreated and treated marine clays, compacted at the optimum moisture content was later obtained. The treated marine clay was tested at 0, 3 and 7 days curing periods. The results show that the Plasticity Index of BS-RC treated marine clay was lower than the untreated marine clay. From the UCS test results, it is shown that BS-RC mixtures had significantly improved the strength of marine clay. With the same percentage of 9% BS-RC, the increased of BS from 7% to 8% increased the UCS further to about six times more than untreated marine clay soils in 7 days curing period. The strength gained by using BS-RC at 8%-1% is slightly below the strength by

  6. Impact of Expanded North Slope of Alaska Crude Oil Production on Oil Flows in the Contiguous United States (Summary)

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    DeRosa, Sean e.; Flanagan, Tatiana Paz

    Crude oil produced on the North Slope of Alaska (NSA) is primarily transported on the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System (TAPS) to in-state refineries and the Valdez Marine Terminal in southern Alaska. From the Terminal, crude oil is loaded onto tankers and is transported to export markets or to three major locations along the U.S. West Coast: Anacortes-Ferndale area (Washington), San Francisco Bay area, and Los Angeles area. North Slope of Alaska production has decreased about 75% since the 1980s, which has reduced utilization of TAPS.

  7. 77 FR 11412 - Fisheries of the Exclusive Economic Zone Off Alaska; Pacific Cod by Catcher Vessels Using Trawl...

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2012-02-27

    ... Vessels Using Trawl Gear in the Western Regulatory Area of the Gulf of Alaska AGENCY: National Marine... (CVs) using trawl gear in the Western Regulatory Area of the Gulf of Alaska (GOA). This action is... apportioned to CVs using trawl gear in the Western Regulatory Area of the GOA. DATES: Effective 1200 hrs...

  8. 75 FR 81972 - Taking of Threatened or Endangered Marine Mammals Incidental to Commercial Fishing Operations...

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2010-12-29

    ... AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA... from these threatened or endangered stocks of marine mammals would be authorized only in the fisheries... stocks of threatened or endangered marine mammals. There are no Category I fisheries designated in Alaska...

  9. Trophic pathways supporting juvenile Chinook and Coho salmon in the glacial Susitna River, Alaska: patterns of freshwater, marine, and terrestrial resource use across a seasonally dynamic habitat mosaic

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Rine, Kristin M.; Wipfli, Mark S.; Schoen, Erik R.; Nightengale, Timothy L.; Stricker, Craig A.

    2016-01-01

    Contributions of terrestrial-, freshwater-, and marine-derived prey resources to stream fishes vary over time and space, altering the energy pathways that regulate production. In this study, we determined large-scale use of these resources by juvenile Chinook and coho salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha and Oncorhynchus kisutch, respectively) in the glacial Susitna River, Alaska. We resolved spatial and temporal trophic patterns among multiple macrohabitat types along a 97 km segment of the river corridor via stable isotope and stomach content analyses. Juvenile salmon were supported primarily by freshwater-derived resources and secondarily by marine and terrestrial sources. The relative contribution of marine-derived prey to rearing salmon was greatest in the fall within off-channel macrohabitats, whereas the contributions of terrestrial invertebrate prey were generally greatest during midsummer, across all macrohabitats. No longitudinal (upstream–downstream) diet pattern was discernable. These results highlight large-scale spatial and seasonal patterns of energy flow and the dynamic interplay of pulsed marine and terrestrial prey subsidies to juvenile Chinook and coho salmon in a large, complex, and relatively pristine glacial river.

  10. Traffic Analysis For Highway-To-Highway Interchanges On Automated Highway Systems, Congestion In Absence Of Dedicated Ramps

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    1997-01-01

    SPECIAL CONNECTOR RAMPS LINKING THE AUTOMATED LANES AT AUTOMATED HIGHWAY-TO-AUTOMATED HIGHWAY INTERCHANGES MAY BE NEEDED TO ENABLE CONTINUOUS AUTOMATED DRIVING BETWEEN TWO CROSSING HIGHWAYS. ALTHOUGH A TYPICAL CLOVERLEAF CONFIGURATION HAS ONLY TWO LE...

  11. Improving passing lane safety and efficiency for Alaska's rural non\\0x2010divided highways.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2014-06-01

    A series of experiments using a fixed-base driving simulator were conducted to examine the potential safety and operational : benefits of several highway safety interventions for reducing collision risk. Our approach sought to go beyond typical mitig...

  12. Development and Calibration of Two-Dimensional Hydrodynamic Model of the Tanana River near Tok, Alaska

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Conaway, Jeffrey S.; Moran, Edward H.

    2004-01-01

    Bathymetric and hydraulic data were collected by the U.S. Geological Survey on the Tanana River in proximity to Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities' bridge number 505 at mile 80.5 of the Alaska Highway. Data were collected from August 7-9, 2002, over an approximate 5,000- foot reach of the river. These data were combined with topographic data provided by Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities to generate a two-dimensional hydrodynamic model. The hydrodynamic model was calibrated with water-surface elevations, flow velocities, and flow directions collected at a discharge of 25,600 cubic feet per second. The calibrated model was then used for a simulation of the 100-year recurrence interval discharge of 51,900 cubic feet per second. The existing bridge piers were removed from the model geometry in a second simulation to model the hydraulic conditions in the channel without the piers' influence. The water-surface elevations, flow velocities, and flow directions from these simulations can be used to evaluate the influence of the piers on flow hydraulics and will assist the Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities in the design of a replacement bridge.

  13. Alaska Department of Revenue - Alaska Film Office

    Science.gov Websites

    State Employees Alaska Film Office Alaska Film Office State of Alaska HOME CREDIT PROGRAM PUBLIC REPORTING CPA ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT CONTACT US State of Alaska > Department of Revenue > Alaska Film Office > Text Size: A+ | A- | A Text Only Effective July 1, 2015, the film production incentive

  14. 77 FR 60321 - Fisheries of the Exclusive Economic Zone Off Alaska; Pollock in Statistical Area 620 in the Gulf...

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2012-10-03

    ... Statistical Area 620 of the GOA. Based on fleet capacity and potentially high levels of fleet participation in... Statistical Area 620 in the Gulf of Alaska AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic... prohibiting directed fishing for pollock in Statistical Area 620 in the Gulf of Alaska (GOA). This action is...

  15. Highway Safety Program Manual: Volume 12: Highway Design, Construction and Maintenance.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (DOT), Washington, DC.

    Volume 12 of the 19-volume Highway Safety Program Manual (which provides guidance to State and local governments on preferred highway safety practices) focuses on highway design, construction and maintenance. The purpose and specific objectives of such a program are described. Federal authority in the area of highway safety and policies regarding…

  16. 75 FR 57977 - Endangered Species; Marine Mammals; Receipt of Applications for Permit

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2010-09-23

    ... of the permit to take and harassment polar bears (Ursus maritimus) in the wild in Alaska and in...] Endangered Species; Marine Mammals; Receipt of Applications for Permit AGENCY: Fish and Wildlife Service... endangered species, marine mammals, or both. With some exceptions, the Endangered Species Act (ESA) and...

  17. Grady Highway Extension (Ship Creek Crossing) Elmendorf Air Force Base and Fort Richardson, Alaska

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2005-06-01

    Washington Headquarters Services, Directorate for Information Operations and Reports, 1215 Jefferson Davis Highway, Suite 1204, Arlington VA 22202-4302... eastern alignment (“Park Route”) upstream of the Proposed Action connecting to Fort Richardson at Fifth Street; and, use of access at Arctic Valley...Wetland A ............................................................................ 3-19 Figure 3-8 Large Ponded Area on Eastern Portion of Wetland B

  18. Marine Debris Composition on Remote Alaskan National Park Shores

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Pister, B.; Kunisch, E.; Polasek, L.; Bering, J.; Kim, S.; Neitlich, P.; Nicolato, K.

    2016-02-01

    Marine debris is a pervasive problem along coastlines around the world. The National Park Service manages approximately 3500 miles of shoreline in Alaska's national park units combined. Most of these shores are remote, difficult and expensive to access. In 2011 the Tohoku earthquake hit Japan and generated a devastating tsunami that washed an estimated 150 million tons of debris out to sea. Much of the debris washed ashore in Alaska. The tsunami brought new attention to the long standing problem of marine debris. In 2015 the National Park Service mounted a two pronged effort to remove as much debris as possible from the shores of five park units in Alaska, and initiate education programs about the issue. Almost 11,000 kg of debris were removed from the shores of: Wrangell-St. Elias National Park, Kenai Fjords National Park, Katmai National Park, Bering Land Bridge National Preserve and Cape Krusenstern National Monument. Approximately 58% of the debris was plastic. Although much of the debris resembled items expected as a result of the tsunami, a great percentage of the debris was clearly from other sources, such as fishing and shipping. Preliminary analysis suggests that debris composition varied significantly between parks, possibly from locally-derived sources. This can influence how the National Park Service creates educational outreach programs that focus on marine debris prevention exercises.

  19. 78 FR 63405 - Fisheries of the Exclusive Economic Zone Off Alaska; Pollock in Statistical Area 620 in the Gulf...

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2013-10-24

    ..., Office of Sustainable Fisheries, National Marine Fisheries Service. [FR Doc. 2013-25012 Filed 10-21-13; 4... of Alaska (GOA). This action is necessary to fully use the 2013 total allowable catch of pollock in Statistical Area 620 of the GOA. DATES: Effective 1200 hrs, Alaska local time (A.l.t.), October 22, 2013...

  20. 78 FR 63396 - Taking and Importing Marine Mammals; Taking Marine Mammals Incidental to Replacement of the...

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2013-10-24

    ... of the Elliott Bay Seawall in Seattle, Washington, for the period October 2013 to October 2018. These regulations allow for the issuance of Letters of Authorization (LOAs) for the incidental take of marine... Service, 1315 East-West Highway, Silver Spring, MD 20910- 3225. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Michelle...

  1. Highway funding : problems with Highway Trust Fund information can affect state highway funds

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2000-06-01

    The Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century (TEA-21) authorized $217.9 billion for highway, mass transit, and other surface transportation programs for fiscal years 1998 through 2003. TEA-21 continued the use of the Highway Trust Fund-which is...

  2. 78 FR 48711 - Endangered Species; Marine Mammals; Receipt of Applications for Permit

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2013-08-09

    ... requests a permit to photograph polar bears (Ursus maritimus) in the vicinity of Kaktovik, Alaska, from...-FF09A30000] Endangered Species; Marine Mammals; Receipt of Applications for Permit AGENCY: Fish and Wildlife... with endangered species, marine mammals, or both. With some exceptions, the Endangered Species Act (ESA...

  3. Routine Ocean Monitoring With Synthetic Aperture Radar Imagery Obtained From the Alaska Satellite Facility

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Pichel, W. G.; Clemente-Colon, P.; Li, X.; Friedman, K.; Monaldo, F.; Thompson, D.; Wackerman, C.; Scott, C.; Jackson, C.; Beal, R.; McGuire, J.; Nicoll, J.

    2006-12-01

    The Alaska Satellite Facility (ASF) has been processing synthetic aperture radar (SAR) data for research and for near-real-time applications demonstrations since shortly after the launch of the European Space Agency's ERS-1 satellite in 1991. The long coastline of Alaska, the vast extent of ocean adjacent to Alaska, a scarcity of in-situ observations, and the persistence of cloud cover all contribute to the need for all-weather ocean observations in the Alaska region. Extensive experience with SAR product processing algorithms and SAR data analysis techniques, and a growing sophistication on the part of SAR data and product users have amply demonstrated the value of SAR instruments in providing this all-weather ocean observation capability. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has been conducting a near-real-time applications demonstration of SAR ocean and hydrologic products in Alaska since September 1999. This Alaska SAR Demonstration (AKDEMO) has shown the value of SAR-derived, high-resolution (sub kilometer) ocean surface winds to coastal weather forecasting and the understanding of coastal wind phenomena such as gap winds, barrier jets, vortex streets, and lee waves. Vessel positions and ice information derived from SAR imagery have been used for management of fisheries, protection of the fishing fleet, enforcement of fisheries regulations, and protection of endangered marine mammals. Other ocean measurements, with potentially valuable applications, include measurement of wave state (significant wave height, dominant wave direction and wavelength, and wave spectra), mapping of oil spills, and detection of shallow-water bathymetric features. In addition to the AKDEMO, ASF-processed SAR imagery is being used: (1) in the Gulf of Mexico for hurricane wind studies, and post-hurricane oil-spill and oil-platform analyses (the latter employing ship-detection algorithms for detection of changes in oil-platform locations); (2) in the North Pacific

  4. 78 FR 51147 - Takes of Marine Mammals Incidental to Specified Activities; Taking Marine Mammals Incidental to...

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2013-08-20

    ... monitoring systems; and (5) exacting funds from TGS to support accelerated mitigation research in this area... (2D) seismic survey program in the Chukchi Sea, Alaska, during the 2013 Arctic open-water season... small numbers of marine mammals incidental to conducting an open-water 2D seismic survey in the Chukchi...

  5. Highway Statistics 1980

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    1980-01-01

    This publication brings together annual series of selected statistical tabulations relating to highway transportation in three major areas: (1) Highway use--the ownership and operation of motor vehicles; (2) highway finance--the receipts and expendit...

  6. Highway statistics 2007

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2007-01-01

    This publication brings together annual series of selected statistical tabulations relating to highway transportation in four major areas: (1) highway infrastructure and users; (2) motor vehicles and fuel; (3) highway finance--the receipts and expend...

  7. 77 FR 62464 - Fisheries of the Exclusive Economic Zone Off Alaska; Pacific Cod by Vessels Using Pot Gear in the...

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2012-10-15

    ... Vessels Using Pot Gear in the Central Regulatory Area of the Gulf of Alaska AGENCY: National Marine... gear in the Central Regulatory Area of the Gulf of Alaska (GOA). This action is necessary to prevent exceeding the 2012 Pacific cod total allowable catch apportioned to vessels using pot gear in the Central...

  8. 50 CFR Figure 18 to Part 679 - Sitka Pinnacles Marine Reserve

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-10-01

    ... 50 Wildlife and Fisheries 9 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Sitka Pinnacles Marine Reserve 18 Figure 18 to Part 679 Wildlife and Fisheries FISHERY CONSERVATION AND MANAGEMENT, NATIONAL OCEANIC AND... ALASKA Pt. 679, Fig. 18 Figure 18 to Part 679—Sitka Pinnacles Marine Reserve ER09NO00.011 b. Coordinates...

  9. 50 CFR Figure 18 to Part 679 - Sitka Pinnacles Marine Reserve

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-10-01

    ... 50 Wildlife and Fisheries 13 2012-10-01 2012-10-01 false Sitka Pinnacles Marine Reserve 18 Figure 18 to Part 679 Wildlife and Fisheries FISHERY CONSERVATION AND MANAGEMENT, NATIONAL OCEANIC AND... ALASKA Pt. 679, Fig. 18 Figure 18 to Part 679—Sitka Pinnacles Marine Reserve ER09NO00.011 b. Coordinates...

  10. 50 CFR Figure 18 to Part 679 - Sitka Pinnacles Marine Reserve

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-10-01

    ... 50 Wildlife and Fisheries 13 2013-10-01 2013-10-01 false Sitka Pinnacles Marine Reserve 18 Figure 18 to Part 679 Wildlife and Fisheries FISHERY CONSERVATION AND MANAGEMENT, NATIONAL OCEANIC AND... ALASKA Pt. 679, Fig. 18 Figure 18 to Part 679—Sitka Pinnacles Marine Reserve ER09NO00.011 b. Coordinates...

  11. 50 CFR Figure 18 to Part 679 - Sitka Pinnacles Marine Reserve

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-10-01

    ... 50 Wildlife and Fisheries 13 2014-10-01 2014-10-01 false Sitka Pinnacles Marine Reserve 18 Figure 18 to Part 679 Wildlife and Fisheries FISHERY CONSERVATION AND MANAGEMENT, NATIONAL OCEANIC AND... ALASKA Pt. 679, Fig. 18 Figure 18 to Part 679—Sitka Pinnacles Marine Reserve ER09NO00.011 b. Coordinates...

  12. 50 CFR Figure 18 to Part 679 - Sitka Pinnacles Marine Reserve

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-10-01

    ... 50 Wildlife and Fisheries 11 2011-10-01 2011-10-01 false Sitka Pinnacles Marine Reserve 18 Figure 18 to Part 679 Wildlife and Fisheries FISHERY CONSERVATION AND MANAGEMENT, NATIONAL OCEANIC AND... ALASKA Pt. 679, Fig. 18 Figure 18 to Part 679—Sitka Pinnacles Marine Reserve ER09NO00.011 b. Coordinates...

  13. Highway Statistics 1960

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    1960-01-01

    This publication, the sixteenth of an annual series, presents the 1960 statistical and analytical tables of general interest on motor fuel, motor vehicles, highway-user taxation, State and local highway finance, highway mileage, and Federal aid for h...

  14. Highway Statistics 1970

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    1971-10-01

    This publication was prepared by the Highway Statistics Division, Office of Highway Planning, Federal Highway Administration. The 26th of an annual series, it presents the 1970 statistical and analytical tables of general interest on motor fuel, moto...

  15. 76 FR 46889 - Notice of Final Federal Agency Actions on Proposed Highway in Alaska

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2011-08-03

    ... trestle to Harbor Island in Portland Canal, a distance of 0.7 miles. Hyder is 75 air miles northeast of....C. 4321-4351]; Federal-Aid Highway Act [23 U.S.C. 109]. 2. Air: Clean Air Act, 42 U.S.C. 7401-7671(q... Act (FPPA) [7 U.S.C. 4201-4209]. 7. Wetlands and Water Resources: Clean Water Act, 33 U.S.C. 1251...

  16. A summary of ERTS data applications in Alaska

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Miller, J. M.; Belon, A. E.

    1974-01-01

    ERTS has proven to be an exceedingly useful tool for the preparation of urgently needed resource surveys in Alaska. For this reason the wide utilization of ERTS data by federal, state and industrial agencies in Alaska is increasingly directed toward the solution of operational problems in resource inventories, environmental surveys, and land use planning. Examples of some applications are discussed in connection with surveys of potential agricultural lands; mapping of predicted archaeological sites; permafrost terrain and aufeis mapping; snow melt enhancement from Prudhoe Bay roads; geologic interpretations correlated ith possible new petroleum fields, with earthquake activity, and with plate tectonic motion along the Denali fault system; hydrology in monitoring surging glaciers and the break-up characteristics of the Chena River watershed; sea-ice morphology correlated with marine mammal distribution; and coastal sediment plume circulation patterns.

  17. Brucella species survey in polar bears (ursus maritimus) of northern Alaska.

    PubMed

    O'Hara, Todd M; Holcomb, Darce; Elzer, Philip; Estepp, Jessica; Perry, Quinesha; Hagius, Sue; Kirk, Cassandra

    2010-07-01

    We report on the presence of specific antibodies to Brucella spp. and Yersinia enterocolitica in polar bears (Ursus maritimus) from northern Alaska (southern Beaufort Sea) during 2003-2006. Based on numerous known stressors (e.g., climate change and loss of sea ice habitat, contaminants), there is increased concern regarding the status of polar bears. Considering these changes, it is important to assess exposure to potentially pathogenic organisms and to improve understanding of transmission pathways. Brucella or specific antibodies to Brucella spp. has been reported in marine mammals. Various assays were used to elucidate the pathway or source of exposure (e.g., "marine" vs. "terrestrial" Brucella spp.) of northern Alaska polar bears to Brucella spp. The standard plate test (SPT) and the buffered Brucella antigen card test (BBA) were used for initial screening for antibodies specific to Brucella. We then evaluated positive reactors (presence of serum antibody specific for Brucella spp.) using immunoblots and competitive enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (cELISA; based on pinniped-derived Brucella spp. antigen). Annual prevalence of antibody (BBA and SPT) for Brucella spp. ranged from 6.8% to 18.5% over 2003-2006, with an overall prevalence of 10.2%. Prevalence of Brucella spp. antibody did vary by age class. Western blot analyses indicated 17 samples were positive for Brucella spp. antibody; of these, 13 were negative by marine (pinniped) derived Brucella antigen cELISA and four were positive by marine cELISA. Of the four samples positive for Brucella antibody by marine cELISA, three cross-reacted with Y. enterocolitica and Brucella spp. (one sample was Brucella negative and Y. enterocolitica positive). It appears the polar bear antibody does not react with the antigens used on the marine cELISA assay, potentially indicating a terrestrial (nonpinniped) source of Brucella spp.

  18. Expanding Alaska's Remote Ocean Observing Capabilities Using Robotic Gliders and Remote Sensing Technologies

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Janzen, C.; McCammon, M.; Winsor, P.; Murphy, D. J.; Mathis, J. T.; Baumgartner, M.; Stafford, K.; Statscewich, H.; Evans, W.; Potter, R. A.

    2016-02-01

    The Alaska Ocean Observing System (AOOS) is directed by Congress to facilitate, implement and support ocean observing for the entire coast of Alaska, working with federal, state, local and private sector partners. However, developing an integrated ocean observing system at high latitudes presents unique challenges. In addition to the harsh environment, the region covered by AOOS is made up of nearly 44,000 miles of coastline, larger than the marine systems in the rest of the United States combined. No other observing system in the United States has such climate extremes, significant geographic distances, and limited observing infrastructure. Making use of robotic technologies in Alaskan waters has been successfully demonstrated with the pilot deployment of a real-time marine mammal detection system deployed on a Slocum buoyancy controlled glider. The glider also carries payload to measure high resolution temperature and salinity data. With these simultaneous data streams, scientists are investigating how marine mammal occurrences are related to water column conditions and mixing fronts, as well as comparing northern versus southern Chukchi community composition, inshore (Alaska Coastal Current) waters, and offshore (Bering Sea) waters. In its third year, the glider is now equipped with lithium batteries that allow it to operate unattended for an entire Arctic summer season, whereas past deployments were limited to about 10 days. Developing and applying such cutting edge, long-endurance autonomous technology is benefitting others monitoring in Arctic regions where shipboard access is not only expensive, but limited to fair weather conditions during the openwater (ice free) seasons of summer to early fall.

  19. 78 FR 14985 - Takes of Marine Mammals Incidental to Specified Activities; Russian River Estuary Management...

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2013-03-08

    ...: National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Commerce..., Office of Protected Resources, National Marine Fisheries Service, 1315 East-West Highway, Silver Spring... deny the authorization and publish notice in the Federal Register of issuance or denial within 30 days...

  20. A 2000 ton crawler/transporter for operation in Prudhoe Bay, Alaska

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Trask, W.H.; Trask, J.L.; Crane, T.

    1986-01-01

    Recently designed and fabricated in Kennewick, Washington, a pair of 2000 ton capacity crawler/transporters has been used in moving refinery modules to permanent installations on Alaska's North Slope. Vehicle design features include four corner chain-driven, track driving sprockets (tumblers), resilient track roller suspensions, elevating load platform (hereinafter ''bolsters''), dynamic braking, diesel/torque converter power, automatic lubrication and electro-pneumatic controls. Four independent power units provide 1400 horse-power per crawler and over two million pounds of drawbar pull at converter stall. Weighing 300 tons, the pin-connected crawler dissembles for highway transport into loads of under 95,000 pounds.

  1. Applications of ERTS data to resource surveys of Alaska

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Belon, A. E.; Miller, J. M.

    1974-01-01

    ERTS data affords a unique opportunity to perform urgently needed resource surveys and land use planning at a critical juncture in the history of Alaska's social and economic development. The available facilities for photographic, optical and digital processing of ERTS data are described, along with the interpretive techniques which have been developed. Examples of the applications of these facilities and techniques are given for three environmental disciplines: vegetation mapping for potential archeological sites; marine and sea ice surveys on the Alaskan continental shelf for the determination of surface circulation and sedimentation patterns and their effects on navigation, pollution assessment, fisheries, location of habors and construction of off-shore structures; snow surveys for inventories of water resources and flood potential in Alaska watersheds.

  2. Alaska Melilotus invasions: Distribution, origin, and susceptibility of plant communities

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Conn, J.S.; Beattie, K.L.; Shephard, M.A.; Carlson, M.L.; Lapina, I.; Hebert, M.; Gronquist, R.; Densmore, R.; Rasy, M.

    2008-01-01

    Melilotus alba and M. officinalis were introduced to Alaska in 1913 as potential forage crops. These species have become naturalized and are now invading large, exotic plant-free regions of Alaska. We determined distributions of M. alba and M. officinalis in Alaska from surveys conducted each summer from 2002 to 2005. Melilotus alba and M. officinalis occurred at 721 and 205 sites, respectively (39,756 total sites surveyed). The northward limit for M. alba and M. officinalis was 67.15??N and 64.87??N, respectively. Both species were strictly associated with soil disturbance. Melilotus alba extended no farther than 15 m from road edges except where M. alba on roadsides met river floodplains and dispersed downriver (Matanuska and Nenana Rivers). Melilotus has now reached the Tanana River, a tributary of the Yukon River. Populations on floodplains were most extensive on braided sections. On the Nenana River, soil characteristics did not differ between where M. alba was growing versus similar areas where it had not yet reached. The pH of river soils (7.9-8.3) was higher than highway soils (7.3). Upland taiga plant communities grow on acid soils which may protect them from invasion by Melilotus, which prefer alkaline soils; however, early succession communities on river floodplains are susceptible because soils are alkaline. ?? 2008 Regents of the University of Colorado.

  3. Highway corridor responsibility

    Treesearch

    Bonnie L. Harper-Lore

    1998-01-01

    As highways cross the nation they provide safe travel for the vacationers, commuters, truckers, the military, farmers, congressmen, our families, and friends. Highway corridors provide safe passage for many plant invaders as well. Highway vegetation managers manage millions of acres of rights-of-way that cross your land. It is imperative that we understand each other...

  4. 76 FR 7580 - Endangered Species; Marine Mammals; Receipt of Applications for Permit

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2011-02-10

    ... sport- hunted trophy of one male bontebok (Damaliscus pygargus pygargus) culled from a captive herd... Mammals and Marine Mammals Applicant: U.S. Geological Survey, Alaska Science Center, Anchorage, AK; PRT...

  5. Our nation's highways 2008

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2008-07-01

    he Federal Highway Administrations Office of Highway Policy Information (OHPI) establishes travel monitoring policy and guidelines, facilitates the application of technology, and collects and analyzes highway-related data from throughout the Unite...

  6. Addressing historic environmental exposures along the Alaska Highway

    PubMed Central

    Godduhn, Anna; Duffy, Lawrence

    2013-01-01

    Background A World War II defense site at Northway, Alaska, was remediated in the 1990s, leaving complex questions regarding historic exposures to toxic waste. This article describes the context, methods, limitations and findings of the Northway Wild Food and Health Project (NWFHP). Objective The NWFHP comprised 2 pilot studies: the Northway Wild Food Study (NWFS), which investigated contaminants in locally prioritized traditional foods over time, and the Northway Health Study (NHS), which investigated locally suspected links between resource uses and health problems. Design This research employed mixed methods. The NWFS reviewed remedial documents and existing data. The NHS collected household information regarding resource uses and health conditions by questionnaire and interview. NHS data represent general (yes or no) personal knowledge that was often second hand. Retrospective cohort comparisons were made of the reported prevalence of 7 general health problems between groups based on their reported (yes or no) consumption of particular resources, for 3 data sets (existing, historic and combined) with a two-tailed Fisher's Exact Test in SAS (n=325 individuals in 83 households, 24 of which no longer exist). Results The NWFS identified historic pathways of exposure to petroleum, pesticides, herbicides, chlorinated byproducts of disinfection and lead from resources that were consumed more frequently decades ago and are not retrospectively quantifiable. The NHS found complex patterns of association between reported resource uses and cancer and thyroid-, reproductive-, metabolic- and cardiac problems. Conclusion Lack of detail regarding medical conditions, undocumented histories of exposure, time lapsed since the release of pollution and changes to health and health care over the same period make this exploratory research. Rather than demonstrate causation, these results document the legitimacy of local suspicions and warrant additional investigation. This article

  7. A genetic discontinuity in moose (Alces alces) in Alaska corresponds with fenced transportation infrastructure

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Wilson, Robert E.; Farley, Sean D.; McDonough, Thomas J.; Talbot, Sandra L.; Barboza, Perry S.

    2015-01-01

    The strength and arrangement of movement barriers can impact the connectivity among habitat patches. Anthropogenic barriers (e.g. roads) are a source of habitat fragmentation that can disrupt these resource networks and can have an influence on the spatial genetic structure of populations. Using microsatellite data, we evaluated whether observed genetic structure of moose (Alces alces) populations were associated with human activities (e.g. roads) in the urban habitat of Anchorage and rural habitat on the Kenai Peninsula, Alaska. We found evidence of a recent genetic subdivision among moose in Anchorage that corresponds to a major highway and associated infrastructure. This subdivision is most likely due to restrictions in gene flow due to alterations to the highway (e.g. moose-resistant fencing with one-way gates) and a significant increase in traffic volume over the past 30 years; genetic subdivision was not detected on the Kenai Peninsula in an area not bisected by a major highway. This study illustrates that anthropogenic barriers can substructure wildlife populations within a few generations and highlights the value of genetic assessments to determine the effects on connectivity among habitat patches in conjunction with behavioral and ecological data..

  8. Quaternary geology of the Kenai Lowland and glacial history of the Cook Inlet region, Alaska

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Karlstrom, Thor N.V.

    1964-01-01

    The Kenai Lowland is part of the Cook Inlet Lowland physiographic subprovince that borders Cook Inlet, a major marine reentrant along the Pacific Ocean coastline of south-central Alaska. The Cook Inlet Lowland occupies a structural trough underlain by rocks of Tertiary age and mantled by Quaternary deposits of varying thicknesses. The bordering high alpine mountains—the Aleutian and Alaska Ranges to the northwest and north and the Talkeetna, Chugach, and Kenai Mountains to the northeast and southeast—are underlain by rocks of Mesozoic and older ages.

  9. Creosote treated timber in the Alaskan marine environment : volume ii.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2010-02-01

    ADOT&PF is responsible for many structures that incorporate wood pilings and other timber in Alaska waters. Most are treated with preservative to inhibit marine borers : that will quickly destroy unprotected wood. Creosote is generally the most econo...

  10. Creosote treated timber in the Alaskan marine environment : Volume I.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2010-02-01

    ADOT&PF is responsible for many structures that incorporate wood pilings and other timber in Alaska waters. Most are treated with preservative to inhibit marine borers : that will quickly destroy unprotected wood. Creosote is generally the most econo...

  11. 77 FR 70457 - Endangered Species; Marine Mammals; Receipt of Applications for Permit

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2012-11-26

    ... (Cyclura lewisi) Multiple Applicants The following applicants each request a permit to import the sport... the Advancement of Marine Science, Alaska SeaLife Center, Seward, AK; PRT-73634A The applicant...

  12. Financing federal-aid highways

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    1999-08-01

    Because of a continuing demand for information concerning the financing of Federal-aid highways, the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) prepared a report, "Financing Federal-Aid Highways," in January 1974 to describe the basic process involved. Th...

  13. An overview of paleogene molluscan biostratigraphy and paleoecology of the Gulf of Alaska region

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Marincovich, L.; McCoy, S.

    1984-01-01

    Paleogene marine strata in the Gulf of Alaska region occur in three geographic areas and may be characterized by their molluscan faunal composition and paleoecology: a western area consisting of the Alaska Peninsula, Kodiak Island, and adjacent islands; a central area encompassing Prince William Sound; and an eastern area extending from the mouth of the Copper River to Icy Point in the Lituya district. Strata in the western area include the Ghost Rocks, Narrow Cape (in part), Sitkalidak, Stepovak, Belkofski, and Tolstoi Formations; in the central area Paleogene strata are assigned entirely to the Orca Group; Paleogene strata in the eastern area include the Kulthieth and Poul Creek Formations and several coeval units. Environments ranging from marginal marine to bathyal and from subtropical to cool-temperate are inferred for the various molluscan faunas. Sediments range from interbedded coal and marine sands to deep-water turbidites. The known Paleogene molluscan faunas of these three southern Alaskan areas permit recognition of biostratigraphic schemes within each area, preliminary correlations between faunas of the three areas, and more general correlations with faunas of the Pacific Northwest, the Far Eastern U.S.S.R., and northern Japan. ?? 1984.

  14. Evaluation of precut transverse cracks for an asphalt concrete pavement in interior Alaska (Moose Creek - Richardson Highway).

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2015-08-01

    Road-width thermal cracks (major transverse cracks) are perhaps the most noticeable form of crack-related damage on AC pavements : throughout colder areas of Alaska. The main objective of this study is to recommend design strategies and construction ...

  15. Why build limited access highways?.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    1991-01-01

    This report first explains what a limited access highway is, then describes the benefits and advantages of limited access highways. As compared with highways with no control of access, limited access highways (especially those with full control) have...

  16. Marine Mammals, Coastal and River Issues. Alaska Sea Week Curriculum Series VII. Alaska Sea Grant Report 84-8.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Mickelson, Belle

    This curriculum guide is the last (Series VII) in a six-volume set that comprises the Sea Week Curriculum Series developed in Alaska. The guide lends itself to the sixth-grade curriculum but can be adapted to preschool, secondary, and adult education. Eight units contain 43 activities with worksheets that cover the following topics: (1) the values…

  17. Highway infrastructure : FHWA's model for estimating highway needs is generally reasonable, despite limitations

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2000-06-01

    The Highway Economic Requirements System (HERS) computer model estimates investment requirements for the nation's highways by adding together the costs of highway improvements that the model's benefit-cost analyses indicate are warranted. In making i...

  18. Methodology and Estimates of Scour at Selected Bridge Sites in Alaska

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Heinrichs, Thomas A.; Kennedy, Ben W.; Langley, Dustin E.; Burrows, Robert L.

    2001-01-01

    The U.S. Geological Survey estimated scour depths at 325 bridges in Alaska as part of a cooperative agreement with the Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities. The department selected these sites from approximately 806 State-owned bridges as potentially susceptible to scour during extreme floods. Pier scour and contraction scour were computed for the selected bridges by using methods recommended by the Federal Highway Administration. The U.S. Geological Survey used a four-step procedure to estimate scour: (1) Compute magnitudes of the 100- and 500-year floods. (2) Determine cross-section geometry and hydraulic properties for each bridge site. (3) Compute the water-surface profile for the 100- and 500-year floods. (4) Compute contraction and pier scour. This procedure is unique because the cross sections were developed from existing data on file to make a quantitative estimate of scour. This screening method has the advantage of providing scour depths and bed elevations for comparison with bridge-foundation elevations without the time and expense of a field survey. Four examples of bridge-scour analyses are summarized in the appendix.

  19. Highways of the future : a strategic plan for highway infrastructure research and development

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2008-07-01

    This Highways of the FutureA Strategic Plan for Highway Infrastructure Research and Development was developed in response to a need expressed by the staff of the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) Office of Infrastructure Research and Developme...

  20. Georgia Highway Safety 1997 fact book : a report on highway safety In Georgia

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    1997-01-01

    The goal of this fact book is to present highway safety statistics and fact-based analysis that will increase public awareness on highway safety issues, and to provide information that will assist policy makers and highway safety advocates in making ...

  1. Using Large Marine Ecosystems and Cultural Responsiveness as the Context for Professional Development of Teachers and Scientists in Ocean Sciences

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Sigman, Marilyn; Dublin, Robin; Anderson, Andrea; Deans, Nora; Warburton, Janet; Matsumoto, George I.; Dugan, Darcy; Harcharek, Jana

    2014-01-01

    During 2010-2012, three professional development workshops brought together K-12 educators and scientists conducting research in the geographic and ecological context of Alaska's three large marine ecosystems (Bering Sea/Aleutians, Gulf of Alaska, and Arctic Ocean). Educators successfully applied new scientific knowledge gained from their…

  2. Short Course in Highway Lighting.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Federal Highway Administration (DOT), Washington, DC.

    This course guide in highway lighting includes an overview of trends in highway lighting, illustrated information on three light sources for today's luminaires, a reference guide to lamp classification, specifications for highway lighting equipment, and instructions for calculating appropriate use. Maintenance notes on highway illumination and…

  3. Alaska Air National Guard

    Science.gov Websites

    Skip to content State of Alaska myAlaska My Government Resident Business in Alaska Visiting Alaska Symbol Visit 168th Wing Website State of Alaska myAlaska My Government Resident Business in Alaska

  4. Glacier Change and Biologic Succession: a new Alaska Summer Research Academy (ASRA) Science Camp Module for Grades 8-12 in Glacier Bay National Park, Alaska

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Connor, C. L.; Drake, J.; Good, C.; Fatland, R.; Hakala, M.; Woodford, R.; Donohoe, R.; Brenner, R.; Moriarty, T.

    2008-12-01

    During the summer of 2008, university faculty and instructors from southeast Alaska joined the University Alaska Fairbanks(UAF)Alaska Summer Research Academy(ASRA)to initiate a 12-day module on glacier change and biologic succession in Glacier Bay National Park. Nine students from Alaska, Colorado, Massachusetts, and Texas, made field observations and collected data while learning about tidewater glacier dynamics, plant succession, post-glacial uplift, and habitat use of terrestrial and marine vertebrates and invertebrates in this dynamic landscape that was covered by 6,000 km2 of ice just 250 years ago. ASRA students located their study sites using GPS and created maps in GIS and GOOGLE Earth. They deployed salinometers and temperature sensors to collect vertical profiles of seawater characteristics up-bay near active tidewater glacier termini and down-bay in completely deglaciated coves. ASRA student data was then compared with data collected during the same time period by Juneau undergraduates working on the SEAMONSTER project in Mendenhall Lake. ASRA students traversed actively forming, up-bay recessional moraines devoid of vegetation, and the fully reforested Little Ice Age terminal moraine near Park Headquarters in the lower bay region. Students surveyed marine organisms living between supratidal and subtidal zones near glaciers and far from glaciers, and compared up-bay and down-bay communities. Students made observations and logged sightings of bird populations and terrestrial mammals in a linear traverse from the bay's northwestern most fjord near Mt. Fairweather for 120 km to the bay's entrance, south of Park Headquarters at Bartlett Cove. One student constructed an ROV and was able to deploy a video camera and capture changing silt concentrations in the water column as well as marine life on the fjord bottom. Students also observed exhumed Neoglacial spruce forests and visited outcrops of Silurian reef faunas, now fossilized in Alexander terrane

  5. The last interglaciation in Alaska: Stratigraphy and paleoecology of potential sites

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Hamilton, T.D.; Brigham-Grette, J.

    1991-01-01

    At least 20 localities in Alaska contain deposits that may provide information on the last interglaciation (Oxygen-Isotope Substage 5e). These widely dispersed localities include river bluffs, coastal bluffs and terraces, elevated marine shorelines, lake basins, and artificial excavations. Most of the inferred interglacial deposits contain macrofossils or pollen that are older than the range of radiocarbon dating and commonly indicate climate as warm as or warmer than the present. At a few localities, evidence for deep thaw of permafrost also indicates a warm paleoclimate. At eight localities, the Old Crow tephra occurs at or below organic deposits that may represent Substage 5e. The tephra occurs beneath conspicuous organic deposits at Fairbanks, the Yukon Palisades, and Holitna lowland, and directly above a peat bed at Hogatza Mine. At Birch Creek, Halfway House, Ky-11, and Imuruk Lake, the tephra occurs within a paleosol or organic deposit, but other organic horizons that more likely indicate interglacial conditions occur at higher stratigraphic levels. The varied stratigraphic relations of the Old Crow tephra suggest that it may have been deposited close to the boundary between Isotope Substages 6 and 5, which is dated at about 130 ka in the marine record and between 132 and 140 ka on land. These age relations suggests that the tephra may have been deposited about 135 ?? 5 ka, validating the recent fission-track age determination of 140 ?? 10 ka for this deposit. Six coastal localities contain deposits of probable interglacial age, and these commonly are associated with evidence for eustatic sea levels higher than those of the present. Beach and sublittoral sediments of the Pelukian transgression occur up to 12 m asl along the northwest coast of Alaska, and are correlative with barrier island and lagoonal sediments on the Alaskan Arctic Coastal Plain. Both sets of deposits commonly contain extralimital mollusks and microfauna that indicate marine water slightly

  6. Phocine Distemper Virus in Northern Sea Otters in the Pacific Ocean, Alaska, USA

    PubMed Central

    Mazet, Jonna A.K.; Gill, Verena A.; Doroff, Angela M.; Burek, Kathy A.; Hammond, John A.

    2009-01-01

    Phocine distemper virus (PDV) has caused 2 epidemics in harbor seals in the Atlantic Ocean but had never been identified in any Pacific Ocean species. We found that northern sea otters in Alaska are infected with PDV, which has created a disease threat to several sympatric and decreasing Pacific marine mammals. PMID:19523293

  7. 38. LANDSCAPE HIGHWAY VIEW, OREGON STATE HIGHWAY 199. JOSPHINE COUNTY, ...

    Library of Congress Historic Buildings Survey, Historic Engineering Record, Historic Landscapes Survey

    38. LANDSCAPE HIGHWAY VIEW, OREGON STATE HIGHWAY 199. JOSPHINE COUNTY, OREGON. REEVES CREEK (WHERE ROAD WIDENS) 4 MILES NE OF CAVE JUNCTION. LOOKING S. - Redwood National & State Parks Roads, California coast from Crescent City to Trinidad, Crescent City, Del Norte County, CA

  8. State of Alaska

    Science.gov Websites

    Alaska Railroad Alaska Maps Alaska Travel Safety Information Alaska Fish and Game Alaska Facts & Month Services How Do I? Education Health Jobs Safety How Do I? Apply for a Permanent Fund Dividend File Information More Dept. of Commerce, Comm... More Dept. of Labor & Workforce Dev. Safety 511 - Traveler

  9. 40 CFR 1051.640 - What special provisions apply for custom off-highway motorcycles that are similar to highway...

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-07-01

    ... custom off-highway motorcycles that are similar to highway motorcycles? 1051.640 Section 1051.640... apply for custom off-highway motorcycles that are similar to highway motorcycles? You may ask to exempt custom-designed off-highway motorcycles that are substantially similar to highway motorcycles under the...

  10. 40 CFR 1051.640 - What special provisions apply for custom off-highway motorcycles that are similar to highway...

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-07-01

    ... custom off-highway motorcycles that are similar to highway motorcycles? 1051.640 Section 1051.640... apply for custom off-highway motorcycles that are similar to highway motorcycles? You may ask to exempt custom-designed off-highway motorcycles that are substantially similar to highway motorcycles under the...

  11. 40 CFR 1051.640 - What special provisions apply for custom off-highway motorcycles that are similar to highway...

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-07-01

    ... custom off-highway motorcycles that are similar to highway motorcycles? 1051.640 Section 1051.640... apply for custom off-highway motorcycles that are similar to highway motorcycles? You may ask to exempt custom-designed off-highway motorcycles that are substantially similar to highway motorcycles under the...

  12. 40 CFR 1051.640 - What special provisions apply for custom off-highway motorcycles that are similar to highway...

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-07-01

    ... custom off-highway motorcycles that are similar to highway motorcycles? 1051.640 Section 1051.640... apply for custom off-highway motorcycles that are similar to highway motorcycles? You may ask to exempt custom-designed off-highway motorcycles that are substantially similar to highway motorcycles under the...

  13. 40 CFR 1051.640 - What special provisions apply for custom off-highway motorcycles that are similar to highway...

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-07-01

    ... custom off-highway motorcycles that are similar to highway motorcycles? 1051.640 Section 1051.640... apply for custom off-highway motorcycles that are similar to highway motorcycles? You may ask to exempt custom-designed off-highway motorcycles that are substantially similar to highway motorcycles under the...

  14. Map of Distribution of Bottom Sediments on the Continental Shelf, Gulf of Alaska

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Evans, Kevin R.; Carlson, Paul R.; Hampton, Monty A.; Marlow, Michael S.; Barnes, Peter W.

    2000-01-01

    Introduction The U.S. Geological Survey has a long history of exploring marine geology in the Gulf of Alaska. As part of a cooperative program with other federal and state agencies, the USGS is investigating the relations between ocean-floor geology and benthic marine biohabitats. This bottom sediment map, compiled from published literature will help marine biologists develop an understanding of sea-floor geology in relation to various biological habitats. The pattern of sea-floor sedimentation and bottom morphology in the Gulf of Alaska reflects a complex interplay of regional tectonism, glacial advances and retreats, oceanic and tidal currents, waves, storms, eustatic change, and gravity-driven processes. This map, based on numerous cruises during the period of 1970-1996, shows distribution of bottom sediments in areas of study on the continental shelf. The samples were collected with piston, box, and gravity corers, and grab samplers. The interpretations of sediment distribution are the products of sediment size analyses combined with interpretations of high-resolution seismic reflection profiles. The sea floor was separated into several areas as follows: Cook Inlet -- Hazards studies in this embayment emphasized sediment distribution, sediment dynamics, bedforms, shallow faults, and seafloor stability. Migrating mega-sandwaves, driven by strong tidal currents, influence seabed habitats and stability of the seafloor, especially near pipelines and drilling platforms. The coarseness of the bottom sediment reinforces the influence of the strong tidal currents on the seafloor habitats. Kodiak Shelf -- Tectonic framework studies demonstrate the development of an accretionary wedge as the Pacific Plate underthrusts the Alaskan landmass. Seismic data across the accretionary wedge reveal anomalies indicative of fluid/gas vent sites in this segment of the continental margin. Geologic hazards research shows that movement along numerous shallow faults poses a risk to sea

  15. 49 CFR 356.13 - Redesignated highways.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-10-01

    ... 49 Transportation 5 2012-10-01 2012-10-01 false Redesignated highways. 356.13 Section 356.13... REGULATIONS § 356.13 Redesignated highways. Where a highway over which a regular route motor common carrier of... designation, the points between which the highway is redesignated, and each place where the highway is...

  16. 49 CFR 356.13 - Redesignated highways.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-10-01

    ... 49 Transportation 5 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Redesignated highways. 356.13 Section 356.13... REGULATIONS § 356.13 Redesignated highways. Where a highway over which a regular route motor common carrier of... designation, the points between which the highway is redesignated, and each place where the highway is...

  17. 49 CFR 356.13 - Redesignated highways.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-10-01

    ... 49 Transportation 5 2014-10-01 2014-10-01 false Redesignated highways. 356.13 Section 356.13... REGULATIONS § 356.13 Redesignated highways. Where a highway over which a regular route motor common carrier of... designation, the points between which the highway is redesignated, and each place where the highway is...

  18. 49 CFR 356.13 - Redesignated highways.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-10-01

    ... 49 Transportation 5 2011-10-01 2011-10-01 false Redesignated highways. 356.13 Section 356.13... REGULATIONS § 356.13 Redesignated highways. Where a highway over which a regular route motor common carrier of... designation, the points between which the highway is redesignated, and each place where the highway is...

  19. 49 CFR 356.13 - Redesignated highways.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-10-01

    ... 49 Transportation 5 2013-10-01 2013-10-01 false Redesignated highways. 356.13 Section 356.13... REGULATIONS § 356.13 Redesignated highways. Where a highway over which a regular route motor common carrier of... designation, the points between which the highway is redesignated, and each place where the highway is...

  20. An experimental evaluation of field sobriety tests in the marine environment

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    1987-08-01

    This Report describes an investigation of the accuracy of Field Sobriety Tests (FSTs) : when used in the marine environment. FSPs are non-chemical tests of intoxication : which are used in highway law enforcement. These tests rely on the observation ...

  1. GeoFORCE Alaska, A Successful Summer Exploring Alaska's Geology

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Wartes, D.

    2012-12-01

    Thirty years old this summer, RAHI, the Rural Alaska Honors Institute is a statewide, six-week, summer college-preparatory bridge program at the University of Alaska Fairbanks for Alaska Native and rural high school juniors and seniors. This summer, in collaboration with the University of Texas Austin, the Rural Alaska Honors Institute launched a new program, GeoFORCE Alaska. This outreach initiative is designed to increase the number and diversity of students pursuing STEM degree programs and entering the future high-tech workforce. It uses Earth science to entice kids to get excited about dinosaurs, volcanoes and earthquakes, and includes physics, chemistry, math, biology and other sciences. Students were recruited from the Alaska's Arctic North Slope schools, in 8th grade to begin the annual program of approximately 8 days, the summer before their 9th grade year and then remain in the program for all four years of high school. They must maintain a B or better grade average and participate in all GeoFORCE events. The culmination is an exciting field event each summer. Over the four-year period, events will include trips to Fairbanks and Anchorage, Arizona, Oregon and the Appalachians. All trips focus on Earth science and include a 100+ page guidebook, with tests every night culminating with a final exam. GeoFORCE Alaska was begun by the University of Alaska Fairbanks in partnership with the University of Texas at Austin, which has had tremendous success with GeoFORCE Texas. GeoFORCE Alaska is managed by UAF's long-standing Rural Alaska Honors Institute, that has been successfully providing intense STEM educational opportunities for Alaskan high school students for over 30 years. The program will add a new cohort of 9th graders each year for the next four years. By the summer of 2015, GeoFORCE Alaska is targeting a capacity of 160 students in grades 9th through 12th. Join us to find out more about this exciting new initiative, which is enticing young Alaska Native

  2. Response of common murres to the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill and long-term changes in the Gulf of Alaska marine ecosystem

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Piatt, John F.; Anderson, Paul; Rice, S.D.; Spies, R.B.; Wolfe, D.A.; Wright, B.A.

    1996-01-01

    Short-term effects of the 1989 TV Exxon Valdez oil spill on seabirds were dramatic and well documented. Seabird populations at sea in the spill zone were immediately depressed, and more than 30,000 dead, oiled seabirds were recovered from beaches within months of the spill. It is estimated that 250,000 seabirds were killed by oil, of which 74% were murres. Based on comparisons of prespill (1970s) and postspill (1989-1994) data, long-term effects on murres attributed to oil pollution included population declines, reduced breeding success, and delayed breeding phenology. Populations remained depressed, but breeding success phenology gradually returned to normal levels by 1993. An alternative hypothesis to explain these long-term effects is that murres were responding to natural events in their marine environment. Flow of the Alaska Coastal Current (ACC) was at an all-time low in 1989, and this may have reduced and delayed biological productivity in the ACC. On a broader time scale, marked changes in marine fish communities have occurred during the past 20 years. Coincident with cyclical fluctuations in seawater temperatures, the abundance of small forage species (e.g., humpy shrimp, capelin, and Pacific sandfish) declined precipitously in the late 1970s while populations of large predatory fish (e.g., walleye pollock, Pacific cod, and flatfish) increased dramatically. Correspondingly, seabird diets shifted from mostly capelin in the 1970s to mostly Pacific sand land and juvenile pollock in the late 1980s. Furthermore, a variety of seabirds and marine mammals both inside and outside of the oil spill zone exhibited signs of food stress (population declines, reduced productivity, die-offs) throughout the 1980s and early 1990s. We conclude that available data are inadequate to distinguish between long-term effects of the Exxon Valdez oil spill on murres and a natural response of murres to long-term changes in their marine environment.

  3. Home - Gold mining in Alaska - Libraries, Archives, & Museums at Alaska

    Science.gov Websites

    State Library Skip to main content State of Alaska myAlaska Departments State Employees Statewide Links × Upcoming Holiday Closure for Memorial Day The Alaska State Libraries, Archives, & Tuesday, May 29. Department of Education and Early Development Alaska State Libraries, Archives, and

  4. Guide to reporting highway statistics

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    1983-11-01

    Previous analyses conducted by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) are used to project year-by-year economical impacts of changes in highway performance out to 1995. In the principal scenario examined, highway performance is allowed to deterior...

  5. Alaska Tidal Datum Portal - Alaska Tidal Datum Calculator | Alaska Division

    Science.gov Websites

    Coastal Hazards Program Guide to Geologic Hazards in Alaska MAPTEACH Tsunami Inundation Mapping Energy Portal main content Alaska Tidal Datum Portal Unambiguous vertical datums in the coastal environment are projects to ensure protection of human life, property, and the coastal environment. January 2017 - Update

  6. Ecology of selected marine communities in Glacier Bay: Zooplankton, forage fish, seabirds and marine mammals

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Robards, Martin D.; Drew, Gary S.; Piatt, John F.; Anson, Jennifer Marie; Abookire, Alisa A.; Bodkin, James L.; Hooge, Philip N.; Speckman, Suzann G.

    2003-01-01

    We studied oceanography (including primary production), secondary production, small schooling fish (SSF), and marine bird and mammal predators in Glacier Bay during 1999 and 2000. Results from these field efforts were combined with a review of current literature relating to the Glacier Bay environment. Since the conceptual model developed by Hale and Wright (1979) ‘changes and cycles’ continue to be the underlying theme of the Glacier Bay ecosystem. We found marked seasonality in many of the parameters that we investigated over the two years of research, and here we provide a comprehensive description of the distribution and relative abundance of a wide array of marine biota. Glacier Bay is a tidally mixed estuary that leads into basins, which stratify in summer, with the upper arms behaving as traditional estuaries. The Bay is characterized by renewal and mixing events throughout the year, and markedly higher primary production than in many neighboring southeast Alaska fjords (Hooge and Hooge, 2002). Zooplankton diversity and abundance within the upper 50 meters of the water column in Glacier Bay is similar to communities seen throughout the Gulf of Alaska. Zooplankton in the lower regions of Glacier Bay peak in abundance in late May or early June, as observed at Auke Bay and in the Gulf of Alaska. The key distinction between the lower Bay and other estuaries in the Gulf of Alaska is that a second smaller peak in densities occurs in August. The upper Bay behaved uniformly in temporal trends, peaking in July. Densities had begun to decline in August, but were still more than twice those observed in that region in May. The highest density of zooplankton observed was 17,870 organisms/m3 in Tarr Inlet during July. Trends in zooplankton community abundance and diversity within the lower Bay were distinct from upper-Glacier Bay trends. Whereas the lower Bay is strongly influenced by Gulf of Alaska processes, local processes are the strongest influence in the upper

  7. Home, Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, State of Alaska

    Science.gov Websites

    State logo Alaska Department of Administration Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission Administration AOGCC Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission Javascript is required to run this webpage

  8. Earthquakes in Alaska

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Haeussler, Peter J.; Plafker, George

    1995-01-01

    Earthquake risk is high in much of the southern half of Alaska, but it is not the same everywhere. This map shows the overall geologic setting in Alaska that produces earthquakes. The Pacific plate (darker blue) is sliding northwestward past southeastern Alaska and then dives beneath the North American plate (light blue, green, and brown) in southern Alaska, the Alaska Peninsula, and the Aleutian Islands. Most earthquakes are produced where these two plates come into contact and slide past each other. Major earthquakes also occur throughout much of interior Alaska as a result of collision of a piece of crust with the southern margin.

  9. Auklet (Charadriiformes: Alcidae, Aethia spp.) chick meals from the Aleutian Islands, Alaska, have a very low incidence of plastic marine debris.

    PubMed

    Bond, Alexander L; Jones, Ian L; Williams, Jeffrey C; Byrd, G Vernon

    2010-08-01

    The ingestion of plastic marine debris is a chronic problem for some of the world's seabird species, contributing to reduced chick survival, population declines, and deposition of contaminants via absorption in birds' gastrointestinal tract. We analysed the frequency of ingested plastic in chick meals delivered by adults in four species of auklet - Crested (Aethia cristatella), Least (A. pusilla), Parakeet (A. psittacula), and Whiskered (A. pygmaea) - from three breeding colonies in the Aleutian Islands, Alaska, USA over a 14-year period from 1993 to 2006. Among 2541 chick meals, we found plastic in only one - from a Whiskered Auklet on Buldir Island in 1993. While adult Parakeet Auklets have a high frequency of plastic ingestion (over 90%), no chick meals contained plastic. Unlike other seabirds, the planktivorous auklets do not appear to offload plastic to their chicks, and we conclude that auklet chicks are probably at a low risk of contamination from plastic debris. Copyright 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  10. Status and distribution of the Kittlitz's Murrelet Brachyramphus brevirostris along the Alaska Peninsula and Kodiak and Aleutian Islands, Alaska

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Madison, Erica N.; Piatt, John F.; Arimitsu, Mayumi L.; Romano, Marc D.; van Pelt, Thomas I.; Nelson, S. Kim; Williams, Jeffrey C.; DeGange, Anthony R.

    2011-01-01

    The Kittlitz's Murrelet Brachyramphus brevirostris is adapted for life in glacial-marine ecosystems, being concentrated in the belt of glaciated fjords in the northern Gulf of Alaska from Glacier Bay to Cook Inlet. Most of the remaining birds are scattered along coasts of the Alaska Peninsula and Aleutian Islands, where they reside in protected bays and inlets, often in proximity to remnant glaciers or recently deglaciated landscapes. We summarize existing information on Kittlitz's Murrelet in this mainly unglaciated region, extending from Kodiak Island in the east to the Near Islands in the west. From recent surveys, we estimated that ~2400 Kittlitz's Murrelets were found in several large embayments along the Alaska Peninsula, where adjacent ice fields feed silt-laden water into the bays. On Kodiak Island, where only remnants of ice remain today, observations of Kittlitz's Murrelets at sea were uncommon. The species has been observed historically around the entire Kodiak Archipelago, however, and dozens of nest sites were found in recent years. We found Kittlitz's Murrelets at only a few islands in the Aleutian chain, notably those with long complex shorelines, high mountains and remnant glaciers. The largest population (~1600 birds) of Kittlitz's Murrelet outside the Gulf of Alaska was found at Unalaska Island, which also supports the greatest concentration of glacial ice in the Aleutian Islands. Significant populations were found at Atka (~1100 birds), Attu (~800) and Adak (~200) islands. Smaller numbers have been reported from Unimak, Umnak, Amlia, Kanaga, Tanaga, Kiska islands, and Agattu Island, where dozens of nest sites have been located in recent years. Most of those islands have not been thoroughly surveyed, and significant pockets of Kittlitz's Murrelets may yet be discovered. Our estimate of ~6000 Kittlitz's Murrelets along the Alaska Peninsula and Aleutian Islands is also likely to be conservative because of the survey protocols we employed (i.e. early

  11. Neogene marine sedimentary record of the Gulf of Alaska: from the glaciers to the distal submarine fan systems

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Ridgway, K. D.; Bahlburg, H.; Childress, L. B.; Cowan, E. A.; Forwick, M.; Moy, C. M.; Müller, J.; Ribeiro, F.; Gupta, S.; Gulick, S. P.; Jaeger, J. M.

    2013-12-01

    The marine sedimentary record of Miocene to Pleistocene tectonics and glaciation is well preserved along the southern Alaska convergent margin. This margin is well suited for linking proximal to distal sediment transport processes because sediment is being generated by glacial erosion in the highest coastal mountain range on earth and subsequently being transported to the Aleutian subduction zone. We will discuss the sedimentary record from two end members of this system: (1) the proximal marine record now exposed onshore in the high peaks of the coastal ranges, and (2) the offshore distal record preserved in the Surveyor submarine fan system that was cored during the 2013 IODP Expedition 341. Onshore the Miocene non-glacial strata are represented by the Poul Creek Fm. This unit is 2000 m thick and in its upper part consists of mudstone, thin sandstone beds (10-30 cm thick), and thick bedded (1-2 m) highly bioturbated green sandstone beds that contain hummocky stratification. We interpret this unit as being deposited mainly in marine shelf environments. A gradational contact between the Poul Creek and the overlying upper Miocene-Pleistocene Yakataga Formation is marked by a transition to mudstone, thick bedded sandstone and glacial diamictite. This transition to glacial dominated deposition is interpreted to have occurred around 5 Ma based on previous studies. The onshore glacimarine strata are 5 km thick and grade up section from submarine fan to marine shelf strata. In the distal submarine fan record at IODP Site U1417, the upper Miocene strata in the lower part of the Site consist of 340 m of highly bioturbated gray to green mud interbedded with coarse sand and sandy diamict. These coarse-grained units are lithic rich with mainly sedimentary, volcanic, and coal clasts. We interpret these units as being derived from coal-bearing sedimentary strata exposed in the onshore thrust belt. These facies are interbedded with diatom ooze; we interpret this combination of

  12. 23 CFR 470.113 - National Highway System procedures.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-04-01

    ... 23 Highways 1 2011-04-01 2011-04-01 false National Highway System procedures. 470.113 Section 470.113 Highways FEDERAL HIGHWAY ADMINISTRATION, DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION PLANNING AND RESEARCH HIGHWAY SYSTEMS Federal-aid Highway Systems § 470.113 National Highway System procedures. (a) Proposals...

  13. 23 CFR 470.113 - National Highway System procedures.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-04-01

    ... 23 Highways 1 2013-04-01 2013-04-01 false National Highway System procedures. 470.113 Section 470.113 Highways FEDERAL HIGHWAY ADMINISTRATION, DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION PLANNING AND RESEARCH HIGHWAY SYSTEMS Federal-aid Highway Systems § 470.113 National Highway System procedures. (a) Proposals...

  14. 23 CFR 470.113 - National Highway System procedures.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-04-01

    ... 23 Highways 1 2012-04-01 2012-04-01 false National Highway System procedures. 470.113 Section 470.113 Highways FEDERAL HIGHWAY ADMINISTRATION, DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION PLANNING AND RESEARCH HIGHWAY SYSTEMS Federal-aid Highway Systems § 470.113 National Highway System procedures. (a) Proposals...

  15. 23 CFR 470.113 - National Highway System procedures.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-04-01

    ... 23 Highways 1 2014-04-01 2014-04-01 false National Highway System procedures. 470.113 Section 470.113 Highways FEDERAL HIGHWAY ADMINISTRATION, DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION PLANNING AND RESEARCH HIGHWAY SYSTEMS Federal-aid Highway Systems § 470.113 National Highway System procedures. (a) Proposals...

  16. 23 CFR 470.113 - National Highway System procedures.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-04-01

    ... 23 Highways 1 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false National Highway System procedures. 470.113 Section 470.113 Highways FEDERAL HIGHWAY ADMINISTRATION, DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION PLANNING AND RESEARCH HIGHWAY SYSTEMS Federal-aid Highway Systems § 470.113 National Highway System procedures. (a) Proposals...

  17. Alaska and the Alaska Federal Health Care Partnership

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2002-08-01

    SUPPLEMENTARY NOTES The original document contains color images. 14. ABSTRACT The intent of the Alaska Federal Healthcare Partnership is to expand clinical and... intent of the Alaska Federal Healthcare Partnership is to expand clinical and support capabilities of the Alaska Native Medical Center (ANMC), Third...the formation of the Partnership. Although lengthy, the information is essential to appreciate the magnitude of the Partnership and the intent behind

  18. 78 FR 19288 - Letters of Authorization To Take Marine Mammals

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2013-03-29

    .... ACTION: Notice of Issuance. SUMMARY: In accordance with the Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972, as... of title 50 of the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) and is effective through August 3, 2016. The... following companies in the Beaufort Sea and adjacent northern coast of Alaska: Beaufort Sea Letters of...

  19. 23 CFR 470.107 - Federal-aid highway systems.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-04-01

    ... 23 Highways 1 2014-04-01 2014-04-01 false Federal-aid highway systems. 470.107 Section 470.107 Highways FEDERAL HIGHWAY ADMINISTRATION, DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION PLANNING AND RESEARCH HIGHWAY SYSTEMS Federal-aid Highway Systems § 470.107 Federal-aid highway systems. (a) Interstate System. (1) The Dwight D...

  20. 23 CFR 470.107 - Federal-aid highway systems.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-04-01

    ... 23 Highways 1 2013-04-01 2013-04-01 false Federal-aid highway systems. 470.107 Section 470.107 Highways FEDERAL HIGHWAY ADMINISTRATION, DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION PLANNING AND RESEARCH HIGHWAY SYSTEMS Federal-aid Highway Systems § 470.107 Federal-aid highway systems. (a) Interstate System. (1) The Dwight D...

  1. 23 CFR 470.107 - Federal-aid highway systems.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-04-01

    ... 23 Highways 1 2012-04-01 2012-04-01 false Federal-aid highway systems. 470.107 Section 470.107 Highways FEDERAL HIGHWAY ADMINISTRATION, DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION PLANNING AND RESEARCH HIGHWAY SYSTEMS Federal-aid Highway Systems § 470.107 Federal-aid highway systems. (a) Interstate System. (1) The Dwight D...

  2. ENSO events in the northern Gulf of Alaska, and effects on selected marine fisheries

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Bailey, K.M.; Macklin, S.A.; Reed, R.K.; Brodeur, R.D.; Ingraham, W.J.; Piatt, John F.; Shima, M.; Francis, R.C.; Anderson, P.J.; Royer, T.C.; Hollowed, A.; Somerton, D.A.; Wooster, W.S.

    1995-01-01

    The 1991-93 El Nino-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) event first appeared in the northern Gulf of Alaska in autumn 1991 with warm sea-surface temperatures. In winter 1992, there were pulses of increased sea level and anomalous circulation. El Nino conditions persisted at least through summer 1993. The effects of this ENSO event on major groundfish species and Pacific herring in the northern Gulf of Alaska were examined and compared with the effects of previous ENSO events. There is little evidence that the 1991-93 or 1982-83 ENSO events affected landings of walleye pollock, Pacific cod, Pacific halibut, or arrowtooth flounder. Some changes in distribution of groundfish species were observed in 1993, but the effect was similar to changes observed in non-ENSO warm years. In general, warm ocean conditions have a positive effect on recruitment of northern stocks, but ENSO events appear to have an inconsistent effect on year-class strength within species and among different species. For example, strong year classes of halibut and arrowtooth flounder sometimes, but not always, coincide with ENSO events; ENSO events are associated with moderate to weak year classes of cod and pollock. However, post-ENSO warm years often are associated with strong recruitment of many groundfish species. Major changes have occurred in the Gulf of Alaska ecosystem since 1977. The influence of the 1976 ENSO event in precipitating these changes and the role of the frequency or strength of subsequent El Nino events is presently unknown. Herring and other stocks of small pelagic fishes may be more affected by ENSO events. In particular, decreased catches, recruitment, and weight-at-age of herring are sometimes associated with ENSO events. Furthermore, a variety of seabirds which feed mostly on pelagic forage fishes or the pelagic juvenile stages of groundfish suffered widespread mortalities and breeding failures in the Gulf of Alaska during the ENSO years of 1983 and 1993. These effects on seabirds

  3. Geologic Map and Engineering Properties of the Surficial Deposits of the Tok Area, East-Central Alaska

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Carrara, Paul E.

    2007-01-01

    The Tok area 1:100,000-scale map, through which the Alaska Highway runs, is in east-central Alaska about 160 km west of the Yukon border. The surficial geologic mapping in the map area is in support of the 'Geologic Mapping in support of land, resources, and hazards issues in Alaska' Project of the USGS National Cooperative Geologic Mapping Program. The Tok map area contains parts of three physiographic provinces, the Alaska Range, the Yukon-Tanana Upland, and the Northway-Tanana Lowland. The high, rugged, glaciated landscape of the eastern Alaska Range dominates the southwestern map area. The highest peak, an unnamed summit at the head of Cathedral Rapids Creek No. 2, rises to 2166 m. The gently rolling hills of the Yukon-Tanana Upland, in the northern map area, rise to about 1000 m. The Northway-Tanana Lowland contains the valley of the westerly flowing Tanana River. Elevations along the floor of the lowland generally range between 470 and 520 m. The dominant feature within the map is the Tok fan, which occupies about 20 percent of the map area. This large (450 km2), nearly featureless fan contains a high percentage of volcanic clasts derived from outside the present-day drainage of the Tok River. Because the map area is dominated by various surficial deposits, the map depicts 26 different surficial units consisting of man-made, alluvial, colluvial, eolian, lacustrine, organic, glaciofluvial, glacial, and periglacial deposits. The accompanying table provides information concerning the various units including their properties, characteristics, resource potential, and associated hazards in this area of the upper Tanana valley.

  4. Variability within nearshore ecosystems of the Gulf of Alaska

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Ballachey, Brenda E.; Bodkin, James L.; Coletti, Heather A.; Dean, Thomas A; Esler, Daniel N.; Esslinger, George G.; Iken, Katrin; Kloecker, Kimberly A.; Konar, Brenda; Lindeberg, Mandy; Monson, Daniel; Shepherd, Marnie; Weitzman, Ben P.

    2015-01-01

    Nearshore marine habitats, which represent the interface among air, land and sea, form a critical component of the Gulf of Alaska (GOA) ecosystem. As an interface, the nearshore facilitates transfer of water, nutrients and biota between terrestrial and oceanic systems, creating zones of high productivity. The nearshore provides a variety of ecosystem services, including (1) nursery grounds for a wide variety of marine invertebrates and fishes (e.g., crabs, salmon, and herring), (2) nesting and pupping habitats for many pelagic marine predators (e.g., sea bird nesting colonies and pinniped rookeries), (3) important feeding habitats for high trophic level pelagic predators (e.g., killer whales), (4) habitat for resident nearshore species (including sea otters, harbor seals, shorebirds, sea ducks, nearshore fishes, and marine invertebrates), many of which are important sources of commercial and subsistence harvests, and (5) recreational, commercial and subsistence opportunities for human populations (Figure 1-1). The canopy forming kelps and eel grass beds found in the nearshore provide primary production and structure to nursery habitats, and also can dissipate wave energy thus reducing coastal erosion, and serve as a carbon “sink” capable of storing substantial amounts of atmospheric CO2 (Wilmers et al. 2012).

  5. Benthic marine debris, with an emphasis on fishery-related items, surrounding Kodiak Island, Alaska, 1994-1996

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Hess, N.A.; Ribic, C.A.; Vining, I.

    1999-01-01

    Composition and abundance of benthic marine debris were investigated during three bottom trawl surveys in inlet and offshore locations surrounding Kodiak Island, Alaska, 1994-1996. Debris items were primarily plastic and metal regardless of trawl location. Plastic bait jars, fishing line, and crab pots were the most common fishery-related debris items and were encountered in large amounts in inlets (20-25 items km-2), but were less abundant outside of inlets (4.5-11 items km-2). Overall density of debris was also significantly greater in inlets than outside of inlets. Plastic debris densities in inlets ranged 22-31.5 items km-2, 7.8-18.8 items km-2 outside of inlets. Trawls in inlets contained almost as much metal debris as plastic debris. Density of metal debris ranged from 21.2 to 23.7 items km-2 in inlets, a maximum of 2.7 items km-2 outside of inlets. Inlets around the town of Kodiak had the highest densities of fishery-related and total benthic debris. Differences in benthic debris density between inlets and outside of inlets and differences by area may be due to differences in fishing activity and water circulation patterns. At the current reduced levels of fishing activity, however, yearly monitoring of benthic debris appears unnecessary. Copyright (C) 1999.

  6. Seabirds as indicators of marine ecosystems: Introduction: A modern role for seabirds as indicators

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Piatt, John F.; Sydeman, William J.; Wiese, Francis

    2007-01-01

    A key requirement for implementing ecosystem-based management is to obtain timely information on significant fluctuations in the ecosystem (Botsford et al. 1997). However, obtaining all necessary information about physical and biological changes at appropriate temporal and spatial scales is a daunting task. Intuitively, one might assume that physical data are more important for the interpretation of ecosystem changes than biological data, but analyses of time series data suggest otherwise: physical data are more erratic and often confusing over the short term compared to biological data, which tend to fluctuate less on annual time scales (Hare & Mantua 2000). Even so, biological time-series may also be confusing when coexisting marine species respond differently to ecosystem variability. For example, while warming temperatures in the Gulf of Alaska following the 1976 to 1977 regime shift favored an increase in gadoids and flatfish, a variety of forage fish and pandalid shrimp species virtually disappeared (Anderson & Piatt 1999). Zooplankton communities in the Gulf of Alaska also demonstrated similar patterns of response (Francis et al. 1998). At the basin scale, favorable conditions for salmon in Alaska following the regime shift were matched inversely by poor conditions in the California Current (Francis et al. 1998). In marine birds, subtropical species increased, while subarctic ones decreased during a warming phase in the southern California Bight. Clearly, no single index can tell the whole story accurately. Multi-species, multi-region, and multi-trophic level approaches are needed to quantify fluctuations in marine ecosystem processes and in the distribution and abundance of its inhabitants, to determine critical parameter thresholds and to use this information in management and marine conservation.

  7. Alaska Volcano Observatory

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Venezky, Dina Y.; Murray, Tom; Read, Cyrus

    2008-01-01

    Steam plume from the 2006 eruption of Augustine volcano in Cook Inlet, Alaska. Explosive ash-producing eruptions from Alaska's 40+ historically active volcanoes pose hazards to aviation, including commercial aircraft flying the busy North Pacific routes between North America and Asia. The Alaska Volcano Observatory (AVO) monitors these volcanoes to provide forecasts of eruptive activity. AVO is a joint program of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), the Geophysical Institute of the University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAFGI), and the State of Alaska Division of Geological and Geophysical Surveys (ADGGS). AVO is one of five USGS Volcano Hazards Program observatories that monitor U.S. volcanoes for science and public safety. Learn more about Augustine volcano and AVO at http://www.avo.alaska.edu.

  8. Highway Repair: A New Silicosis Threat

    PubMed Central

    Valiante, David J.; Schill, Donald P.; Rosenman, Kenneth D.; Socie, Edward

    2004-01-01

    Objectives. We describe an emerging public health concern regarding silicosis in the fast-growing highway repair industry. Methods. We examined highway construction trends, silicosis surveillance case data, and environmental exposure data to evaluate the risk of silicosis among highway repair workers. We reviewed silicosis case data from the construction industry in 3 states that have silicosis registries, and we conducted environmental monitoring for silica at highway repair work sites. Results. Our findings indicate that a large population of highway workers is at risk of developing silicosis from exposure to crystalline silica. Conclusions. Exposure control methods, medical screenings, protective health standards, and safety-related contract language are necessary for preventing future occupational disease problems among highway repair workers. PMID:15117715

  9. Resident, State of Alaska

    Science.gov Websites

    Skip to content State of Alaska myAlaska My Government Resident Business in Alaska Visiting Alaska State Employees State of Alaska Search Home Quick Links Departments Commissioners Employee Whitepages State Government Jobs Federal Jobs Starting a Small Business Living Get a Driver License Get a Hunting

  10. Visitor, State of Alaska

    Science.gov Websites

    Skip to content State of Alaska myAlaska My Government Resident Business in Alaska Visiting Alaska State Employees State of Alaska Search Home Quick Links Departments Commissioners Employee Whitepages State Government Jobs Federal Jobs Starting a Small Business Living Get a Driver License Get a Hunting

  11. Geology and tectonic development of the continental margin north of Alaska

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Grantz, A.; Eittreim, S.; Dinter, D.A.

    1979-01-01

    The continental margin north of Alaska, as interpreted from seismic reflection profiles, is of the Atlantic type and consists of three sectors of contrasting structure and stratigraphy. The Chukchi sector, on the west, is characterized by the deep late Mesozoic and Tertiary North Chukchi basin and the Chukchi Continental Borderland. The Barrow sector of central northern Alaska is characterized by the Barrow arch and a moderately thick continental terrace build of Albian to Tertiary clastic sediment. The terrace sedimentary prism is underlain by lower Paleozoic metasedimentary rocks. The Barter Island sector of northeastern Alaska and Yukon Territory is inferred to contain a very thick prism of Jurassic, Cretaceous and Tertiary marine and nonmarine clastic sediment. Its structure is dominated by a local deep Tertiary depocenter and two regional structural arches. We postulate that the distinguishing characteristics of the three sectors are inherited from the configuration of the rift that separated arctic Alaska from the Canadian Arctic Archipelago relative to old pre-rift highlands, which were clastic sediment sources. Where the rift lay relatively close to northern Alaska, in the Chukchi and Barter Island sectors, and locally separated Alaska from the old source terranes, thick late Mesozoic and Tertiary sedimentary prisms extend farther south beneath the continental shelf than in the intervening Barrow sector. The boundary between the Chukchi and Barrow sectors is relatively well defined by geophysical data, but the boundary between the Barrow and Barter Island sectors can only be inferred from the distribution and thickness of Jurassic and Cretaceous sedimentary rocks. These boundaries may be extensions of oceanic fracture zones related to the rifting that is postulated to have opened the Canada Basin, probably beginning during the Early Jurassic. ?? 1979.

  12. 77 FR 34853 - Fisheries of the Exclusive Economic Zone Off Alaska; Pacific Cod for American Fisheries Act...

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2012-06-12

    ... in the BSAI exclusive economic zone according to the Fishery Management Plan for Groundfish of the.... 111213751-2102-02] RIN 0648-XC064 Fisheries of the Exclusive Economic Zone Off Alaska; Pacific Cod for... Management Area AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and Atmospheric...

  13. 78 FR 44920 - Pacific Halibut Fisheries; Catch Sharing Plan for Guided Sport and Commercial Fisheries in Alaska...

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2013-07-25

    ... Sport and Commercial Fisheries in Alaska; Extension of Comment Period AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries... proposed regulations to implement a catch sharing plan for the guided sport and commercial fisheries for... sharing plan for the guided sport and commercial fisheries for Pacific halibut in waters of IPHC...

  14. Calibrating the future highway safety manual predictive methods for Oregon state highways.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2012-02-01

    The Highway Safety Manual (HSM) was published by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) in the spring of 2010. Volume 2 (Part C) of the HSM includes safety predictive methods which can be used to quantitativel...

  15. The green highway forum

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    NONE

    2006-07-01

    In late 2004, as part of American Coal Ash Association's (ACAA) strategic planning process, a plan was approved by its Board of Directors implementing a 'green highways' concept which emphasized use of coal combustion products (CCPs) in highways in a variety of ways including being used alone, in combination with other forms of CCPs, and combined with non ash materials. The incentives behind the developed concept were the derived advantages from beneficial technical economic and environmental impacts. Although the primary use of fly ash is concrete, other forms of CCPs could be considered for more non-traditional highway applications. For example,more » these might include soils stabilization, binders for in-place pavement recycling, use in flowable fills, aggregates, source materials for structural fills and embankments, components in manufactured soils, and for granular base courses beneath pavements. At this same time, unknown to ACCA, EPA Region 3 in Philadelphia was working with the Wetlands and Watershed Work Group, a non-profit organization involved in wetlands policy and management along with the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) on their own Green Highways initiative. These groups were planning a conference, the 'Green Highway Forum'. This was held in College Park, Maryland at the University of Maryland, Nov 8-10 2005. At the conference a draft 'roadmap' was presented as a guide to executive level participants bringing the diverse viewpoints of many agencies and interest groups together. Ten guiding principals were considered. The 'Green Highways' is a new effort to recognize the 'greenness' of many projects already completed and those to be initiated. 2 photos.« less

  16. National highway user survey

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    1996-01-01

    The National Quality Initiative Steering Committee commissioned a survey, funded by the Federal Highway Administration, to determine the general public's satisfaction with the nation's highway system and to identify the public's priorities for highwa...

  17. Avian cholera causes marine bird mortality in the Bering Sea of Alaska

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Bodenstein, Barbara L.; Kimberlee Beckmen,; Gay Sheffield,; Kathy Kuletz,; Van Hemert, Caroline R.; Berlowski-Zier, Brenda M.; Shearn-Bochsler, Valerie I.

    2015-01-01

    The first known avian cholera outbreak among wild birds in Alaska occurred during November 2013. Liver, intestinal, and splenic necrosis consistent with avian cholera was noted, and Pasteurella multocida serotype 1 was isolated from liver and lung or spleen in Crested Auklets (Aethia cristatella), Thick-billed Murres (Uria lomvia), Common Eider (Somateria mollissima), Northern Fulmars (Fulmarus glacialis), and Glaucous-winged Gulls (Larus glaucescens).

  18. Structural health monitoring and condition assessment of Chulitna River Bridge : sensor selection and field installation report.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2012-12-01

    The Chulitna River Bridge, built in 1970, is located at Historic Mile Post 132.7 on the Alaska Parks Highway between Fairbanks and Anchorage, Alaska. The Parks : Highway is the most direct route connecting Anchorage, Fairbanks, and Prudhoe Bay. Heavy...

  19. 33 CFR 3.85-15 - Sector Anchorage: Western Alaska Marine Inspection Zone and Captain of the Port Zones; Marine...

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-07-01

    ... Marine Inspection Zone and Captain of the Port Zones; Marine Safety Unit Valdez: Prince William Sound Marine Inspection and Captain of the Port Zones. 3.85-15 Section 3.85-15 Navigation and Navigable Waters... INSPECTION ZONES, AND CAPTAIN OF THE PORT ZONES Seventeenth Coast Guard District § 3.85-15 Sector Anchorage...

  20. 33 CFR 3.85-15 - Sector Anchorage: Western Alaska Marine Inspection Zone and Captain of the Port Zones; Marine...

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-07-01

    ... Marine Inspection Zone and Captain of the Port Zones; Marine Safety Unit Valdez: Prince William Sound Marine Inspection and Captain of the Port Zones. 3.85-15 Section 3.85-15 Navigation and Navigable Waters... INSPECTION ZONES, AND CAPTAIN OF THE PORT ZONES Seventeenth Coast Guard District § 3.85-15 Sector Anchorage...

  1. 33 CFR 3.85-15 - Sector Anchorage: Western Alaska Marine Inspection Zone and Captain of the Port Zones; Marine...

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-07-01

    ... Marine Inspection Zone and Captain of the Port Zones; Marine Safety Unit Valdez: Prince William Sound Marine Inspection and Captain of the Port Zones. 3.85-15 Section 3.85-15 Navigation and Navigable Waters... INSPECTION ZONES, AND CAPTAIN OF THE PORT ZONES Seventeenth Coast Guard District § 3.85-15 Sector Anchorage...

  2. 33 CFR 3.85-15 - Sector Anchorage: Western Alaska Marine Inspection Zone and Captain of the Port Zones; Marine...

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-07-01

    ... Marine Inspection Zone and Captain of the Port Zones; Marine Safety Unit Valdez: Prince William Sound Marine Inspection and Captain of the Port Zones. 3.85-15 Section 3.85-15 Navigation and Navigable Waters... INSPECTION ZONES, AND CAPTAIN OF THE PORT ZONES Seventeenth Coast Guard District § 3.85-15 Sector Anchorage...

  3. 33 CFR 3.85-15 - Sector Anchorage: Western Alaska Marine Inspection Zone and Captain of the Port Zones; Marine...

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-07-01

    ... Marine Inspection Zone and Captain of the Port Zones; Marine Safety Unit Valdez: Prince William Sound Marine Inspection and Captain of the Port Zones. 3.85-15 Section 3.85-15 Navigation and Navigable Waters... INSPECTION ZONES, AND CAPTAIN OF THE PORT ZONES Seventeenth Coast Guard District § 3.85-15 Sector Anchorage...

  4. Alaska High School Students Integrate Forest Ecology, Glacial Landscape Dynamics, and Human Maritime History in a Field Mapping Course at Cape Decision Lighthouse, Kuiu Island, Southeast Alaska

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Connor, C. L.; Carstensen, R.; Domke, L.; Donohoe, S.; Clark, A.; Cordero, D.; Otsea, C.; Hakala, M.; Parks, R.; Lanwermeyer, S.; Discover Design Research (Ddr)

    2010-12-01

    Alaskan 10th and 11th graders earned college credit at Cape Decision Lighthouse as part of a 12-day, summer field research experience. Students and faculty flew to the southern tip of Kuiu Island located 388 km south of Juneau. Kuiu is the largest uninhabited island in southeastern Alaska. This field-based, introduction-to-research course was designed to engage students in the sciences and give them skills in technology, engineering, and mathematics. Two faculty, a forest naturalist and a geologist, introduced the students to the use of hand held GPS receivers, GIS map making, field note-taking and documentary photography, increment borer use, and soil studies techniques. Daily surveys across the region, provided onsite opportunities for the faculty to introduce the high schoolers to the many dimensions of forest ecology and plant succession. Students collected tree cores using increment borers to determine “release dates” providing clues to past wind disturbance. They discovered the influence of landscape change on the forest by digging soil pits and through guided interpretation of bedrock outcrops. The students learned about glacially influenced hydrology in forested wetlands during peat bog hikes. They developed an eye for geomorphic features along coastal traverses, which helped them to understand the influences of uplift through faulting and isostatic rebound in this tectonically active and once glaciated area. They surveyed forest patches to distinguish between regions of declining yellow-cedar from wind-disturbed spruce forests. The students encountered large volumes of primarily plastic marine debris, now stratified by density and wave energy, throughout the southern Kuiu intertidal zone. They traced pre-European Alaska Native subsistence use of the area, 19th and 20th century Alaska Territorial Maritime history, and learned about the 21st century radio tracking of over 10,000 commercial vessels by the Marine Exchange of Alaska from its many stations

  5. 77 FR 60679 - Takes of Marine Mammals Incidental to Specified Activities; U.S. Navy Training and Testing...

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2012-10-04

    ...; the Undersea Warfare Training Range; the Key West Range Complex; the Naval Surface Warfare Center... of Protected Resources, National Marine Fisheries Service, 1315 East-West Highway, Silver Spring, MD...

  6. Assessment of clinical pathology and pathogen exposure in sea otters (Enhydra lutris) bordering the threatened population in Alaska

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Goldstein, Tracey; Gill, Verena A.; Tuomi, Pamela A.; Monson, Daniel H.; Burdin, Alexander; Conrad, Patricia A.; Dunn, J. Lawrence; Field, Cara L.; Johnson, Christine K.; Jessup, David A.; Bodkin, James L.; Doroff, Angela M.

    2011-01-01

    Northern sea otter (Enhydra lutris kenyoni) abundance has decreased dramatically over portions of southwest Alaska, USA, since the mid-1980s, and this stock is currently listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act. In contrast, adjacent populations in south central Alaska, USA, and Russia have been stable to increasing during the same period. Sea otters bordering the area classified in the recent decline were live-captured during 2004–2006 at Bering Island, Russia, and the Kodiak Archipelago, Alaska, USA, to evaluate differences in general health and current exposure status to marine and terrestrial pathogens. Although body condition was lower in animals captured at Bering Island, Russia, than it was at Kodiak, USA, clinical pathology values did not reveal differences in general health between the two regions. Low prevalences of antibodies (>5%) were found in Kodiak, USA, and on Bering Island, Russia, to Toxoplasma gondii, Sarcocystis neurona, and Leptospira interrogans. Exposure to phocine herpesvirus-1 was found in both Kodiak, USA (15.2%), and Bering Island, Russia (2.3%). Antibodies to Brucella spp. were found in 28% of the otters tested on Bering Island, Russia, compared with only 2.7% of the samples from Kodiak, USA. Prevalence of exposure to Phocine distemper virus (PDV) was 41% in Kodiak, USA, but 0% on Bering Island, Russia. Archived sera from southwest and south-central Alaska dating back to 1989 were negative for PDV, indicating exposure occurred in sea otters in Kodiak, USA, in recent years. Because PDV can be highly pathogenic in naïve and susceptible marine mammal populations, tissues should be examined to explore the contribution of this virus to otter deaths. Our results reveal an increase in exposure to pathogens in sea otters in Kodiak, Alaska, USA, since the 1990s.

  7. Protocols for long-term monitoring of seabird ecology in the Gulf of Alaska

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Piatt, John F.; Byrd, G. Vernon; Harding, Ann M.A.; Kettle, Arthur B.; Kitaysky, Sasha; Litzow, Michael A.; Roseneau, David G.; Shultz, Michael T.; van Pelt, Thomas I.

    2003-01-01

    Seabird populations will need to be monitored for many years to assess both recovery and ecological conditions affecting recovery. Detailed studies of individual seabird colonies and marine ecosystems in the Gulf of Alaska have been conducted by the U.S. Geological Survey and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service under the auspices of damage assessment and restoration programs of the Trustee Council. Much has been learned about factors influencing seabird populations and their capacity to recover from the spill in the Gulf of Alaska. As the restoration program moves toward long-term monitoring of populations, however, protocols and long-term monitoring strategies that focus on key parameters of interest and that are inexpensive, practical, and applicable over a large geographic area need to be developed.

  8. Caltrans : highway design manual

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2008-07-01

    The Highway Design Manual establishes uniform policies and procedures to carry out the highway design functions of the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans). The policies established herein are for the information and guidance of the off...

  9. Alaska Seismic Hazards Safety Commission

    Science.gov Websites

    State Employees ASHSC State of Alaska search Alaska Seismic Hazards Safety Commission View of Anchorage and Commissions Alaska Seismic Hazards Safety Commission (ASHSC) main contant Alaska Seismic Hazards Safety Commission logo Alaska Seismic Hazards Safety Commission (ASHSC) - Mission The Alaska Seismic

  10. Countermeasures that work : a highway safety countermeasure guide for state highway safety offices

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2007-01-01

    This guide is a basic reference to assist State Highway Safety Offices (SHSOs) in selecting : effective, science-based traffic safety countermeasures for major highway safety problem areas. : The guide describes major strategies and countermeasures t...

  11. Countermeasures that work : a highway safety countermeasure guide for state highway safety offices

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2005-01-01

    This guide is a basic reference to assist State Highway Safety Offices (SHSOs) in selecting effective, science-based traffic safety countermeasures for major highway safety problem areas. The guide: describes major strategies and countermeasures that...

  12. Countermeasures that work : a highway safety countermeasure guide for state highway safety offices

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2009-01-01

    This guide is a basic reference to assist State Highway Safety Offices (SHSOs) in selecting effective, science-based traffic safety countermeasures for major highway safety problem areas. The guide: describes major strategies and countermeasures that...

  13. Countermeasures that work : a highway safety countermeasure guide for state highway safety offices

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2008-01-01

    This guide is a basic reference to assist State Highway Safety Offices (SHSOs) in selecting effective, science-based traffic safety countermeasures for major highway safety problem areas. The guide: describes major strategies and countermeasures that...

  14. 78 FR 9771 - Federal Highway Administration

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2013-02-11

    ... DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION Federal Highway Administration Notice of Final Federal Agency Action on Proposed Transportation Project in Illinois and Indiana AGENCY: Federal Highway Administration...., Acting Division Administrator, Federal Highway Administration, 3250 Executive Park Drive, Springfield...

  15. Highway safety design workshops.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2010-11-01

    Highway safety is an ongoing concern for the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT). As part of its : proactive commitment to improving highway safety, TxDOT is moving toward including quantitative safety : analyses earlier in the project develop...

  16. 150 000 Years of Loess Deposition in Interior Alaska as Told by Magnetic Susceptibility

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Jensen, B. J. L.; Evans, M. E.; Froese, D. G.; Kravchinsky, V. A.

    2015-12-01

    The Halfway House loess deposit in interior Alaska contains a well-studied and complex paleomagnetic and paleoenvironmental record. Unfortunately, a lack of chronologic control has made it difficult to interpret the results of these studies. Detailed reexamination of stratigraphy, paleomagnetics and tephrostratigraphy reveals a relatively complete marine isotope stage (MIS) 6 to Holocene record constrained by the Old Crow (124 ± 10 ka), VT (106 ± 10 ka), Sheep Creek-Klondike (ca. 80 ka), Dominion Creek (77 ± 8 ka) and Dawson (ca. 30.2 cal ka BP) tephras. Two well-developed paleosols are shown to have formed during Marine Isotope Stages (MIS) 5e and 5a, while MIS 5c and 5b are either poorly represented or absent. A magnetic excursion is identified as the post-Blake excursion (94.1 ± 7.8 ka) and provides independent age control while adding to an increasing body of evidence that Alaskan loess is a detailed recorder of variations of the Earth's magnetic field over time. High-resolution magnetic susceptibility profiles placed into this new chronostratigraphic framework help refine loess deposition models for the interior of Alaska, while providing a means to correlate to previous magnetic studies at this site. The profiles support the hypothesis that wind-intensity is the main variable controlling fluctuations in susceptibility, with the highest susceptibility during peak glacial times and the lowest values in paleosols representing interglacials. However, the correlation of the susceptibility record to global marine d18O records is complicated by highly variable accumulation rates. We find the lowest rates of accumulation during peak warm and cold stages, while abrupt increases are associated with periods of transition between marine isotope stages, represented by intermediate susceptibility values. Previous accumulation models for Alaska have emphasized the role of surface roughness as an important variable controlling loess accumulation. However our results

  17. Our nation's highways 2000

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2002-04-29

    The information in this publication provides a condensed overview of facts and figures about the Nation's Highways. This publication is designed to be of interest to the average citizen. The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) is the source of the ...

  18. Alaska exceptionality hypothesis: Is Alaska wilderness really different?

    Treesearch

    Gregory Brown

    2002-01-01

    The common idiom of Alaska as “The Last Frontier” suggests that the relative remoteness and unsettled character of Alaska create a unique Alaskan identity, one that is both a “frontier” and the “last” of its kind. The frontier idiom portrays the place and people of Alaska as exceptional or different from the places and people who reside in the Lower Forty- Eight States...

  19. 75 FR 55690 - Fisheries of the Exclusive Economic Zone Off Alaska; Reallocation of Pacific cod in the Bering...

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2010-09-14

    .... 0910131363-0087-02] RIN 0648-XZ01 Fisheries of the Exclusive Economic Zone Off Alaska; Reallocation of Pacific cod in the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands Management Area AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries... Sea and Aleutian Islands management area. These actions are necessary to allow the 2010 total...

  20. 78 FR 41718 - Fisheries of the Exclusive Economic Zone Off Alaska; Kamchatka Flounder in the Bering Sea and...

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2013-07-11

    .... 121018563-3148-02] RIN 0648-XC750 Fisheries of the Exclusive Economic Zone Off Alaska; Kamchatka Flounder in the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands Management Area AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS... management area (BSAI). This action is necessary to prevent exceeding the 2013 Kamchatka flounder initial...

  1. 78 FR 52458 - Fisheries of the Exclusive Economic Zone Off Alaska; Arrowtooth Flounder in the Bering Sea and...

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2013-08-23

    .... 121018563-3148-02] RIN 0648-XC816 Fisheries of the Exclusive Economic Zone Off Alaska; Arrowtooth Flounder in the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands Management Area AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries Service... Aleutian Islands management area (BSAI). This action is necessary to prevent exceeding the 2013 arrowtooth...

  2. 78 FR 57537 - Fisheries of the Exclusive Economic Zone Off Alaska; Shortraker Rockfish in the Bering Sea and...

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2013-09-19

    ... exclusive economic zone according to the Fishery Management Plan for Groundfish of the Bering Sea and.... 121018563-3418-02] RIN 0648-XC876 Fisheries of the Exclusive Economic Zone Off Alaska; Shortraker Rockfish in the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands Management Area AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries Service...

  3. 78 FR 42891 - Fisheries of the Exclusive Economic Zone Off Alaska; Rougheye Rockfish in the Bering Sea and...

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2013-07-18

    ... manages the groundfish fishery in the BSAI exclusive economic zone according to the Fishery Management.... 121018563-3148-02] RIN 0648-XC761 Fisheries of the Exclusive Economic Zone Off Alaska; Rougheye Rockfish in the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands Management Area AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS...

  4. 75 FR 5541 - Fisheries of the Exclusive Economic Zone Off Alaska; Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands; Final 2009...

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2010-02-03

    ... Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Commerce. ACTION...\\ BSAI trawl limited access fisheries Red king crab C. opilio C. bairdi (animals) Halibut mortality (mt.... 0810141351-0040-03] RIN 0648-XL28 Fisheries of the Exclusive Economic Zone Off Alaska; Bering Sea and...

  5. Highway Fuel Economy Study

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    1981-06-01

    In 1979, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) with support from the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), convened a Task Force to develop a base of information on the effects of the 55 MPH speed limit. This report addresses th...

  6. Our nation's highways 2010

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2010-01-01

    With over 4 million miles of public roads, including more than 163,000 miles of the National Highway System roadways, our nation is connected coasts to coasts and communities to communities. The 2010 edition of Our Nations Highways includes update...

  7. Highway fog warning system

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    1999-04-01

    The need for a highway fog warning system has long been internationally recognized. With such a system, motorists can avoid tragic pile-up accidents caused by dense or patchy fog. The development of a cost-effective highway visibility sensor that mea...

  8. Highways and your land.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2011-01-01

    For most people, highway engineering, design and right of way acquisition are not of immediate concern. However, when you own or rent property that will be affected by highway construction, you begin to consider road building from a different and per...

  9. 75 FR 18014 - Federal Highway Administration

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2010-04-08

    ... DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION Federal Highway Administration AGENCY: Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), DOT. ACTION: Notice of Availability regarding a Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI): U.S.... FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Federal Highway Administration, Kentucky Division: Mr. Greg Rawlings...

  10. Alaska telemedicine: growth through collaboration.

    PubMed

    Patricoski, Chris

    2004-12-01

    The last thirty years have brought the introduction and expansion of telecommunications to rural and remote Alaska. The intellectual and financial investment of earlier projects, the more recent AFHCAN Project and the Universal Service Administrative Company Rural Health Care Division (RHCD) has sparked a new era in telemedicine and telecommunication across Alaska. This spark has been flamed by the dedication and collaboration of leaders at he highest levels of organizations such as: AFHCAN member organizations, AFHCAN Office, Alaska Clinical Engineering Services, Alaska Federal Health Care Partnership, Alaska Federal Health Care Partnership Office, Alaska Native health Board, Alaska Native Tribal health Consortium, Alaska Telehealth Advisory Council, AT&T Alascom, GCI Inc., Health care providers throughout the state of Alaska, Indian Health Service, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of U.S. Senator Ted Steens, State of Alaska, U.S. Department of Homeland Security--United States Coast Guard, United States Department of Agriculture, United States Department of Defense--Air Force and Army, United States Department of Veterans Affairs, University of Alaska, and University of Alaska Anchorage. Alaska now has one of the largest telemedicine programs in the world. As Alaska moves system now in place become self-sustaining, and 2) collaborating with all stakeholders in promoting the growth of an integrated, state-wide telemedicine network.

  11. 76 FR 6690 - Highway Systems; Technical Correction

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2011-02-08

    ...-2011-0003] RIN 2125-AF35 Highway Systems; Technical Correction AGENCIES: Federal Highway Administration... correction to the regulations that govern the designation of routes on the National Highway System and the Dwight D. Eisenhower System of Interstate and Defense Highways. The amendments contained herein make no...

  12. 23 CFR 200.9 - State highway agency responsibilities.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-04-01

    ... 23 Highways 1 2012-04-01 2012-04-01 false State highway agency responsibilities. 200.9 Section 200.9 Highways FEDERAL HIGHWAY ADMINISTRATION, DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION CIVIL RIGHTS TITLE VI PROGRAM AND RELATED STATUTES-IMPLEMENTATION AND REVIEW PROCEDURES § 200.9 State highway agency...

  13. Principal Facts for 463 Gravity Stations in the Vicinity of Tangle Lakes, East-Central Alaska

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Morin, Robert L.; Glen, Jonathan M.G.

    2002-01-01

    During the summer of 2001, a gravity survey was conducted in the vicinity of Tangle Lakes, east-central Alaska. Measurements of 87 gravity stations were made. The Tangle Lakes area is located about 25 km west of Paxson and north of the Denali Highway. The gravity survey is located on the southwest corner of the Mt. Hayes and the northwest corner of the Gulkana 1:250,000 scale USGS topographic maps. The boundaries of the study area are 62 deg 30' to 63 deg 30' N. latitude and 145 deg 30' to 147 deg 00' W. longitude. A map showing the location of the study area is shown in figure 1. One gravity base station was used for control for this survey. This base station, TLIN is located at the Tangle Lakes Inn. The observed gravity of this station was calculated based on multiple ties to base stations ANCU in Anchorage, PALH in Palmer, BD27 in Gulkana, and base stations D42, and D57 along the Denali Highway.

  14. 23 CFR 1.28 - Diversion of highway revenues.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-04-01

    ... 23 Highways 1 2012-04-01 2012-04-01 false Diversion of highway revenues. 1.28 Section 1.28 Highways FEDERAL HIGHWAY ADMINISTRATION, DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION GENERAL MANAGEMENT AND ADMINISTRATION GENERAL § 1.28 Diversion of highway revenues. (a) Reduction in apportionment. If the Secretary shall find...

  15. Factors associated with pilot fatalities in work-related aircraft crashes--Alaska, 1990-1999.

    PubMed

    2002-04-26

    Despite its large geographic area, Alaska has only 12,200 miles of public roads, and 90% of the state's communities are not connected to a highway system. Commuter and air-taxi flights are essential for transportation of passengers and delivery of goods, services, and mail to outlying communities (Figure 1). Because of the substantial progress in decreasing fatalities in the fishing and logging industries, aviation crashes are the leading cause of occupational death in Alaska. During 1990-1999, aircraft crashes in Alaska caused 107 deaths among workers classified as civilian pilots. This is equivalent to 410 fatalities per 100,000 pilots each year, approximately five times the death rate for all U.S. pilots and approximately 100 times the death rate for all U.S. workers. As part of a collaborative aviation safety initiative that CDC's National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) is implementing with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), and the National Weather Service, CDC analyzed data from NTSB crash reports to determine factors associated with pilot fatalities in work-related aviation crashes in Alaska. This report summarizes the result of this analysis, which found that the following factors were associated with pilot fatalities: crashes involving a post-crash fire, flights in darkness or weather conditions requiring instrument use, crashes occurring away from an airport, and crashes in which the pilot was not using a shoulder restraint. Additional pilot training, improved fuel systems that are less likely to ignite in crashes, and company policies that discourage flying in poor weather conditions might help decrease pilot fatalities. More detailed analyses of crash data, collaborations with aircraft operators to improve safety, and evaluation of new technologies are needed.

  16. 75 FR 8840 - Fisheries of the Exclusive Economic Zone Off Alaska; Pacific Cod by Catcher/Processors Using Pot...

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2010-02-26

    ... DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration 50 CFR Part 679 [Docket No. 0810141351-9087-02] RIN 0648-XU65 Fisheries of the Exclusive Economic Zone Off Alaska; Pacific Cod by Catcher/Processors Using Pot Gear in the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands Management Area AGENCY: National Marine...

  17. 75 FR 59157 - Fisheries of the Exclusive Economic Zone Off Alaska; Pacific Cod by Catcher/Processors Using Pot...

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2010-09-27

    ... DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration 50 CFR Part 679 [Docket No. 0910131363-0087-02] RIN 0648-XZ27 Fisheries of the Exclusive Economic Zone Off Alaska; Pacific Cod by Catcher/Processors Using Pot Gear in the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands Management Area AGENCY: National Marine...

  18. 75 FR 55288 - Fisheries of the Exclusive Economic Zone Off Alaska; Northern Rockfish in the Bering Sea and...

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2010-09-10

    .... 0910131363-0087-02] RIN 0648-XY87 Fisheries of the Exclusive Economic Zone Off Alaska; Northern Rockfish in the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands Management Area AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS... Islands Management Area (BSAI). This action is necessary to fully use the 2010 total allowable catch (TAC...

  19. 78 FR 9327 - Fisheries of the Exclusive Economic Zone Off Alaska; Reallocation of Pacific Cod in the Bering...

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2013-02-08

    .... 111213751-2102-02] RIN 0648-XC481 Fisheries of the Exclusive Economic Zone Off Alaska; Reallocation of Pacific Cod in the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands Management Area AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries... in the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands management area. This action is necessary to allow the A...

  20. 77 FR 48916 - Fisheries of the Exclusive Economic Zone Off Alaska; Arrowtooth Flounder in the Bering Sea and...

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2012-08-15

    .... 111213751-2102-02] RIN 0648-XC129 Fisheries of the Exclusive Economic Zone Off Alaska; Arrowtooth Flounder in the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands Management Area AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries Service... management area (BSAI). This action is necessary to allow the fisheries to continue operating. It is intended...

  1. 77 FR 61300 - Fisheries of the Exclusive Economic Zone Off Alaska; Reallocation of Atka Mackerel in the Bering...

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2012-10-09

    .... 111213751-2102-02] RIN 0648-XC278 Fisheries of the Exclusive Economic Zone Off Alaska; Reallocation of Atka Mackerel in the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands Management Area AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries Service... Amendment 80 cooperatives in the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands management area (BSAI). This action is...

  2. 76 FR 59924 - Fisheries of the Exclusive Economic Zone Off Alaska; Skates in the Bering Sea and Aleutian...

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2011-09-28

    ... manages the groundfish fishery in the GOA exclusive economic zone according to the Fishery Management Plan.... 101126521-0640-2] RIN 0648-XA731 Fisheries of the Exclusive Economic Zone Off Alaska; Skates in the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands Management Area AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National...

  3. 77 FR 44501 - Fisheries of the Exclusive Economic Zone Off Alaska; Arrowtooth Flounder in the Bering Sea and...

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2012-07-30

    .... 111213751-2102-02] RIN 0648-XC129 Fisheries of the Exclusive Economic Zone Off Alaska; Arrowtooth Flounder in the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands Management Area AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries Service... management area (BSAI). This action is necessary to allow the fisheries to continue operating. It is intended...

  4. 76 FR 12293 - Fisheries of the Exclusive Economic Zone Off Alaska; Reallocation of Pacific Cod in the Bering...

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2011-03-07

    .... 101126521-0640-02] RIN 0648-XA260 Fisheries of the Exclusive Economic Zone Off Alaska; Reallocation of Pacific Cod in the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands Management Area AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries... in the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands management area. This action is necessary to allow the A...

  5. Persistent organochlorine pollutants in ringed seals and polar bears collected from northern Alaska

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Kucklick, J.R.; Struntz, W.D.J.; Becker, P.R.; York, G.W.; O'Hara, T. M.; Bohonowych, J.E.

    2002-01-01

    Blubber samples from ringed seal (Phoca hispida; n=8) and polar bear subcutaneous fat (Ursus maritimus; n=5) were collected near Barrow, Alaska in 1996 as part of the Alaska Marine Mammal Tissue Archival Project (AMMTAP) and retained in the National Biomonitoring Specimen Bank at the National Institute of Standards and Technology in Gaithersburg, Maryland (USA). The samples were analyzed for a variety of persistent organochlorine pollutants (POPs) including polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), hexachlorocyclohexanes (HCHs), chlordane and metabolites, hexachlorobenzene (HCB) and DDTs and metabolites. The geometric mean, on a wet mass basis, of ??PCBs (sum of 29 congeners and congener groups) were 732??282 ng/g (1 S.D.) in seals and 3395??1442 ng/g in polar bears. The geometric mean of ??DDTs, ??HCHs (??-, ??- and ??- HCH) and HCB concentrations (wet mass basis) in seals and bears were 562??261 ng/g vs. 74.8??39 ng/g, 380??213 ng/g vs. 515 ng/g, and 17.4??10.1 ng/g vs. 183??153 ng/g, respectively. The geometric mean sum of chlordane (??chlordane, sum of cis- and trans-chlordane, cis- and trans-nonachlor, oxychlordane and heptachlor epoxide) and dieldrin concentrations in ringed seals and polar bears were 753??617 ng/g vs. 720??315 ng/g and 38.6??22.8 ng/g vs. 130??65 ng/g, respectively. Apparent bioaccumulation factors (polar bear/ringed seal POP concentrations) were lower in the animals sampled near Barrow, Alaska than in those from locations in the Canadian Arctic. This suggests that polar bears are also preying on marine mammals from lower trophic levels than the ringed seals with correspondingly lower organochlorine levels, such as bowhead whale carcasses. PCB congener patterns in the samples demonstrated the metabolism of certain PCB congeners in the polar bear relative to the ringed seal in agreement with previous studies. Regional comparisons of animals collected in Alaska and Arctic Canada are presented. Copyright ?? 2002 Elsevier Science B.V.

  6. 78 FR 53137 - Flint Hills Resources Alaska, LLC, BP Pipelines (Alaska) Inc., ConocoPhillips Transportation...

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2013-08-28

    ... DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY Federal Energy Regulatory Commission [Docket Nos. OR13-31-000] Flint Hills Resources Alaska, LLC, BP Pipelines (Alaska) Inc., ConocoPhillips Transportation Alaska, Inc., ExxonMobil... (Alaska) Inc., ConocoPhillips Transportation Alaska, Inc., and ExxonMobil Pipeline Company (collectively...

  7. Conceptual ecological models to support detection of ecological change on Alaska National Wildlife Refuges

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Woodward, Andrea; Beever, Erik A.

    2011-01-01

    Unified Ecoregions of Alaska. Ecoregional models were then developed to illustrate resources and processes that operate at spatial scales larger than individual refuges within each ecoregion. Conceptual models also were developed for adjacent marine areas, designated as the North Pacific, Bering Sea, and Beaufort-Chukchi Sea Marine Ecoregions. Although many more conceptual models will be required to support development of a regional monitoring program, these definitions of ecoregions and associated conceptual models are an important foundation.

  8. 23 CFR 200.9 - State highway agency responsibilities.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-04-01

    ... 23 Highways 1 2014-04-01 2014-04-01 false State highway agency responsibilities. 200.9 Section 200.9 Highways FEDERAL HIGHWAY ADMINISTRATION, DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION CIVIL RIGHTS TITLE VI... Administration. (2) Section 162a of the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1973 (section 324, title 23 U.S.C.) requires...

  9. 23 CFR 200.9 - State highway agency responsibilities.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-04-01

    ... 23 Highways 1 2011-04-01 2011-04-01 false State highway agency responsibilities. 200.9 Section 200.9 Highways FEDERAL HIGHWAY ADMINISTRATION, DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION CIVIL RIGHTS TITLE VI... Administration. (2) Section 162a of the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1973 (section 324, title 23 U.S.C.) requires...

  10. 23 CFR 200.9 - State highway agency responsibilities.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-04-01

    ... 23 Highways 1 2013-04-01 2013-04-01 false State highway agency responsibilities. 200.9 Section 200.9 Highways FEDERAL HIGHWAY ADMINISTRATION, DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION CIVIL RIGHTS TITLE VI... Administration. (2) Section 162a of the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1973 (section 324, title 23 U.S.C.) requires...

  11. 75 FR 8547 - Fisheries of the Exclusive Economic Zone Off Alaska; Atka Mackerel in the Bering Sea and Aleutian...

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2010-02-25

    ... and Aleutian Islands (BSAI) exclusive economic zone according to the Fishery Management Plan for.... 0810141351-9087-02] RIN 0648-XU59 Fisheries of the Exclusive Economic Zone Off Alaska; Atka Mackerel in the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands Management Area AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS...

  12. 75 FR 64957 - Fisheries of the Exclusive Economic Zone Off Alaska; Atka Mackerel in the Bering Sea and Aleutian...

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2010-10-21

    ... manages the groundfish fishery in the BSAI exclusive economic zone according to the Fishery Management.... 0910131363-0087-01] RIN 0648-XZ85 Fisheries of the Exclusive Economic Zone Off Alaska; Atka Mackerel in the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands Management Area AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS...

  13. 77 FR 44172 - Fisheries of the Exclusive Economic Zone Off Alaska; Squid in the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands...

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2012-07-27

    ... manages the groundfish fishery in the BSAI exclusive economic zone according to the Fishery Management.... 111213751-2102-02] RIN 0648-XC119 Fisheries of the Exclusive Economic Zone Off Alaska; Squid in the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands Management Area AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National...

  14. 75 FR 14498 - Fisheries of the Exclusive Economic Zone Off Alaska; Atka Mackerel in the Bering Sea and Aleutian...

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2010-03-26

    ... the groundfish fishery in the BSAI exclusive economic zone according to the Fishery Management Plan.... 0910131363-0087-02] RIN 0648-XV52 Fisheries of the Exclusive Economic Zone Off Alaska; Atka Mackerel in the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands Management Area AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS...

  15. 75 FR 53606 - Fisheries of the Exclusive Economic Zone Off Alaska; Atka Mackerel in the Bering Sea and Aleutian...

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2010-09-01

    ... the groundfish fishery in the BSAI exclusive economic zone according to the Fishery Management Plan.... 0910131363-0087-02] RIN 0648-XY62 Fisheries of the Exclusive Economic Zone Off Alaska; Atka Mackerel in the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands Management Area AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS...

  16. 75 FR 4491 - Fisheries of the Exclusive Economic Zone Off Alaska; Atka Mackerel in the Bering Sea and Aleutian...

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2010-01-28

    ... groundfish fishery in the BSAI exclusive economic zone according to the Fishery Management Plan for.... 0810141351-9087-02] RIN 0648-XU11 Fisheries of the Exclusive Economic Zone Off Alaska; Atka Mackerel in the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands Management Area AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS...

  17. Alaska Energy Inventory Project: Consolidating Alaska's Energy Resources

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Papp, K.; Clough, J.; Swenson, R.; Crimp, P.; Hanson, D.; Parker, P.

    2007-12-01

    Alaska has considerable energy resources distributed throughout the state including conventional oil, gas, and coal, and unconventional coalbed and shalebed methane, gas hydrates, geothermal, wind, hydro, and biomass. While much of the known large oil and gas resources are concentrated on the North Slope and in the Cook Inlet regions, the other potential sources of energy are dispersed across a varied landscape from frozen tundra to coastal settings. Despite the presence of these potential energy sources, rural Alaska is mostly dependent upon diesel fuel for both electrical power generation and space heating needs. At considerable cost, large quantities of diesel fuel are transported to more than 150 roadless communities by barge or airplane and stored in large bulk fuel tank farms for winter months when electricity and heat are at peak demands. Recent increases in the price of oil have severely impacted the price of energy throughout Alaska, and especially hard hit are rural communities and remote mines that are off the road system and isolated from integrated electrical power grids. Even though the state has significant conventional gas resources in restricted areas, few communities are located near enough to these resources to directly use natural gas to meet their energy needs. To address this problem, the Alaska Energy Inventory project will (1) inventory and compile all available Alaska energy resource data suitable for electrical power generation and space heating needs including natural gas, coal, coalbed and shalebed methane, gas hydrates, geothermal, wind, hydro, and biomass and (2) identify locations or regions where the most economic energy resource or combination of energy resources can be developed to meet local needs. This data will be accessible through a user-friendly web-based interactive map, based on the Alaska Department of Natural Resources, Land Records Information Section's (LRIS) Alaska Mapper, Google Earth, and Terrago Technologies' Geo

  18. Post-Breeding Season Migrations of a Top Predator, the Harbor Seal (Phoca vitulina richardii), from a Marine Protected Area in Alaska

    PubMed Central

    Womble, Jamie N.; Gende, Scott M.

    2013-01-01

    Marine protected areas (MPAs) are increasingly being used as a conservation tool for highly mobile marine vertebrates and the focus is typically on protecting breeding areas where individuals are aggregated seasonally. Yet movements during the non-breeding season can overlap with threats that may be equally as important to population dynamics. Thus understanding habitat use and movements of species during the non-breeding periods is critical for conservation. Glacier Bay National Park, Alaska, is one of the largest marine mammal protected areas in the world and has the only enforceable protection measures for reducing disturbance to harbor seals in the United States. Yet harbor seals have declined by up to 11.5%/year from 1992 to 2009. We used satellite-linked transmitters that were attached to 37 female harbor seals to quantify the post-breeding season migrations of seals and the amount of time that seals spent inside vs. outside of the MPA of Glacier Bay. Harbor seals traveled extensively beyond the boundaries of the MPA of Glacier Bay during the post-breeding season, encompassing an area (25,325 km2) significantly larger than that used by seals during the breeding season (8,125 km2). These movements included the longest migration yet recorded for a harbor seal (3,411 km) and extended use (up to 23 days) of pelagic areas by some seals. Although the collective utilization distribution of harbor seals during the post-breeding season was quite expansive, there was a substantial degree of individual variability in the percentage of days that seals spent in the MPA. Nevertheless, harbor seals demonstrated a high degree of inter-annual site fidelity (93%) to Glacier Bay the following breeding season. Our results highlight the importance of understanding the threats that seals may interact with outside of the boundaries of the MPA of Glacier Bay for understanding population dynamics of seals in Glacier Bay. PMID:23457468

  19. Trace element concentrations in livers of polar bears from two populations in Northern and Western Alaska.

    PubMed

    Kannan, Kurunthachalam; Agusa, Tetsuro; Evans, Thomas J; Tanabe, Shinsuke

    2007-10-01

    Concentrations of 20 trace elements (V, Cr, Mn, Co, Cu, Zn, Rb, Sr, Mo, Ag, Cd, In, Sn, Sb, Cs, Ba, Hg, Tl, Pb, and Bi) were measured in livers of polar bears (Ursus maritimus) collected from Northern and Western Alaska from 1993 to 2002 to examine differences in the profiles of trace metals between the Beaufort Sea (Northern Alaska) and the Chukchi Sea (Western Alaska) subpopulations in Alaska. Among the trace elements analyzed, concentrations of Cu (50-290 microg/g, dry wt) in polar bear livers were in the higher range of values that have been reported for marine mammals. Concentrations of Hg in polar bears varied widely, from 3.5 to 99 microg/g dry wt, and the mean concentrations in polar bears were comparable to concentrations reported previously for several other species of marine mammals. Mean concentrations of Pb and Cd were 0.67 and 1.0 microg/g dry wt, respectively; these concentrations were lower than levels reported elsewhere for polar bears from Greenland and Canada. Age- and gender-related variations in the concentrations of trace elements in our polar bears were minimal. Concentrations of Hg decreased slowly in samples collected during 1993-2002, whereas Cd and Pb concentrations were found to be stable or slowly increasing, in the livers of Alaskan polar bears. Concentrations of Ag, Bi, Ba, Cu, and Sn were significantly higher in the Chukchi Sea subpopulation than in the Beaufort Sea subpopulation. Concentrations of Hg were significantly higher in the Beaufort Sea subpopulation than in the Chukchi Sea subpopulation. Differences in the profiles and concentrations of Hg, Ag, Bi, Ba, Cu, and Sn suggest that the sources of exposure to these trace elements between Western and Northern Alaskan polar bears are different, in agreement with findings reported earlier for several organic contaminants.

  20. 150,000 years of loess accumulation in central Alaska

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Jensen, Britta J. L.; Evans, Michael E.; Froese, Duane G.; Kravchinsky, Vadim A.

    2016-03-01

    The Halfway House site in interior Alaska is arguably the most studied loess deposit in northwestern North America. The site contains a complex paleomagnetic and paleoenvironmental record, but has lacked the robust chronologic control that would allow its full potential to be exploited. Detailed reexamination of stratigraphy, paleomagnetics and tephrostratigraphy reveals a relatively complete marine isotope stage (MIS) 6 to Holocene record constrained by the Old Crow (124 ± 10 ka), VT (106 ± 10 ka), Sheep Creek-Klondike (ca. 80 ka), Dominion Creek (77 ± 8 ka) and Dawson (ca. 30.2 cal ka BP) tephras. We show two well-developed paleosols formed during Marine Isotope Stages (MIS) 5e and 5a, while MIS 5c and 5b are either poorly represented or absent. The new tephrostratigraphy presented here is the most complete one to date for the late Pleistocene and indicates MIS 5 sediments are more common than previously recognized. A magnetic excursion within the sediments is identified as the post-Blake excursion (94.1 ± 7.8 ka), providing independent age control and adding to the increasing body of evidence that Alaskan loess is a detailed recorder of variations of the Earth's magnetic field over time. A high-resolution magnetic susceptibility profile placed into this new chronostratigraphic framework supports the hypothesis that wind-intensity is the main variable controlling fluctuations in susceptibility. Correlation of the susceptibility record to global marine δ18O records is complicated by highly variable accumulation rates. We find the lowest rates of accumulation during peak warm and cold stages, while abrupt increases are associated with periods of transition between marine isotope (sub)stages. Building on previous accumulation models for Alaska, surface roughness is likely a leading variable controlling loess accumulation rates during transitions and peak cold periods, but the negligible accumulation during MIS 5e and 5a suggests that loess production was

  1. 76 FR 45709 - Fisheries of the Exclusive Economic Zone Off Alaska; Pacific Ocean Perch in the West Yakutat...

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2011-08-01

    ...; Pacific Ocean Perch in the West Yakutat District of the Gulf of Alaska AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries...; closure. SUMMARY: NMFS is prohibiting directed fishing for Pacific ocean perch in the West Yakutat... allowable catch (TAC) of Pacific ocean perch in the West Yakutat District of the GOA. DATES: Effective 1200...

  2. 32 CFR 644.421 - Highway purposes.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-07-01

    ... 32 National Defense 4 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 true Highway purposes. 644.421 Section 644.421... ESTATE HANDBOOK Disposal Disposal of Fee-Owned Real Property and Easement Interests § 644.421 Highway... highway adjacent to a Government installation. If, within a period of four months after such application...

  3. 32 CFR 644.421 - Highway purposes.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-07-01

    ... 32 National Defense 4 2014-07-01 2013-07-01 true Highway purposes. 644.421 Section 644.421... ESTATE HANDBOOK Disposal Disposal of Fee-Owned Real Property and Easement Interests § 644.421 Highway... highway adjacent to a Government installation. If, within a period of four months after such application...

  4. 32 CFR 644.421 - Highway purposes.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-07-01

    ... 32 National Defense 4 2012-07-01 2011-07-01 true Highway purposes. 644.421 Section 644.421... ESTATE HANDBOOK Disposal Disposal of Fee-Owned Real Property and Easement Interests § 644.421 Highway... highway adjacent to a Government installation. If, within a period of four months after such application...

  5. 32 CFR 644.421 - Highway purposes.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-07-01

    ... 32 National Defense 4 2013-07-01 2013-07-01 false Highway purposes. 644.421 Section 644.421... ESTATE HANDBOOK Disposal Disposal of Fee-Owned Real Property and Easement Interests § 644.421 Highway... highway adjacent to a Government installation. If, within a period of four months after such application...

  6. 32 CFR 644.421 - Highway purposes.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-07-01

    ... 32 National Defense 4 2011-07-01 2011-07-01 false Highway purposes. 644.421 Section 644.421... ESTATE HANDBOOK Disposal Disposal of Fee-Owned Real Property and Easement Interests § 644.421 Highway... highway adjacent to a Government installation. If, within a period of four months after such application...

  7. Geologic framework of the Alaska Peninsula, southwest Alaska, and the Alaska Peninsula terrane

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Wilson, Frederic H.; Detterman, Robert L.; DuBois, Gregory D.

    2015-01-01

    The boundaries separating the Alaska Peninsula terrane from other terranes are commonly indistinct or poorly defined. A few boundaries have been defined at major faults, although the extensions of these faults are speculative through some areas. The west side of the Alaska Peninsula terrane is overlapped by Tertiary sedimentary and volcanic rocks and Quaternary deposits.

  8. Deep-sea coral research and technology program: Alaska deep-sea coral and sponge initiative final report

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Rooper, Chris; Stone, Robert P.; Etnoyer, Peter; Conrath, Christina; Reynolds, Jennifer; Greene, H. Gary; Williams, Branwen; Salgado, Enrique; Morrison, Cheryl L.; Waller, Rhian G.; Demopoulos, Amanda W.J.

    2017-01-01

    Deep-sea coral and sponge ecosystems are widespread throughout most of Alaska’s marine waters. In some places, such as the central and western Aleutian Islands, deep-sea coral and sponge resources can be extremely diverse and may rank among the most abundant deep-sea coral and sponge communities in the world. Many different species of fishes and invertebrates are associated with deep-sea coral and sponge communities in Alaska. Because of their biology, these benthic invertebrates are potentially impacted by climate change and ocean acidification. Deepsea coral and sponge ecosystems are also vulnerable to the effects of commercial fishing activities. Because of the size and scope of Alaska’s continental shelf and slope, the vast majority of the area has not been visually surveyed for deep-sea corals and sponges. NOAA’s Deep Sea Coral Research and Technology Program (DSCRTP) sponsored a field research program in the Alaska region between 2012–2015, referred to hereafter as the Alaska Initiative. The priorities for Alaska were derived from ongoing data needs and objectives identified by the DSCRTP, the North Pacific Fishery Management Council (NPFMC), and Essential Fish Habitat-Environmental Impact Statement (EFH-EIS) process.This report presents the results of 15 projects conducted using DSCRTP funds from 2012-2015. Three of the projects conducted as part of the Alaska deep-sea coral and sponge initiative included dedicated at-sea cruises and fieldwork spread across multiple years. These projects were the eastern Gulf of Alaska Primnoa pacifica study, the Aleutian Islands mapping study, and the Gulf of Alaska fish productivity study. In all, there were nine separate research cruises carried out with a total of 109 at-sea days conducting research. The remaining projects either used data and samples collected by the three major fieldwork projects or were piggy-backed onto existing research programs at the Alaska Fisheries Science Center (AFSC).

  9. Indicate severe toxicity of highway runoff.

    PubMed

    Dorchin, Achik; Shanas, Uri

    2013-09-01

    Road runoff is recognized as a substantial nonpoint source of contamination to the aquatic environment. Highway seasonal first flushes contain particularly high concentrations of pollutants. To fully account for the toxicity potential of the runoff, the cumulative effects of the pollutants should be assessed, ideally by biological analyses. Acute toxicity tests with were used to measure the toxicity of runoff from three major highway sections in Israel for 2 yr. Highway first flushes resulted in the mortality of all tested individuals within 24 to 48 h. A first flush collected from Highway 4 (traffic volume: 81,200 cars d) remained toxic even after dilution to <5% (48 h EC <5%). Synthetic solutions with metal concentrations corresponding to highways' first flushes revealed a synergistic adverse effect on survival and a potential additive effect of nonmetal pollutants in the runoff. Because daphnids and other invertebrates constitute the base of the aquatic food chain, detrimental effects of highway runoff may propagate to higher levels of biological organization. The observed high potential of environmental contamination warrants the control of highway runoff in proximity to natural watercourses. Copyright © by the American Society of Agronomy, Crop Science Society of America, and Soil Science Society of America, Inc.

  10. 25 CFR 169.28 - Public highways.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-04-01

    ... 25 Indians 1 2013-04-01 2013-04-01 false Public highways. 169.28 Section 169.28 Indians BUREAU OF... highways. (a) The appropriate State or local authorities may apply under the regulations in this part 169 for authority to open public highways across tribal and individually owned lands in accordance with...

  11. 25 CFR 169.28 - Public highways.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-04-01

    ... 25 Indians 1 2012-04-01 2011-04-01 true Public highways. 169.28 Section 169.28 Indians BUREAU OF... highways. (a) The appropriate State or local authorities may apply under the regulations in this part 169 for authority to open public highways across tribal and individually owned lands in accordance with...

  12. 25 CFR 169.28 - Public highways.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-04-01

    ... 25 Indians 1 2011-04-01 2011-04-01 false Public highways. 169.28 Section 169.28 Indians BUREAU OF... highways. (a) The appropriate State or local authorities may apply under the regulations in this part 169 for authority to open public highways across tribal and individually owned lands in accordance with...

  13. 25 CFR 169.28 - Public highways.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-04-01

    ... 25 Indians 1 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Public highways. 169.28 Section 169.28 Indians BUREAU OF... highways. (a) The appropriate State or local authorities may apply under the regulations in this part 169 for authority to open public highways across tribal and individually owned lands in accordance with...

  14. 25 CFR 169.28 - Public highways.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-04-01

    ... 25 Indians 1 2014-04-01 2014-04-01 false Public highways. 169.28 Section 169.28 Indians BUREAU OF... highways. (a) The appropriate State or local authorities may apply under the regulations in this part 169 for authority to open public highways across tribal and individually owned lands in accordance with...

  15. 76 FR 45499 - Marine Mammals; Subsistence Taking of Northern Fur Seals; Harvest Estimates

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2011-07-29

    .... 110718394-1392-01] RIN 0648-BB09 Marine Mammals; Subsistence Taking of Northern Fur Seals; Harvest Estimates... governing the subsistence taking of northern fur seals, this document summarizes the annual fur seal... annual estimates of fur seal subsistence needs for 2011 through 2013 on the Pribilof Islands, Alaska...

  16. Comprehensive highway corridor planning with sustainability indicators.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2011-10-01

    "The Maryland State Highway Administration (SHA) has initiated major planning efforts to improve transportation : efficiency, safety, and sustainability on critical highway corridors through its Comprehensive Highway Corridor : (CHC) program. This pr...

  17. Comprehensive highway corridor planning with sustainability indicators.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2013-04-01

    The Maryland State Highway Administration (SHA) has initiated major planning efforts to improve transportation : efficiency, safety, and sustainability on critical highway corridors through its Comprehensive Highway Corridor : (CHC) program. This pro...

  18. Federal Aid Highway Program: Impact of the District of Columbia Emergency Highway Relief Act

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    1997-06-01

    The District of Columbia Emergency Highway Relief Act provided a temporary waiver of the matching share requirement for funds expended for eligible federal-aid highway projects from August 4, 1995, through September 30, 1996. The act requires the Dis...

  19. Highway bridges in the United States--an overview

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2007-09-01

    Bridges are an integral part of the U.S. highway network, providing links across natural barriers, passage over railroads and highways, and freeway connections. The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) maintains a database of our nations highway ...

  20. 78 FR 25878 - Fisheries of the Exclusive Economic Zone Off Alaska; Atka Mackerel in the Bering Sea and Aleutian...

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2013-05-03

    .... 121018563-3148-02] RIN 0648-XC654 Fisheries of the Exclusive Economic Zone Off Alaska; Atka Mackerel in the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands Management Area AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS... Bering Sea and Aleutian Island management area (BSAI) by vessels participating in the BSAI trawl limited...

  1. 75 FR 3873 - Fisheries of the Exclusive Economic Zone Off Alaska; Atka Mackerel in the Bering Sea and Aleutian...

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2010-01-25

    .... 0810141351-9087-02] RIN 0648-XT97 Fisheries of the Exclusive Economic Zone Off Alaska; Atka Mackerel in the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands Management Area AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS... and the Bering Sea subarea of the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands management area (BSAI) for vessels...

  2. 75 FR 6129 - Fisheries of the Exclusive Economic Zone Off Alaska; Atka Mackerel in the Bering Sea and Aleutian...

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2010-02-08

    .... 0810141351-9087-02] RIN 0648-XU22 Fisheries of the Exclusive Economic Zone Off Alaska; Atka Mackerel in the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands Management Area AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS... and the Bering Sea subarea of the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands management area (BSAI) by vessels...

  3. 77 FR 39441 - Fisheries of the Exclusive Economic Zone Off Alaska; Atka Mackerel in the Bering Sea and Aleutian...

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2012-07-03

    .... 111213751-2102-02] RIN 0648-XC083 Fisheries of the Exclusive Economic Zone Off Alaska; Atka Mackerel in the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands Management Area AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS... Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands management area (BSAI) by vessels participating in the BSAI trawl limited...

  4. 75 FR 69597 - Fisheries of the Exclusive Economic Zone Off Alaska; Pacific Cod in the Bering Sea and Aleutian...

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2010-11-15

    .... 0910131363-0087-02] RIN 0648-XA038 Fisheries of the Exclusive Economic Zone Off Alaska; Pacific Cod in the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands Management Area AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS...: NMFS is prohibiting retention of Pacific cod in the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands Management Area...

  5. 77 FR 26212 - Fisheries of the Exclusive Economic Zone Off Alaska; Atka Mackerel in the Bering Sea and Aleutian...

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2012-05-03

    .... 111213751-2102-02] RIN 0648-XC013 Fisheries of the Exclusive Economic Zone Off Alaska; Atka Mackerel in the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands Management Area AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS... Bering Sea and Aleutian Island management area (BSAI) by vessels participating in the BSAI trawl limited...

  6. 78 FR 35771 - Fisheries of the Exclusive Economic Zone Off Alaska; Atka Mackerel in the Bering Sea and Aleutian...

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2013-06-14

    .... 121018563-3148-02] RIN 0648-XC724 Fisheries of the Exclusive Economic Zone Off Alaska; Atka Mackerel in the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands Management Area AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS... Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands management area (BSAI) by vessels participating in the BSAI trawl limited...

  7. 76 FR 10780 - Fisheries of the Exclusive Economic Zone Off Alaska; Atka Mackerel in the Bering Sea and Aleutian...

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2011-02-28

    ... economic zone according to the Fishery Management Plan for Groundfish of the Bering Sea and Aleutian.... 0910131363-0087-02] RIN 0648-XA252 Fisheries of the Exclusive Economic Zone Off Alaska; Atka Mackerel in the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands Management Area AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS...

  8. 77 FR 60649 - Fisheries of the Exclusive Economic Zone Off Alaska; Pollock in the Herring Savings Areas of the...

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2012-10-04

    .... 111207737-2141-02] RIN 0648-XC277 Fisheries of the Exclusive Economic Zone Off Alaska; Pollock in the Herring Savings Areas of the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands Management Area AGENCY: National Marine... INFORMATION: NMFS manages the groundfish fishery in the BSAI according to the Fishery Management Plan for...

  9. 76 FR 65975 - Fisheries of the Exclusive Economic Zone Off Alaska; Atka Mackerel in the Bering Sea and Aleutian...

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2011-10-25

    .... 101126521-0640-02] RIN 0648-XA783 Fisheries of the Exclusive Economic Zone Off Alaska; Atka Mackerel in the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands Management Area AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS... district (BS/EAI) of the Bering Sea and Aleutian Island management area (BSAI) by vessels participating in...

  10. Highways and Population Change

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Voss, Paul R.; Chi, Guangqing

    2006-01-01

    In this paper we return to an issue often discussed in the literature regarding the relationship between highway expansion and population change. Typically it simply is assumed that this relationship is well established and understood. We argue, following a thorough review of the relevant literature, that the notion that highway expansion leads to…

  11. Marine/Ferries Component 1995 Update of the Metropolitan Transportation Plan for the Central Puget Sound Region

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    1994-05-01

    The ferry system functions as a set of marine highway links in the metropolitan transportation system. Since bridge alternatives have been virtually eliminated from consideration for cross Sound travel due to cost and public dissent, the ferries are ...

  12. Stream stability at highway structures.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    1995-11-01

    This document provides guidelines for identifying stream instability problems at highway stream crossings and for the selection and design of appropriate countermeasures to mitigate potential damages to bridges and other highway components at stream ...

  13. FHWA highway construction noise handbook

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2006-08-01

    The John A. Volpe National Transportation Systems Center Acoustics Facility (VCAF), in support of the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) Office of Natural and Human Environment, has developed the Highway Construction Noise Handbook (the Handbook)....

  14. Highway Effects on Vehicle Performance

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2001-01-01

    A user-friendly model for personal computers, "Vehicle/Highway Performance Predictor," was developed to estimate fuel consumption and exhaust emissions related to modes of vehicle operations on highways of various configurations and traffic controls ...

  15. Illinois highway statistics sheet : 1999

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2000-01-01

    Data available on Population, Licensed Drivers, Vehciles registered, Annual Vehicle Miles of Travel, Gallons of Fuel Consumed, Miles of Highways & Streets, Highway Structures Greater Than 20', Public Railroad Grade Crossings, and Private Railroad Gra...

  16. 2013-2017 highway program summary.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2012-06-01

    The Iowa Transportation Commission (Commission) and the Iowa Department of : Transportation (DOT) develop Iowas Five Year Highway Program (Program) to : inform you of planned investments in our states primary and interstate highway : system. Th...

  17. Highway Cost Index Estimator Tool

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2017-10-01

    To plan and program highway construction projects, the Texas Department of Transportation requires accurate construction cost data. However, due to the number of, and uncertainty of, variables that affect highway construction costs, estimating future...

  18. Illinois highway statistics sheet : 2004

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2005-01-01

    Data available on Population, Licensed Drivers, Vehciles Registered, Annual Vehicle Miles of Travel, Gallons of Fuel Consumed, Miles of Highways & Streets, Highway Structures Greater Than 20', Public Railroad Grade Crossings, and Private Railroad Gra...

  19. Illinois highway statistics sheet : 2003

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2004-01-01

    Data available on Population, Licensed Drivers, Vehciles Registered, Annual Vehicle Miles of Travel, Gallons of Fuel Consumed, Miles of Highways & Streets, Highway Structures Greater Than 20', Public Railroad Grade Crossings, and Private Railroad Gra...

  20. Illinois highway statistics sheet : 2002

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2003-01-01

    Data available on Population, Licensed Drivers, Vehciles Registered, Annual Vehicle Miles of Travel, Gallons of Fuel Consumed, Miles of Highways & Streets, Highway Structures Greater Than 20', Public Railroad Grade Crossings, and Private Railroad Gra...

  1. Marines in the Interagency: Are We in the Right Places?

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2012-05-01

    Fellows Program for fellowships at U.S. businesses were very logistics-best-practice focused (product distribution, supply chain management , shipping...for Information Operations and Reports, 1215 Jefferson Davis Highway, Suite 1204, Arlington, VA 22202-4302, and to the Office of Management and...manpower management system to better identify what interagency organization(s) has Marines assigned; 3) Formalize current billets with the Department of

  2. Polar bear management in Alaska 1997-2000

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Schliebe, Scott L.; Bridges, John W.; Evans, Thomas J.; Fischbach, Anthony S.; Kalxdorff, Susanne B.; Lierheimer, Lisa J.; Lunn, Nicholas J.; Schliebe, Scott L.; Born, Erik W.; Lunn, Nicholas J.; Schliebe, Scott L.; Born, Erik W.

    2002-01-01

    Since the Twelfth Working Meeting of the IUCN/SSC Polar Bear Specialist Group in 1997, a number of changes in the management of polar bears have occurred in Alaska. On October 16, 2000, the governments of the United States and the Russian Federation signed the “Agreement on the Conservation and Management of the Alaska-Chukotka Polar Bear Population.” This agreement provides substantial benefits for the effective conservation of polar bears shared between the U.S. and Russia. It will require enactment of enabling legislation by the U.S. Congress and other steps by Russia before the agreement has the force of law. A copy of the agreement is included as Appendix 1 to this report. Also, during this period, regulations were developed to implement 1994 amendments to the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA), which allow polar bear trophies taken in approved Canadian populations by U.S. citizens to be imported into the U.S. A summary of the regulatory actions and a table listing populations approved for importation and the number of polar bears imported into the U.S. since 1997 is included in this report. Regarding oil and gas activities in polar bear habitat, three sets of regulations were published authorizing the incidental, non-intentional, taking of small numbers of polar bears concurrent to oil and gas activities.Cooperation continued with the Alaska Nanuuq Commission, representing the polar bear hunting communities in Alaska, as well as with the North Slope Borough and the Inuvialuit Game Council in their agreement for the management of the Southern Beaufort Sea polar bear population. Harvest summaries and technical assistance in designing and assistance in conducting a National Park Service/Alaska Nanuuq Commission study to collect traditional ecological knowledge of polar bear habitat use in Chukotka were provided. In addition, a long-range plan was developed to address and minimize polar bear-human conflicts in North Slope communities.We continued to monitor

  3. 76 FR 17569 - Fisheries of the Exclusive Economic Zone Off Alaska; Pacific Cod by Catcher Vessels Using Trawl...

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2011-03-30

    ... Vessels Using Trawl Gear in the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands Management Area AGENCY: National Marine... using trawl gear in the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands management area (BSAI). This action is necessary... for catcher vessels using trawl gear in the BSAI. DATES: Effective 1200 hrs, Alaska local time (A.l.t...

  4. 75 FR 16359 - Fisheries of the Exclusive Economic Zone Off Alaska; Pacific Cod by Catcher Vessels Using Trawl...

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2010-04-01

    ... Vessels Using Trawl Gear in the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands Management Area AGENCY: National Marine... using trawl gear in the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands management area (BSAI). This action is necessary... for catcher vessels using trawl gear in the BSAI. DATES: Effective 1200 hrs, Alaska local time (A.l.t...

  5. 75 FR 12463 - Fisheries of the Exclusive Economic Zone Off Alaska; Pacific Cod by Catcher Vessels Using Trawl...

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2010-03-16

    ... Vessels Using Trawl Gear in the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands Management Area AGENCY: National Marine... using trawl gear in the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands management area (BSAI). This action is necessary... for catcher vessels using trawl gear in the BSAI. DATES: Effective 1200 hrs, Alaska local time (A.l.t...

  6. Alaska GeoFORCE, A New Geologic Adventure in Alaska

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Wartes, D.

    2011-12-01

    RAHI, the Rural Alaska Honors Institute is a statewide, six-week, summer college-preparatory bridge program at the University of Alaska Fairbanks for Alaska Native and rural high school juniors and seniors. A program of rigorous academic activity combines with social, cultural, and recreational activities. Students are purposely stretched beyond their comfort levels academically and socially to prepare for the big step from home or village to a large culturally western urban campus. This summer RAHI is launching a new program, GeoFORCE Alaska. This outreach initiative is designed to increase the number and diversity of students pursuing STEM degree programs and entering the future high-tech workforce. It uses Earth science as the hook because most kids get excited about dinosaurs, volcanoes and earthquakes, but it includes physics, chemistry, math, biology and other sciences. Students will be recruited, initially from the Arctic North Slope schools, in the 8th grade to begin the annual program of approximately 8 days, the summer before their 9th grade year and then remain in the program for all four years of high school. They must maintain a B or better grade average and participate in all GeoFORCE events. The carrot on the end of the stick is an exciting field event each summer. Over the four-year period, events will include trips to Fairbanks, Arizona, Oregon and the Appalachians. All trips are focused on Earth science and include a 100+ page guidebook, with tests every night culminating with a final exam. GeoFORCE Alaska is being launched by UAF in partnership with the University of Texas at Austin, which has had tremendous success with GeoFORCE Texas. GeoFORCE Alaska will be managed by UAF's long-standing Rural Alaska Honors Insitute (RAHI) that has been successfully providing intense STEM educational opportunities for Alaskan high school students for almost 30 years. The Texas program, with adjustments for differences in culture and environment, will be

  7. Highway Surveying. Instructor's Guide for an Adult Course. Highway Technicians Program Unit III.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Fimmano, Ralph; Kacharian, John C.

    The revised instructor's guide, which is part of the New York State Highway Technician's Program to provide needed technicians and engineers by upgrading people in the lower-level technician jobs, is geared toward the improvement of technical skills and knowledge in highway surveying. In view of the shortage of qualified technicians and engineers…

  8. Status Review of the Marbled Murrelet (Brachyramphus marmoratus) in Alaska and British Columbia

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2006-01-01

    the 1970s– 1980s (Piatt and Anderson, 1996; appendix A). Similarly, there is evidence that changes in the Prince William Sound marine ecosystem in the... 1980s negatively affected fish-eating birds (DeGange, 1996; Kuletz and others, 1997). Marbled Murrelets ate mostly sand lance during the late 1970s...compilation with the addition of two ground nests observed in Alaska (Simons, 1980 ; Hirsch and others, 1981). The outcome (chick fledged or failed

  9. Federal-aid highways : federal requirements for highways may influence funding decisions and create challenges, but benefits and costs are not tracked.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2009-12-01

    As highway congestion continues to be a problem in many areas, states are looking to construct or expand highway projects. When a state department of transportation (DOT) receives federal funding for highway projects from the Federal Highway Administ...

  10. Fatal paralytic shellfish poisoning in Kittlitz's Murrelet (Brachyramphus brevirostris) nestlings, Alaska, USA

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Shearn-Bochsler, Valerie I.; Lance, Ellen W.; Corcoran, Robin; Piatt, John F.; Bodenstein, Barbara; Frame, Elizabeth; Lawonn, James

    2014-01-01

    Paralytic shellfish poisoning (PSP) is an acute toxic illness in humans resulting from ingestion of shellfish contaminated with a suite of neurotoxins (saxitoxins) produced by marine dinoflagellates, most commonly in the genus Alexandrium. Poisoning also has been sporadically suspected and, less often, documented in marine wildlife, often in association with an outbreak in humans. Kittlitz's Murrelet (Brachyramphus brevirostris) is a small, rare seabird of the Northern Pacific with a declining population. From 2008 to 2012, as part of a breeding ecology study, multiple Kittlitz's Murrelet nests on Kodiak Island, Alaska, were monitored by remote cameras. During the 2011 and 2012 breeding seasons, nestlings from several sites died during mild weather conditions. Remote camera observations revealed that the nestlings died shortly after consuming sand lance (Ammodytes hexapterus), a fish species known to biomagnify saxitoxin. High levels of saxitoxin were subsequently documented in crop content in 87% of nestling carcasses. Marine bird deaths from PSP may be underreported.

  11. Financing Federal-Aid Highways. August 1999 Edition

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    1999-08-01

    Because of a continuing demand for information concerning the financing of Federal-aid highways, the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) prepared a report, "Financing Federal-Aid Highways," in January 1974 to describe the basic process involved. Th...

  12. Evidence for marine origin and microbial-viral habitability of sub-zero hypersaline aqueous inclusions within permafrost near Barrow, Alaska.

    PubMed

    Colangelo-Lillis, J; Eicken, H; Carpenter, S D; Deming, J W

    2016-05-01

    Cryopegs are sub-surface hypersaline brines at sub-zero temperatures within permafrost; their global extent and distribution are unknown. The permafrost barrier to surface and groundwater advection maintains these brines as semi-isolated systems over geological time. A cryopeg 7 m below ground near Barrow, Alaska, was sampled for geochemical and microbiological analysis. Sub-surface brines (in situtemperature of -6 °C, salinity of 115 ppt), and an associated sediment-infused ice wedge (melt salinity of 0.04 ppt) were sampled using sterile technique. Major ionic concentrations in the brine corresponded more closely to other (Siberian) cryopegs than to Standard seawater or the ice wedge. Ionic ratios and stable isotope analysis of water conformed to a marine or brackish origin with subsequent Rayleigh fractionation. The brine contained ∼1000× more bacteria than surrounding ice, relatively high viral numbers suggestive of infection and reproduction, and an unusually high ratio of particulate to dissolved extracellular polysaccharide substances. A viral metagenome indicated a high frequency of temperate viruses and limited viral diversity compared to surface environments, with closest similarity to low water activity environments. Interpretations of the results underscore the isolation of these underexplored microbial ecosystems from past and present oceans. © FEMS 2016. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

  13. Research notes : monitoring water quality along highways.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2006-12-01

    Runoff from highways typically picks up a variety of pollutants from the roadway. These pollutants include sediment, trash, residue from petroleum products, and heavy metals. Depending on the highway and its geographic setting, highway runoff can eva...

  14. 2007 Oregon state highway accident rate tables

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2008-09-01

    State highway crash rate tables present crash frequencies in relation to traffic volume and : highway mileage. The four major sections of this publication are: : I Results of Analysis : II State Highway Crash Rates : III Fatal Traffic Crash Summaries...

  15. 2009 Oregon state highway accident rate tables

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2010-08-01

    State highway crash rate tables present crash frequencies in relation to traffic volume and : highway mileage. The four major sections of this publication are: : I Results of Analysis : II State Highway Crash Rates : III Fatal Traffic Crash Summaries...

  16. 2004 Oregon state highway accident rate tables

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2005-08-01

    State highway crash rate tables present crash frequencies in relation to traffic volume and : highway mileage. The four major sections of this publication are: : I Results of Analysis : II State Highway Crash Rates : III Fatal Traffic Crash Summaries...

  17. 2008 Oregon state highway accident rate tables

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2009-08-01

    State highway crash rate tables present crash frequencies in relation to traffic volume and : highway mileage. The four major sections of this publication are: : I Results of Analysis : II State Highway Crash Rates : III Fatal Traffic Crash Summaries...

  18. 2006 Oregon state highway accident rate tables

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2007-07-01

    State highway crash rate tables present crash frequencies in relation to traffic volume and : highway mileage. The four major sections of this publication are: : I Results of Analysis : II State Highway Crash Rates : III Fatal Traffic Crash Summaries...

  19. 2010 Oregon state highway accident rate tables

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2011-11-01

    State highway crash rate tables present crash frequencies in relation to traffic volume and : highway mileage. The four major sections of this publication are: I. Results of Analysis, II. State Highway Crash Rates, III. Fatal Traffic Crash Summaries,...

  20. Late quaternary regional geoarchaeology of Southeast Alaska Karst: A progress report

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Dixon, E.J.; Heaton, T.H.; Fifield, T.E.; Hamilton, T.D.; Putnam, D.E.; Grady, F.

    1997-01-01

    Karst systems, sea caves, and rock shelters within the coastal temperate rain forest of Alaska's Alexander Archipelago preserve important records of regional archaeology, sea level history, glacial and climatic history, and vertebrate paleontology. Two 14C AMS dates on human bone discovered in a remote cave (49-PET-408) on Prince of Wales Island document the oldest reliably dated human in Alaska to ca. 9800 B.P. A series of 14C AMS dates from cave deposits span the past 40,000 years and provide the first evidence of Pleistocene faunas from the northwest coast of North America. Other discoveries include sea caves and marine beach deposits elevated above modern sea level, extensive solution caves, and mammalian remains of species previously undocumented within the region. Records of human activity, including cave art, artifacts, and habitation sites may provide new insights into the early human colonization of the Americas. ??1997 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

  1. Exploring Options for an Integrated Water Level Observation Network in Alaska

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    McCammon, M.

    2016-02-01

    Portions' of Alaska's remote coastlines are among the Nation's most vulnerable to geohazards such as tsunami, extra-tropical storm surge, and erosion; and the availability of observations of water levels, ocean waves, and river discharge are severely lacking to support water level warnings and forecasts. Alaska is experiencing dramatic reductions in sea ice cover, changes in extra-tropical storm surge patterns, and thawing permafrost. These conditions are endangering coastal populations throughout the State. Gaps in the ocean observing system limit our State's ability to provide useful marine and sea ice forecasts, especially in the Arctic. A spectrum of observation platforms may provide an optimal solution for filling the most critical gaps in these coastal and ocean areas. The collaborations described in this talk and better leveraging of resources and capabilities across federal, state, and academic partners will provide the best opportunity for advancing our science capacity and capabilities in this remote region.

  2. Missouri Highway Safety Manual Recalibration

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2018-05-01

    The Highway Safety Manual (HSM) is a national manual for analyzing the highway safety of various facilities, including rural roads, urban arterials, freeways, and intersections. The HSM was first published in 2010, and a 2014 supplement addressed fre...

  3. Railroad-highway grade crossing handbook

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2007-08-01

    The purpose of this handbook is to provide a single reference document on prevalent and best practices as well as adopted standards relative to highway-rail grade crossings. The handbook provides general information on highway-rail crossings; charact...

  4. 78 FR 54591 - Fisheries of the Exclusive Economic Zone Off Alaska; Greenland Turbot in the Bering Sea and...

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2013-09-05

    ..., Office of Sustainable Fisheries, National Marine Fisheries Service. [FR Doc. 2013-21615 Filed 8-30-13; 4... Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands Management Area (BSAI). This action is necessary to fully use the 2013...: Effective 1200 hrs, Alaska local time (A.l.t.), September 1, 2013, through 2400 hrs, A.l.t., December 31...

  5. 2005 Oregon state highway accident rate tables

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2006-08-01

    State highway crash rate tables present crash frequencies in relation to traffic volume and highway mileage. The four major sections of this publication are: I Results of Analysis II State Highway Crash Rates III Fatal Traffic Crash Summaries IV Appe...

  6. U.S. Global Climate Change Impacts Report, Alaska Region

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    McGuire, D.

    2009-12-01

    Alaska. Public infrastructure at risk for damage includes roads, runways, and water and sewer systems. It is estimated that thawing permafrost would add between 3.6 billion and 6.1 billion (10 to 20 percent) to future costs for publicly owned infrastructure by 2030 and between 5.6 billion and 7.6 billion (10 to 12 percent) by 2080. High-wind events have become more frequent along the western and northern coasts. Shifts in marine species are affecting fisheries. Alaska leads the United States in the value of its commercial fishing catch. Most of the nation’s salmon, crab, halibut, and herring come from Alaska. Over the course of this century, changes already observed on the shallow shelf of the northern Bering Sea are likely to affect a much broader portion of the Pacific-influenced sector of the Arctic Ocean. As such changes occur, the most productive commercial fisheries are likely to become more distant from existing fishing ports and processing infrastructure, requiring either relocation or greater investment in transportation time and fuel costs.

  7. Retaining Quality Teachers for Alaska.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    McDiarmid, G. Williamson; Larson, Eric; Hill, Alexandra

    This report examines the demand for teachers, teacher turnover, and teacher education in Alaska. Surveys were conducted with school district personnel directors, directors of Alaska teacher education programs, teachers who exited Alaska schools in 2001, and rural and urban instructional aides. Alaska is facing teacher shortages, but these are…

  8. Methods for Allocating Highway Costs

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    1981-04-01

    Microeconomic theory and other concepts related to pricing are reviewed and applied to the problem of designing highway user charges. In view of the emphasis in the Congressional request for the Highway Cost Allocation Study on setting charges in acc...

  9. Highway-rail intersection user service

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    1996-02-26

    As a result of the Federal Register announcement at the end of 1994 which sought a : broad review of the third draft of the NPP, Mr. Hoy Richards prepared a responsive : statement to the Federal Highway Administration's Intelligent Vehicle-Highway Sy...

  10. Fisheries Education in Alaska. Conference Report. Alaska Sea Grant Report 82-4.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Smoker, William W., Ed.

    This conference was an attempt to have the fishing industry join the state of Alaska in building fisheries education programs. Topics addressed in papers presented at the conference include: (1) fisheries as a part of life in Alaska, addressing participation of Alaska natives in commercial fisheries and national efforts; (2) the international…

  11. 23 CFR 1.28 - Diversion of highway revenues.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-04-01

    ... 23 Highways 1 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Diversion of highway revenues. 1.28 Section 1.28 Highways FEDERAL HIGHWAY ADMINISTRATION, DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION GENERAL MANAGEMENT AND ADMINISTRATION..., secondary and urban funds made to the State after the date of such finding. In any such reduction, each of...

  12. Surficial Geologic Map of the Tanacross B-4 Quadrangle, East-Central Alaska

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Carrara, Paul E.

    2006-01-01

    The Tanacross B-4 1:63,360-scale quadrangle, through which the Alaska Highway runs, is in east-central Alaska about 100 mi west of the Yukon border. The surficial geologic mapping in the quadrangle is in support of the 'Geologic Mapping in support of land, resources, and hazards issues in Alaska' Project of the USGS National Cooperative Geologic Mapping Program. The Tanacross B-4 quadrangle contains parts of two physiographic provinces, the Yukon-Tanana Upland and the Northway-Tanana Lowland. The gently rolling hills of the Yukon-Tanana Upland, in the northern and eastern map area, rise to about 3,100 ft. The Northway-Tanana Lowland, in the western and southern map area, contains the westerly flowing Tanana River. Elevations along the floor of the lowland generally range between 1,540 and 1,700 ft. The dominant feature within the map is the Tok fan, which occupies about 20 percent of the map area. This large, nearly featureless fan contains a high percentage of volcanic clasts derived from outside the present-day drainage of the Tok River. The map provides interpretations of the Quaternary surficial deposits and associated geologic hazards in this area of the upper Tanana valley. Because the map area is dominated by various surficial deposits, the map depicts 13 different Quaternary surficial units consisting of man-made, alluvial, colluvial, organic, lacustrine, and eolian deposits. Deposits shown on this map are generally greater than 1 m thick. The map is accompanied by a text containing unit descriptions incorporating information pertaining to material type, location, associated hazards, resource use (if any), and thickness.

  13. Geographic, temporal, and age-specific variation in diets of Glaucous Gulls in western Alaska

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Schmutz, J.A.; Hobson, K.A.

    1998-01-01

    We collected boluses and food remains of adult Glaucous Gulls (Larus hyperboreus) at or near nests and chicks, and digestive tracts from adults at three sites on the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta, Alaska that differed in proximity to marine and terrestrial foods. We observed both geographic and temporal variation in diet; gulls consumed proportionately more terrestrial prey after peak hatch in late June, and gulls near the coast consumed proportionately more marine prey than gulls at two inland areas. Goslings occurred in > 60% of all samples from these inland areas. We compared these data to those from a previous study in western Alaska and found no marked differences. Evidence for similar patterns of geographic and temporal variation in diet was found using measurements of stable-carbon and nitrogen isotopes in gull and prey tissues. Stable isotope analysis further revealed that adult gulls consumed proportionately more marine prey (saffron cod, Eleginus gracilis) than they fed to their young. Using isotopic models, we estimated that 7-22% and 10-23% of the diet of adult and juvenile Glaucous Gulls, respectively, was comprised of terrestrial species. In addition to significant age-related variation, dietary estimates varied among geographic areas and between pre- and post-hatch periods. Overall, our isotopic estimates of the contribution of terrestrial prey to the diet of Glaucous Gulls was less than what may be inferred from conventional methods of diet analysis. Our study emphasizes the benefit of combining stable-isotope and conventional analyses to infer temporal and geographic changes in diet of wild birds and other organisms.

  14. NASA's DESDynI in Alaska

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Sauber, J. M.; Hofton, M. A.; Bruhn, R. L.; Forster, R. R.; Burgess, E. W.; Cotton, M. M.

    2010-12-01

    In 2007 the National Research Council Earth Science Decadal Survey, Earth Science Applications from Space, recommended an integrated L-band InSAR and multibeam Lidar mission called DESDynI (Deformation, Ecosystem Structure, and Dynamics of Ice) and it is scheduled for launch in 2017. The NASA InSAR and Lidar mission is optimized for studying geohazards and global environmental change. The complex plate boundary in southern coastal Alaska provides an excellent setting for testing DESDynI capabilities to recover fundamental parameters of glacio-seismotectonic processes. Also, aircraft and satellites acquisitions of Lidar and L-band SAR have been made in this region in the last decade that can be used for DESDynI performance simulations. Since the Lidar observations would penetrate most vegetation, the accurate bald Earth elevation profiles will give new elevation information beyond the standard 30-m digital elevation models (DEM) and the Lidar-derived elevations will provide an accurate georeferenced surface for local and regional scale studies. In an earlier study we demonstrated how the Lidar observations could be used in combination with SAR to generate an improved InSAR derived DEM in the Barrow, Alaska region [Atwood et al., 2007]; here we discuss how Lidar could be fused with L-band SAR in more rugged, vegetated terrane. Based on simulations of multi-beam Lidar instrument performance over uplifted marine terraces, active faults and folds, uplift associated with the 1899 Yakataga seismic event (M=8), and elevation change on the glaciers in southern, coastal Alaska, we report on the significance of the DESDynI Lidar contiguous 25 m footprint elevation profiles for EarthScope related studies in Alaska. We are using the morphology and dynamics of glaciers derived from L-band SAR ice velocities to infer the large scale sub-ice structures that form the structural framework of the Seward-Bagley Basins. Using primarily winter acquisitions of L-band SAR data from ALOS

  15. Rapid movement of frozen debris-lobes: implications for permafrost degradation and slope instability in the south-central Brooks Range, Alaska

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Daanen, R.P.; Grosse, G.; Darrow, M.M.; Hamilton, T.D.; Jones, Benjamin M.

    2012-01-01

    We present the results of a reconnaissance investigation of unusual debris mass-movement features on permafrost slopes that pose a potential infrastructure hazard in the south-central Brooks Range, Alaska. For the purpose of this paper, we describe these features as frozen debris-lobes. We focus on the characterisation of frozen debris-lobes as indicators of various movement processes using ground-based surveys, remote sensing, field and laboratory measurements, and time-lapse observations of frozen debris-lobe systems along the Dalton Highway. Currently, some frozen debris-lobes exceed 100 m in width, 20 m in height and 1000 m in length. Our results indicate that frozen debris-lobes have responded to climate change by becoming increasingly active during the last decades, resulting in rapid downslope movement. Movement indicators observed in the field include toppling trees, slumps and scarps, detachment slides, striation marks on frozen sediment slabs, recently buried trees and other vegetation, mudflows, and large cracks in the lobe surface. The type and diversity of observed indicators suggest that the lobes likely consist of a frozen debris core, are subject to creep, and seasonally unfrozen surface sediment is transported in warm seasons by creep, slumping, viscous flow, blockfall and leaching of fines, and in cold seasons by creep and sliding of frozen sediment slabs. Ground-based measurements on one frozen debris-lobe over three years (2008–2010) revealed average movement rates of approximately 1 cm day−1, which is substantially larger than rates measured in historic aerial photography from the 1950s to 1980s. We discuss how climate change may further influence frozen debris-lobe dynamics, potentially accelerating their movement. We highlight the potential direct hazard that one of the studied frozen debris-lobes may pose in the coming years and decades to the nearby Trans Alaska Pipeline System and the Dalton Highway, the main artery for transportation

  16. Alaska Mental Health Board

    Science.gov Websites

    State Employees Alaska Mental Health Board DHSS State of Alaska Home Divisions and Agencies Alaska Pioneer Homes Behavioral Health Office of Children's Services Office of the Commissioner Office of Substance Misuse and Addiction Prevention Finance & Management Services Health Care Services Juvenile

  17. Variations of marine pore water salinity and chlorinity in Gulf of Alaska sediments (IODP Expedition 341)

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    März, Christian; Mix, Alan C.; McClymont, Erin; Nakamura, Atsunori; Berbel, Glaucia; Gulick, Sean; Jaeger, John; Schneider (LeVay), Leah

    2014-05-01

    Pore waters of marine sediments usually have salinities and chlorinities similar to the overlying sea water, ranging around 34-35 psu (Practical Salinity Units) and around 550 mM Cl-, respectively. This is because these parameters are conservative in the sense that they do not significantly participate in biogeochemical cycles. However, pore water studies carried out in the frame of the International Ocean Discovery Program (IODP) and its predecessors have shown that salinities and chlorinities of marine pore waters can substantially deviate from the modern bottom water composition in a number of environmental settings, and various processes have been suggested to explain these phenomena. Also during the recent IODP Expedition 341 that drilled five sites in the Gulf of Alaska (Northeast Pacific Ocean) from the deep Surveyor Fan across the continental slope to the glaciomarine shelf deposits, several occurrences of pore waters with salinities and chlorinities significantly different from respective bottom waters were encountered during shipboard analyses. At the pelagic Sites U1417 and U1418 (~4,200 and ~3,700 m water depth, respectively), salinity and chlorinity maxima occur around 20-50 m sediment depth, but values gradually decrease with increasing drilling depths (down to 30 psu in ~600 m sediment depth). While the pore water freshening at depth is most likely an effect of clay mineral dehydration due to increasing burial depth, the shallow salinity and chlorinity maxima are interpreted as relicts of more saline bottom waters that existed in the North Pacific during the Last Glacial Maximum (Adkins et al., 2002). In contrast, the glaciomarine slope and shelf deposits at Site U1419 to U1421 (~200 to 1,000 m water depth) are characterised by unexpectedly low salinitiy and chlorinity values (as low as 16 psu and 295 mM Cl-, respectively) already in very shallow sediment depths (~10 m), and their records do not show systematic trends with sediment depth. Freshening

  18. 23 CFR 810.208 - Action by the Federal Highway Administrator.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-04-01

    ... 23 Highways 1 2014-04-01 2014-04-01 false Action by the Federal Highway Administrator. 810.208 Section 810.208 Highways FEDERAL HIGHWAY ADMINISTRATION, DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION MASS TRANSIT AND SPECIAL USE HIGHWAY PROJECTS Making Highway Rights-of-Way Available for Mass...

  19. 23 CFR 1200.40 - Expiration of the Highway Safety Plan.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-04-01

    ... 23 Highways 1 2013-04-01 2013-04-01 false Expiration of the Highway Safety Plan. 1200.40 Section 1200.40 Highways NATIONAL HIGHWAY TRAFFIC SAFETY ADMINISTRATION AND FEDERAL HIGHWAY ADMINISTRATION, DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION PROCEDURES FOR STATE HIGHWAY SAFETY PROGRAMS UNIFORM PROCEDURES FOR STATE...

  20. 23 CFR 810.208 - Action by the Federal Highway Administrator.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-04-01

    ... 23 Highways 1 2013-04-01 2013-04-01 false Action by the Federal Highway Administrator. 810.208 Section 810.208 Highways FEDERAL HIGHWAY ADMINISTRATION, DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION MASS TRANSIT AND SPECIAL USE HIGHWAY PROJECTS Making Highway Rights-of-Way Available for Mass...

  1. 23 CFR 810.208 - Action by the Federal Highway Administrator.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-04-01

    ... 23 Highways 1 2012-04-01 2012-04-01 false Action by the Federal Highway Administrator. 810.208 Section 810.208 Highways FEDERAL HIGHWAY ADMINISTRATION, DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION MASS TRANSIT AND SPECIAL USE HIGHWAY PROJECTS Making Highway Rights-of-Way Available for Mass...

  2. 23 CFR 1200.40 - Expiration of the Highway Safety Plan.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-04-01

    ... 23 Highways 1 2014-04-01 2014-04-01 false Expiration of the Highway Safety Plan. 1200.40 Section 1200.40 Highways NATIONAL HIGHWAY TRAFFIC SAFETY ADMINISTRATION AND FEDERAL HIGHWAY ADMINISTRATION, DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION PROCEDURES FOR STATE HIGHWAY SAFETY PROGRAMS UNIFORM PROCEDURES FOR STATE...

  3. 49 CFR 1.84 - The Federal Highway Administration.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-10-01

    ... environment. (e) Surveying and constructing forest highway system roads, defense highways and access roads... surveillance of accident locations; highway design, construction, and maintenance, including context sensitive...

  4. 77 FR 14305 - Fisheries of the Exclusive Economic Zone Off Alaska; Pacific Cod by Vessels Using Jig Gear in the...

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2012-03-09

    ... Using Jig Gear in the Central Regulatory Area of the Gulf of Alaska AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries...; closure. SUMMARY: NMFS is prohibiting directed fishing for Pacific cod by vessels using jig gear in the... season allowance of the 2012 Pacific cod total allowable catch apportioned to vessels using jig gear in...

  5. 77 FR 6683 - Fisheries of the Exclusive Economic Zone Off Alaska; Pacific Cod by Vessels Using Pot Gear in the...

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2012-02-09

    ... Using Pot Gear in the Western Regulatory Area of the Gulf of Alaska AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries...; closure. SUMMARY: NMFS is prohibiting directed fishing for Pacific cod by vessels using pot gear in the... season allowance of the 2012 Pacific cod total allowable catch apportioned to vessels using pot gear in...

  6. 77 FR 8177 - Fisheries of the Exclusive Economic Zone Off Alaska; Pacific Cod by Vessels Using Pot Gear in the...

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2012-02-14

    ... Using Pot Gear in the Central Regulatory Area of the Gulf of Alaska AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries...; closure. SUMMARY: NMFS is prohibiting directed fishing for Pacific cod by vessels using pot gear in the... season allowance of the 2012 Pacific cod total allowable catch apportioned to vessels using pot gear in...

  7. Pleistocene ice-rich yedoma in Interior Alaska

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Kanevskiy, M. Z.; Shur, Y.; Jorgenson, T. T.; Sturm, M.; Bjella, K.; Bray, M.; Harden, J. W.; Dillon, M.; Fortier, D.; O'Donnell, J.

    2011-12-01

    Yedoma, or the ice-rich syngenetic permafrost with large ice wedges, widely occurs in parts of Alaska that were unglaciated during the last glaciation including Interior Alaska, Foothills of Brooks Range and Seward Peninsula. A thick layer of syngenetic permafrost was formed by simultaneous accumulation of silt and upward permafrost aggradation. Until recently, yedoma has been studied mainly in Russia. In Interior Alaska, we have studied yedoma at several field sites (Erickson Creek area, Boot Lake area, and several sites around Fairbanks, including well-known CRREL Permafrost tunnel). All these locations are characterized by thick sequences of ice-rich silt with large ice wedges up to 30 m deep. Our study in the CRREL Permafrost tunnel and surrounding area revealed a yedoma section up to 18 m thick, whose formation began about 40,000 yr BP. The volume of wedge-ice (about 10-15%) is not very big in comparison with other yedoma sites (typically more than 30%), but soils between ice wedges are extremely ice-rich - an average value of gravimetric moisture content of undisturbed yedoma silt with micro-cryostructures is about 130%. Numerous bodies of thermokarst-cave ice were detected in the tunnel. Geotechnical investigations along the Dalton Highway near Livengood (Erickson Creek area) provided opportunities for studies of yedoma cores from deep boreholes. The radiocarbon age of sediments varies from 20,000 to 45,000 yr BP. Most of soils in the area are extremely ice-rich. Thickness of ice-rich silt varies from 10 m to more than 26 m, and volume of wedge-ice reaches 35-45%. Soil between ice wedges has mainly micro-cryostructures and average gravimetric moisture content from 80% to 100%. Our studies have shown that the top part of yedoma in many locations was affected by deep thawing during the Holocene, which resulted in formation of the layer of thawed and refrozen soils up to 6 m thick on top of yedoma deposits. Thawing of the upper permafrost could be related to

  8. 23 CFR 810.206 - Review by the State Highway Agency.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-04-01

    ... 23 Highways 1 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Review by the State Highway Agency. 810.206 Section 810.206 Highways FEDERAL HIGHWAY ADMINISTRATION, DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION MASS TRANSIT AND SPECIAL USE HIGHWAY PROJECTS Making Highway Rights-of-Way Available for Mass Transit Projects...

  9. 23 CFR 810.206 - Review by the State Highway Agency.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-04-01

    ... 23 Highways 1 2013-04-01 2013-04-01 false Review by the State Highway Agency. 810.206 Section 810.206 Highways FEDERAL HIGHWAY ADMINISTRATION, DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION MASS TRANSIT AND SPECIAL USE HIGHWAY PROJECTS Making Highway Rights-of-Way Available for Mass Transit Projects...

  10. 23 CFR 810.206 - Review by the State Highway Agency.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-04-01

    ... 23 Highways 1 2012-04-01 2012-04-01 false Review by the State Highway Agency. 810.206 Section 810.206 Highways FEDERAL HIGHWAY ADMINISTRATION, DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION MASS TRANSIT AND SPECIAL USE HIGHWAY PROJECTS Making Highway Rights-of-Way Available for Mass Transit Projects...

  11. 23 CFR 810.206 - Review by the State Highway Agency.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-04-01

    ... 23 Highways 1 2014-04-01 2014-04-01 false Review by the State Highway Agency. 810.206 Section 810.206 Highways FEDERAL HIGHWAY ADMINISTRATION, DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION MASS TRANSIT AND SPECIAL USE HIGHWAY PROJECTS Making Highway Rights-of-Way Available for Mass Transit Projects...

  12. Sediment geochemistry as potential sea-level indicators to assess coseismic vertical displacements above the Alaska-Aleutian megathrust

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Bender, A. M.; Witter, R. C.; Munk, L. A.

    2012-12-01

    Nearly the entire 4000-km-long Alaska-Aleutian megathrust has ruptured in large or great (Mw ≥8) earthquakes in the past 100 years, yet paleoseismic records of earlier events are only documented east of Kodiak Is. in the region of the 1964 Alaska earthquake. The Mw 9.2 1964 earthquake dropped the coast along Cook Inlet and Turnagain Arm by ≤1.8 m and raised shore platforms around Prince William Sound by ≤3 m. Evidence of sudden (coseismic) vertical displacements during megathrust earthquakes are archived in coastal sediments as sharp stratigraphic contacts that record rapid relative sea-level (RSL) changes. We use geochemical analyses of coastal sediments to detect sudden RSL changes at 2 sites above the Alaska-Aleutian megathrust. One site on Knik Arm near Anchorage subsided ~0.6 m during the 1964 earthquake. The other site overlies the Shumagin Islands segment of the megathrust, without rupture since before 1903. Relative to terrestrial sources of sediment, marine sources should be enriched in δ13C, δ15N, and have higher C:N, and Cl- concentrations. Our analyses will test whether these geochemical proxies can provide evidence for sudden RSL change across stratigraphic contacts that record coseismic uplift or subsidence. Coseismic subsidence should be represented by contacts that place sediment with enriched δ13C, δ15N signatures, elevated C:N and Cl- concentrations over sediment with lower values of these geochemical proxies and the reverse for coseismic uplift. A 1-2 m tall, ~0.5-km-long bluff along Knik Arm exposes three buried wetland soils overlain by gray mud. The soils become faint and pinch out to the northeast near a large tidal channel. Other studies of similar buried soils at adjacent sites suggest the youngest soil at Knik Arm subsided in 1964. 14C analyses of plant fossils in two older soils will provide age estimates for earlier events. We will apply the proposed geochemical methods to 20 samples collected along a forested upland to tidal

  13. Evaluation of cores from Jefferson Highway near Airline Highway : technical assistance report 16-03TA-C.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2016-09-01

    This technical assistance report documents the investigation conducted by the Louisiana Transportation Research Center (LTRC) of the cored concrete from Westbound Jefferson Highway near Airline Highway in Baton Rouge, LA. The petrographic analysis sh...

  14. Bridge Structure, Foundation and Approach Embankment Performance for the October-November 2002 Earthquake Sequence on the Denali Fault, Alaska

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Vinson, T. S.; Hulsey, L.; Ma, J.; Connor, B.; Brooks, T. E.

    2002-12-01

    More than two dozen major bridges were subjected to severe ground motions during the October-November 2002 Earthquake Sequence on the Denali Fault, Alaska. The bridges represented a number of conventional designs constructed over the past three to four decades. The objective of the field investigation presented herein was to determine the extent of the damage, if any, to the bridge structures, foundations and approach embankments. This was accomplished by direct inspection of the bridges by the authors (or employees of their organizations) along the Richardson, Alaska, Parks, and Denali Highways, the Tok Cutoff, and the railroad bridges for the railroad alignment between Trapper Creek and Fairbanks. More specifically, the members of the investigation team (represented by the authors) conducted more than three days of field inspections of bridges within the zone of severe ground shaking during the M6.7 and M7.9 Denali fault events. The primary conclusion noted was that while a substantial number of bridges were subjected to intense shaking they all performed very well and were not damaged to the extent that remedial repairs to the bridge structure were necessary. There were occurrences of lateral spreading/liquefaction related damage to the approach embankments and slight separation of the approach embankment from the abutment foundation systems. Overall, considering the severity of ground shaking, much greater damage to the bridge structures, foundations and approach embankments would be predicted. Had the earthquakes occurred during winter when the ground was frozen and the ductility of the structures was substantially reduced events comparable to the October-November 2002 Earthquake Sequence on the Denali Fault, Alaska could have resulted in significant damage to bridges. This reconnaissance was supported by the National Science Foundation, Alaska Dept. of Transportation and Public Facilities, and the Alaska Railroad Corporation.

  15. 78 FR 42023 - Fisheries of the Exclusive Economic Zone Off Alaska; Atka Mackerel in the Bering Sea and Aleutian...

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2013-07-15

    ..., Office of Sustainable Fisheries, National Marine Fisheries Service. [FR Doc. 2013-16764 Filed 7-9-13; 4... trawl limited access fishery. This action is necessary to fully use the 2013 total allowable catch (TAC...: Effective 1200 hrs, Alaska local time (A.l.t.), July 9, 2013, through 2400 hrs, A.l.t., December 31, 2013...

  16. 78 FR 63899 - Fisheries of the Exclusive Economic Zone Off Alaska; Pollock in Statistical Area 630 in the Gulf...

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2013-10-25

    ..., Office of Sustainable Fisheries, National Marine Fisheries Service. [FR Doc. 2013-25135 Filed 10-22-13; 4...). This action is necessary to fully use the 2013 total allowable catch of pollock in Statistical Area 630 of the GOA. DATES: Effective 1200 hrs, Alaska local time (A.l.t.), October 22, 2013, through 1200 hrs...

  17. Countermeasures that work : a highway safety countermeasure guide for state highway safety offices, fifth edition, 2010.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2010-01-01

    This guide is a basic reference to assist State Highway Safety Offices (SHSOs) in selecting : effective, science-based traffic safety countermeasures for major highway safety problem areas. : The guide: : o describes major strategies and countermeasu...

  18. Improved materials systems in marine piling after nine years of exposure in Yaquina Bay : Newport, Oregon : state study : research.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    1990-02-01

    From 1979 to 1983 the Oregon State Highway Division participated with the FHWA in a demonstration Project to evaluate the feasibility of manufacturing precast, prestressed marine piles from advanced structural materials. The materials that were evalu...

  19. Alaska's Economy: What's Ahead?

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Alaska Review of Social and Economic Conditions, 1987

    1987-01-01

    This review describes Alaska's economic boom of the early 1980s, the current recession, and economic projections for the 1990s. Alaska's economy is largely influenced by oil prices, since petroleum revenues make up 80% of the state government's unrestricted general fund revenues. Expansive state spending was responsible for most of Alaska's…

  20. Cooperative Alaska Forest Inventory

    Treesearch

    Thomas Malone; Jingjing Liang; Edmond C. Packee

    2009-01-01

    The Cooperative Alaska Forest Inventory (CAFI) is a comprehensive database of boreal forest conditions and dynamics in Alaska. The CAFI consists of field-gathered information from numerous permanent sample plots distributed across interior and south-central Alaska including the Kenai Peninsula. The CAFI currently has 570 permanent sample plots on 190 sites...

  1. Appellate Courts - Alaska Court System

    Science.gov Websites

    Court Cases Appellate Case Management System Oral Argument Supreme Court Calendar, Court of Appeals , which contains the Alaska cases excerpted from P.2d and P.3d. The Pacific Reporter or the Alaska the Alaska cases excerpted from P.2d and P.3d. The Pacific Reporter or the Alaska Reporter is

  2. Alaska looks HOT!

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Belcher, J.

    Production in Alaska has been sluggish in recent years, with activity in the Prudhoe Bay region in the North Slope on a steady decline. Alaska North Slope (ANS) production topped out in 1988 at 2.037 MMbo/d, with 1.6 MMbo/d from Prudhoe Bay. This year operators expect to produce 788 Mbo/d from Prudhoe Bay, falling to 739 Mbo/d next year. ANS production as a whole should reach 1.3 MMbo/d this year, sliding to 1.29 MMbo/d in 1998. These declining numbers had industry officials and politicians talking about the early death of the Trans-Alaskan Pipeline System-the vital link between ANS crude andmore » markets. But enhanced drilling technology coupled with a vastly improved relationship between the state government and industry have made development in Alaska more economical and attractive. Alaska`s Democratic Gov. Tommy Knowles is fond of telling industry {open_quotes}we`re open for business.{close_quotes} New discoveries on the North Slope and in the Cook Inlet are bringing a renewed sense of optimism to the Alaska exploration and production industry. Attempts by Congress to lift a moratorium on exploration and production activity in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) have been thwarted thus far, but momentum appears to be with proponents of ANWR drilling.« less

  3. Alaska Tidal Datum Portal | Alaska Division of Geological & Geophysical

    Science.gov Websites

    Engineering Geology Alaska Tidal Datum Portal Climate and Cryosphere Hazards Coastal Hazards Program Guide to Portal Unambiguous vertical datums in the coastal environment are critical to the evaluation of natural human life, property, and the coastal environment. January 2017 - Update Summary Alaska Tidal Datum

  4. Toxicity of urban highway runoff with respect to storm duration.

    PubMed

    Kayhanian, M; Stransky, C; Bay, S; Lau, S-L; Stenstrom, M K

    2008-01-25

    The toxicity of stormwater runoff during various time-based stages was measured in both grab and composite samples collected from three highly urbanized highway sites in Los Angeles, California between 2002 and 2005. Stormwater runoff samples were tested for toxicity using three freshwater species (the water flea Ceriodaphnia dubia, the fathead minnow Pimephales promelas, and the green algae Pseudokirchneriella subcapitatum) and two marine species (the purple sea urchin Strongylocentrotus purpuratus, and the luminescent bacteria Photobacterium phosphoreum using Microtox. Toxicity results varied substantially throughout the storm events for both freshwater and marine species toxicity tests. In general, however, the first few samples were found to be more toxic compared with those collected during later stages of each storm event. In most cases, more than 40% of the toxicity was associated with the first 20% of discharged runoff volume. Furthermore, on average, 90% of the toxicity was observed during the first 30% of storm duration. Toxicity identification evaluation results found copper and zinc to be the primary cause of toxicity in about 90% of the samples evaluated with these procedures. Surfactants were also found to be the cause of toxicity in less than 10% of the samples.

  5. Status review of the Marbled Murrelet (Brachyramphus marmoratus) in Alaska and British Columbia

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Piatt, John F.; Kuletz, K.J.; Burger, A.E.; Hatch, Shyla A.; Friesen, Vicki L.; Birt, T.P.; Arimitsu, Mayumi L.; Drew, G.S.; Harding, A.M.A.; Bixler, K.S.

    2007-01-01

    The Marbled Murrelet (Brachyramphus marmoratus) is a small, diving seabird inhabiting inshore waters of the Northeastern Pacific Ocean. This species feeds on small, schooling fishes and zooplankton, and nests primarily on the moss-covered branches of large, old-growth conifers, and also, in some parts of its range, on the ground. We reviewed existing information on this species to evaluate its current status in the northern part of its range-Alaska (U.S.) and British Columbia (Canada). Within the southern part of its range (Washington, Oregon, and California, U.S.), the Marbled Murrelet was listed as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) in 1993, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) needed information on the species throughout its range for ESA deliberations. We compiled published information on the conservation status, population biology, foraging ecology, population genetics, population status and trends, demography, marine and nesting habitat characteristics, threats, and ongoing conservation efforts for Marbled Murrelets in Alaska and British Columbia. We conducted a new genetic study using samples from a segment of the range that had not been included in previous studies (Washington, Oregon) and additional nuclear intron and microsatellite markers. We also analyzed available at-sea survey data from several locations for trend. To understand the reasonableness of the empirical trend data, we developed demographic models incorporating stochasticity to discern what population trends were possible by chance. The genetic studies substantially confirmed previous findings on population structure in the Marbled Murrelet. Our present work finds three populations: (1) one comprising birds in the central and western Aleutian Islands; (2) one comprising birds in central California; and (3) one comprising birds within the center of the range from the eastern Aleutians to northern California. Our knowledge of genetic structure within this

  6. Alaska Job Center Network

    Science.gov Websites

    Job Centers Toll-free in Alaska (877)724-2539 *Workshop Schedules are linked under participating Job : midtown.jobcenter@alaska.gov Employers: anchorage.employers@alaska.gov Toll free Anchorage Employer Phone: 1-888-830 -1149 Phone: 842-5579 Fax: 842-5679, Toll Free: 1-800-478-5579 Job Seekers & Employers

  7. Highway safety attitudes of Virginians : Results of the 1977 highway safety public opinion poll, final Report.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    1978-01-01

    In October 1977, the Highway Safety Division of Virginia sponsored a statewide public opinion poll conducted by the Virginia Highway and Transportation Research Council. From the first through the twenty-second of October, approximately 1,700 randoml...

  8. A late-Middle Pleistocene (Marine Isotope Stage 6) vegetated surface buried by Old Crow tephra at the Palisades, interior Alaska

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Reyes, A.V.; Jensen, B.J.L.; Zazula, G.D.; Ager, T.A.; Kuzmina, S.; La, Farge C.; Froese, D.G.

    2010-01-01

    A 40??cm thick primary bed of Old Crow tephra (131??????11??ka), an important stratigraphic marker in eastern Beringia, directly overlies a vegetated surface at Palisades West, on the Yukon River in central Alaska. Analyses of insect, bryophyte, and vascular plant macrofossils from the buried surface and underlying organic-rich silt suggest the local presence of an aquatic environment and mesic shrub-tundra at the time of tephra deposition. Autochthonous plant and insect macrofossils from peat directly overlying Old Crow tephra suggest similar aquatic habitats and hydric to mesic tundra environments, though pollen counts indicate a substantial herbaceous component to the regional tundra vegetation. Trace amounts of arboreal pollen in sediments associated with the tephra probably reflect reworking from older deposits, rather than the local presence of trees. The revised glass fission-track age for Old Crow tephra places its deposition closer to the time of the last interglaciation than earlier age determinations, but stratigraphy and paleoecology of sites with Old Crow tephra indicate a late Marine Isotope Stage 6 age. Regional permafrost degradation and associated thaw slumping are responsible for the close stratigraphic and paleoecological relations between Old Crow tephra and last interglacial deposits at some sites in eastern Beringia. ?? 2009 Elsevier Ltd.

  9. Annual report of the Marine Mammal Commission, calendar year 1992. Report to the Congress

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Not Available

    1993-01-31

    This is the 20th Annual Report of the Marine Mammal Commission and its Committee of Scientific Advisors on Marine Mammals. The Commission was established under Title II of the Marine Mammal Protection Act to provide an independent source of guidance on Federal activities and policies, both domestic and international, affecting marine mammal protection and conservation. Each year, the Marine Mammal Commission and its Committee of Scientific Advisors devote particular attention to marine mammal species or populations that are or may be in jeopardy. Chapter III describes efforts to conserve: sea otters in California and Alaska; Steller sea lions; Hawaiian monkmore » seals; harbor seals; northern fur seals; Pacific walruses; northern right whales; humpback whales; gray whales; bowhead whales; harbor porpoises; vaquitas or Gulf of California harbor porpoises; bottlenose dolphins; killer whales; and polar bears. Activities related to West Indian manatees, Hawaiian monk seals, vaquitas, and gray whales are summarized.« less

  10. Alaska Natives & the Land.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Arnold, Robert D.; And Others

    Pursuant to the Native land claims within Alaska, this compilation of background data and interpretive materials relevant to a fair resolution of the Alaska Native problem seeks to record data and information on the Native peoples; the land and resources of Alaska and their uses by the people in the past and present; land ownership; and future…

  11. Alaska Women: A Databook.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    White, Karen; Baker, Barbara

    This data book uses survey and census information to record social and economic changes of the past three decades and their effects upon the role of Alaska women in society. Results show Alaska women comprise 47% of the state population, an increase of 9% since 1950. Marriage continues as the predominant living arrangement for Alaska women,…

  12. Alaska Board of Forestry

    Science.gov Websites

    Natural Resources / Division of Forestry Alaska Board of Forestry The nine-member Alaska Board of Forestry advises the state on forest practices issues and provides a forum for discussion and resolution of forest management issues on state land. The board also reviews all proposed changes to the Alaska Forest Resources

  13. Alaska Interagency Ecosystem Health Work Group

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Shasby, Mark

    2009-01-01

    The Alaska Interagency Ecosystem Health Work Group is a community of practice that recognizes the interconnections between the health of ecosystems, wildlife, and humans and meets to facilitate the exchange of ideas, data, and research opportunities. Membership includes the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium, U.S. Geological Survey, Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation, Alaska Department of Health and Social Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Alaska Sea Life Center, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and Alaska Department of Fish and Game.

  14. UNIT, ALASKA.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Louisiana Arts and Science Center, Baton Rouge.

    THE UNIT DESCRIBED IN THIS BOOKLET DEALS WITH THE GEOGRAPHY OF ALASKA. THE UNIT IS PRESENTED IN OUTLINE FORM. THE FIRST SECTION DEALS PRINCIPALLY WITH THE PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY OF ALASKA. DISCUSSED ARE (1) THE SIZE, (2) THE MAJOR LAND REGIONS, (3) THE MOUNTAINS, VOLCANOES, GLACIERS, AND RIVERS, (4) THE NATURAL RESOURCES, AND (5) THE CLIMATE. THE…

  15. Highway Safety Manual applied in Missouri - freeway/software.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2016-06-01

    AASHTOs Highway Safety Manual (HSM) facilitates the quantitative safety analysis of highway facilities. In a 2014 : supplement, freeway facilities were added to the original HSM manual which allows the modeling of highway : interchanges. This repo...

  16. Alaska's renewable energy potential.

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Not Available

    2009-02-01

    This paper delivers a brief survey of renewable energy technologies applicable to Alaska's climate, latitude, geography, and geology. We first identify Alaska's natural renewable energy resources and which renewable energy technologies would be most productive. e survey the current state of renewable energy technologies and research efforts within the U.S. and, where appropriate, internationally. We also present information on the current state of Alaska's renewable energy assets, incentives, and commercial enterprises. Finally, we escribe places where research efforts at Sandia National Laboratories could assist the state of Alaska with its renewable energy technology investment efforts.

  17. Crustal implications of bedrock geology along the Trans-Alaska Crustal Transect (TACT) in the Brooks Range, northern Alaska

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Moore, Thomas E.; Wallace, W.K.; Mull, C.G.; Adams, K.E.; Plafker, G.; Nokleberg, W.J.

    1997-01-01

    Geologic mapping of the Trans-Alaska Crustal Transect (TACT) project along the Dalton Highway in northern Alaska indicates that the Endicott Mountains allochthon and the Hammond terrane compose a combined allochthon that was thrust northward at least 90 km in the Early Cretaceous. The basal thrust of the combined allochthon climbs up section in the hanging wall from a ductile shear zone, in the south through lower Paleozoic rocks of the Hammond terrane and into Upper Devonian rocks of the Endicott Mountains allochthon at the Mount Doonerak antiform, culminating in Early Cretaceous shale in the northern foothills of the Brooks Range. Footwall rocks north of the Mount Doonerak antiform are everywhere parautochthonous Permian and Triassic shale of the North Slope terrane rather than Jurassic and Lower Cretaceous strata of the Colville Basin as shown in most other tectonic models of the central Brooks Range. Stratigraphic and structural relations suggest that this thrust was the basal detachment for Early Cretaceous deformation. Younger structures, such as the Tertiary Mount Doonerak antiform, deform the Early Cretaceous structures and are cored by thrusts that root at a depth of about 10 to 30 km along a deeper detachment than the Early Cretaceous detachment. The Brooks Range, therefore, exposes (1) an Early Cretaceous thin-skinned deformational belt developed during arc-continent collision and (2) a mainly Tertiary thick-skinned orogen that is probably the northward continuation of the Rocky Mountains erogenic belt. A down-to-the-south zone of both ductile and brittle normal faulting along the southern margin of the Brooks Range probably formed in the mid-Cretaceous by extensional exhumation of the Early Cretaceous contractional deformation. copyright. Published in 1997 by the American Geophysical Union.

  18. Stable Isotope (δ13C, δ15N, δ34S) Analysis and Satellite Telemetry Depict the Complexity of Gray Wolf (Canis lupus) Diets in Southwest Alaska

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Stanek, A.; Watts, D. E.; Cohn, B. R.; Spencer, P.; Mangipane, B.; Welker, J. M.

    2010-12-01

    Throughout Alaska, gray wolves (Canis lupus) are a top predator of large ungulates. While they primarily rely on ungulates such as moose (Alces alces) and caribou (Rangifer tarandus) as food, they are opportunistic and use alternative resources. The variation and supplemental protein sources in wolf diet has not been studied extensively on live animals currently using the landscape. With large seasonal influxes of Pacific salmon (Oncorhynchus sp.) into Alaska, terrestrial carnivore use of marine species is of particular interest. Using stable isotope (δ13C, δ15N, δ34S) analysis of wolf guard hair and blood, this study aims to determine the proportion of marine derived nutrients (MDN) in the diet of wolf packs within and surrounding Lake Clark National Park and Preserve and Alaska Peninsula and Becharof National Wildlife Refuges in Southwest Alaska. Satellite telemetry from the animals sampled facilitates quantification of landscape use patterns in correspondence with isotopic traits. Wolf pack territories within and surrounding the Lake Clark region appear to vary in spatial extent and in availability of MDN, such as salmon. Initial analysis shows that two packs with smaller home ranges, centrally located around areas with greater salmon availability, have enriched δ15N values compared to packs that have larger home ranges not centralized around salmon spawning waters. This pattern of isotopic enrichment is found in red blood cells, blood serum and hair, representing diets over different time scales. The enrichment in both blood and hair indicates a sustained use of MDN over the previous six to nine months. In the Lake Clark region, simple mixing model estimates suggest that up to 30% of wolf pack diets may be from marine sources. In contrast, packs with larger home ranges and less access to salmon have stable isotope values representative of a terrestrial diet.

  19. Geomorphology and river dynamics of the lower Copper River, Alaska

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Brabets, Timothy P.; Conaway, Jeffrey S.

    2009-01-01

    Located in south-central Alaska, the Copper River drains an area of more than 24,000 square miles. The average annual flow of the river near its mouth is 63,600 cubic feet per second, but is highly variable between winter and summer. In the winter, flow averages approximately 11,700 cubic feet per second, and in the summer, due to snowmelt, rainfall, and glacial melt, flow averages approximately 113,000 cubic feet per second, an order of magnitude higher. About 15 miles upstream of its mouth, the Copper River flows past the face of Childs Glacier and enters a large, broad, delta. The Copper River Highway traverses this flood plain, and in 2008, 11 bridges were located along this section of the highway. The bridges cross several parts of the Copper River and in recent years, the changing course of the river has seriously damaged some of the bridges.Analysis of aerial photography from 1991, 1996, 2002, 2006, and 2007 indicates the eastward migration of a channel of the Copper River that has resulted in damage to the Copper River Highway near Mile 43.5. Migration of another channel in the flood plain has resulted in damage to the approach of Bridge 339. As a verification of channel change, flow measurements were made at bridges along the Copper River Highway in 2005–07. Analysis of the flow measurements indicate that the total flow of the Copper River has shifted from approximately 50 percent passing through the bridges at Mile 27, near the western edge of the flood plain, and 50 percent passing through the bridges at Mile 36–37 to approximately 5 percent passing through the bridges at Mile 27 and 95 percent through the bridges at Mile 36–37 during average flow periods.The U.S. Geological Survey’s Multi-Dimensional Surface-Water Modeling System was used to simulate water-surface elevation and velocity, and to compute bed shear stress at two areas where the Copper River is affecting the Copper River Highway. After calibration, the model was used to examine the

  20. College Persistence of Alaska Native Students: An Assessment of the Rural Alaska Honors Institute, 1983-88.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Gaylord, Thomas A.; Kaul, Gitanjali

    Despite efforts by educators, full participation by Alaska native students in the state's colleges and universities has not yet been achieved. Alaska Natives are the state's only racial group that is underrepresented in enrollments at the University of Alaska (UA). This report examines the contribution of the Rural Alaska Honors Institute (RAHI)…

  1. 36 CFR 14.56 - Concurrence by Federal Highway Administration.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-07-01

    ... Highway Administration. 14.56 Section 14.56 Parks, Forests, and Public Property NATIONAL PARK SERVICE, DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR RIGHTS-OF-WAY Under Title 23, U.S.C. (Interstate and Defense Highway System) § 14.56 Concurrence by Federal Highway Administration. The appropriate State highway department will...

  2. 36 CFR 14.56 - Concurrence by Federal Highway Administration.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-07-01

    ... Highway Administration. 14.56 Section 14.56 Parks, Forests, and Public Property NATIONAL PARK SERVICE, DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR RIGHTS-OF-WAY Under Title 23, U.S.C. (Interstate and Defense Highway System) § 14.56 Concurrence by Federal Highway Administration. The appropriate State highway department will...

  3. 36 CFR 14.56 - Concurrence by Federal Highway Administration.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-07-01

    ... Highway Administration. 14.56 Section 14.56 Parks, Forests, and Public Property NATIONAL PARK SERVICE, DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR RIGHTS-OF-WAY Under Title 23, U.S.C. (Interstate and Defense Highway System) § 14.56 Concurrence by Federal Highway Administration. The appropriate State highway department will...

  4. 36 CFR 14.56 - Concurrence by Federal Highway Administration.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-07-01

    ... Highway Administration. 14.56 Section 14.56 Parks, Forests, and Public Property NATIONAL PARK SERVICE, DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR RIGHTS-OF-WAY Under Title 23, U.S.C. (Interstate and Defense Highway System) § 14.56 Concurrence by Federal Highway Administration. The appropriate State highway department will...

  5. 36 CFR 14.56 - Concurrence by Federal Highway Administration.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-07-01

    ... Highway Administration. 14.56 Section 14.56 Parks, Forests, and Public Property NATIONAL PARK SERVICE, DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR RIGHTS-OF-WAY Under Title 23, U.S.C. (Interstate and Defense Highway System) § 14.56 Concurrence by Federal Highway Administration. The appropriate State highway department will...

  6. The Maryland strategic highway safety plan 2006-2010

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2006-09-01

    When the American Association of State Highway Transportation Officials (AASHTO) led the development of a strategic highway safety plan in 1997, targeting the nations most serious highway safety problems, Maryland was one of the few states in the ...

  7. 23 CFR 1.5 - Information furnished by State highway departments.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-04-01

    ... 23 Highways 1 2013-04-01 2013-04-01 false Information furnished by State highway departments. 1.5 Section 1.5 Highways FEDERAL HIGHWAY ADMINISTRATION, DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION GENERAL MANAGEMENT AND ADMINISTRATION GENERAL § 1.5 Information furnished by State highway departments. At the request of the...

  8. 23 CFR 1.5 - Information furnished by State highway departments.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-04-01

    ... 23 Highways 1 2014-04-01 2014-04-01 false Information furnished by State highway departments. 1.5 Section 1.5 Highways FEDERAL HIGHWAY ADMINISTRATION, DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION GENERAL MANAGEMENT AND ADMINISTRATION GENERAL § 1.5 Information furnished by State highway departments. At the request of the...

  9. 23 CFR 1.5 - Information furnished by State highway departments.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-04-01

    ... 23 Highways 1 2011-04-01 2011-04-01 false Information furnished by State highway departments. 1.5 Section 1.5 Highways FEDERAL HIGHWAY ADMINISTRATION, DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION GENERAL MANAGEMENT AND ADMINISTRATION GENERAL § 1.5 Information furnished by State highway departments. At the request of the...

  10. 23 CFR 1.5 - Information furnished by State highway departments.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-04-01

    ... 23 Highways 1 2012-04-01 2012-04-01 false Information furnished by State highway departments. 1.5 Section 1.5 Highways FEDERAL HIGHWAY ADMINISTRATION, DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION GENERAL MANAGEMENT AND ADMINISTRATION GENERAL § 1.5 Information furnished by State highway departments. At the request of the...

  11. Identifying marine Important Bird Areas using at-sea survey data

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Smith, Melanie A.; Walker, Nathan J.; Free, Christopher M.; Kirchhoff, Matthew J.; Drew, Gary S.; Warnock, Nils; Stenhouse, Iain J.

    2014-01-01

    Effective marine bird conservation requires identification of at-sea locations used by populations for foraging, staging, and migration. Using an extensive database of at-sea survey data spanning over 30 years, we developed a standardized and data-driven spatial method for identifying globally significant marine Important Bird Areas in Alaska. To delineate these areas we developed a six-step process: binning data and accounting for unequal survey effort, filtering input data for persistence of species use, using a moving window analysis to produce maps representing a gradient from low to high abundance, drawing core area boundaries around major concentrations based on abundance thresholds, validating the results, and combining overlapping boundaries into important areas for multiple species. We identified 126 bird core areas which were merged into 59 pelagic sites important to 45 out of 57 species assessed. The final areas included approximately 34–38% of all marine birds in Alaska waters, within just 6% of the total area. We identified globally significant Important Bird Areas spanning 20 degrees of latitude and 56 degrees of longitude, in two different oceans, with climates ranging from temperate to polar. Although our maps did suffer from some data gaps, these gaps did not preclude us from identifying sites that incorporated 13% of the assessed continental waterbird population and 9% of the assessed global seabird population. The application of this technique over a large and productive region worked well for a wide range of birds, exhibiting a variety of foraging strategies and occupying a variety of ecosystem types.

  12. Alcohol and highway safety : a bibliography

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    1976-05-15

    This bibliography represents literature acquired since the establishment of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) in 1967, as related to alcohol and highway safety. It is comprised of NHTSA contract reports, reports of other orga...

  13. Trophic ecology of introduced populations of Alaska blackfish (Dallia pectoralis) in the Cook Inlet Basin, Alaska.

    PubMed

    Eidam, Dona M; von Hippel, Frank A; Carlson, Matthew L; Lassuy, Dennis R; López, J Andrés

    2016-07-01

    Introduced non-native fishes have the potential to substantially alter aquatic ecology in the introduced range through competition and predation. The Alaska blackfish ( Dallia pectoralis ) is a freshwater fish endemic to Chukotka and Alaska north of the Alaska Range (Beringia); the species was introduced outside of its native range to the Cook Inlet Basin of Alaska in the 1950s, where it has since become widespread. Here we characterize the diet of Alaska blackfish at three Cook Inlet Basin sites, including a lake, a stream, and a wetland. We analyze stomach plus esophageal contents to assess potential impacts on native species via competition or predation. Alaska blackfish in the Cook Inlet Basin consume a wide range of prey, with major prey consisting of epiphytic/benthic dipteran larvae, gastropods, and ostracods. Diets of the introduced populations of Alaska blackfish are similar in composition to those of native juvenile salmonids and stickleback. Thus, Alaska blackfish may affect native fish populations via competition. Fish ranked third in prey importance for both lake and stream blackfish diets but were of minor importance for wetland blackfish.

  14. Trophic ecology of introduced populations of Alaska blackfish (Dallia pectoralis) in the Cook Inlet Basin, Alaska

    PubMed Central

    Eidam, Dona M.; Carlson, Matthew L.; Lassuy, Dennis R.; López, J. Andrés

    2016-01-01

    Introduced non-native fishes have the potential to substantially alter aquatic ecology in the introduced range through competition and predation. The Alaska blackfish (Dallia pectoralis) is a freshwater fish endemic to Chukotka and Alaska north of the Alaska Range (Beringia); the species was introduced outside of its native range to the Cook Inlet Basin of Alaska in the 1950s, where it has since become widespread. Here we characterize the diet of Alaska blackfish at three Cook Inlet Basin sites, including a lake, a stream, and a wetland. We analyze stomach plus esophageal contents to assess potential impacts on native species via competition or predation. Alaska blackfish in the Cook Inlet Basin consume a wide range of prey, with major prey consisting of epiphytic/benthic dipteran larvae, gastropods, and ostracods. Diets of the introduced populations of Alaska blackfish are similar in composition to those of native juvenile salmonids and stickleback. Thus, Alaska blackfish may affect native fish populations via competition. Fish ranked third in prey importance for both lake and stream blackfish diets but were of minor importance for wetland blackfish. PMID:28082763

  15. Electrifying Alaska

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Reinemer, V.

    Alaska's diverse systems for electric power include only 4% by private utilities. Large distances and small markets make transmission impractical for the most part. Rates are variable, although the state average is low. Energy sources, except nuclear, are abundant: half the US coal reserves are in Alaska. In addition, it has geothermal, tidal, biomass, solar, wind, and hydroelectric power. Energy construction and study programs are centered in the Alaska Power Authority and include using waste heat from village diesel generators. Hydro potential is good, but access, distances, and environmental effects must be considered. The Terror Lake, Tyee Lake, Swan Lake,more » and Susitna projects are described and transmission construction, including the 345-kW Railbelt intertie, is discussed. 1 figure.« less

  16. Status and distribution of the Kittlitz's murrelet Brachyramphus brevirostris in Kenai Fjords, Alaska

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Arimitsu, Mayumi L.; Piatt, John F.; Romano, Marc D.; van Pelt, Thomas I.

    2011-01-01

    The Kittlitz's Murrelet Brachyramphus brevirostris is a candidate species for listing under the US Endangered Species Act because of its apparent declines within core population areas of coastal Alaska. During the summers of 2006-2008, we conducted surveys in marine waters adjacent to Kenai Fjords National Park, Alaska, to estimate the current population size of Kittlitz's and Marbled murrelets B. marmoratus and examine seasonal variability in distribution within coastal fjords. We also evaluated historical data to estimate trend. Based on an average of point estimates, we find the recent population (95% CI) of Kittlitz's Murrelet to be 716 (353-1080) individuals, that of Marbled Murrelet to be 6690 (5427-7953) individuals, and all Brachyramphus murrelets combined to number 8186 (6978-9393) birds. Within-season density estimates showed Kittlitz's Murrelets generally increased between June and July, but dispersed rapidly by August, while Marbled Murrelets generally increased throughout the summer. Trends in Kittlitz's and Marbled murrelet populations were difficult to assess with confidence. Methods for counting or sampling murrelets varied in early decades of study, while in later years there is uncertainty due to highly variable counts among years, which may be due in part to timing of surveys relative to the spring bloom in coastal waters of the Gulf of Alaska.

  17. Foods of Spectacled Eiders Somateria fischeri in the Bering Sea, Alaska

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Petersen, M.R.; Piatt, John F.; Trust, K.A.

    1998-01-01

    The winter diet of Spectacled Eiders living in marine habitats is known only from two individuals described by Cottam (1939). Here we examine marine diets from 36 stomachs collected near St. Lawrence Island, Bering Sea, Alaska, during May-June in 1987 and 1992. All Spectacled Eiders ate Mollusca, including Gastropoda (snails; frequency of occurrence 20.0%; sole taxon 0.0%) and Bivalvia (bivalves; 80.0%; 48.0%), and Crustacea (barnacles, amphipods and crabs; 30.6%; 0.0%). One bird ate a cod. The predominant species group eaten was Macoma Clams (72.0%; 36.0%). Prey species of Spectacled Eiders occur predominantly in waters 25-60 m deep in the Bering Sea. To obtain these prey, especially the bivalves, on the winter area Spectacled Eiders must forage in waters exceeding 40 m. We speculate that Spectacled Eiders regularly forage at depths of 45-70 m throughout winter.

  18. Assessing biological effects from highway-runoff constituents

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Buckler, Denny R.; Granato, Gregory E.

    1999-01-01

    Increased emphasis on evaluation of nonpoint-source pollution has intensified the need for techniques that can be used to discern the toxicological effects of complex chemical mixtures. In response, the use of biological assessment techniques is receiving increased regulatory emphasis. When applied with documented habitat assessment and chemical analysis, these techniques can increase our understanding of the influence of environmental contaminants on the biological integrity and ecological function of aquatic communities.The contaminants of greatest potential concern in highway runoff are those that arise from highway construction, maintenance, and use. The major contaminants of interest are deicers; nutrients; metals; petroleum-related organic compounds, such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, and xylene (BTEX), and methyl tert -butyl ether (MTBE); sediment washed off the road surface; and agricultural chemicals used in highway maintenance. Hundreds, if not thousands, of biological endpoints (measurable responses of living organisms) may be either directly or associatively affected by contaminant exposure. Measurable effects can occur throughout ecosystem processes across the wide range of biological complexity, ranging from responses at the biochemical level to the community level. The challenge to the environmental scientist is to develop an understanding of the relationship of effects at various levels of biological organization in order to determine whether a causal relationship exists between chemical exposure and substantial ecological impairment. This report provides a brief history of the evolution of biological assessment techniques, a description of the major classes of contaminants that are of particular interest in highway runoff, an overview of representative biological assessment techniques, and a discussion of data-quality considerations. Published reports with a focus on the effects of highway runoff on the

  19. Using Vocal Dialects to Assess the Population Structure of Bigg's Killer Whales in Alaska

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Sharpe, D. L.; Wade, P. R.; Castellote, M.; Cornick, L. A.

    2016-02-01

    Apex predators are important indicators of ecosystem health, but little is known about the population structure of Bigg's killer whales (Orcinus orca; i.e. "transient" ecotype) in western Alaska. Currently, all Bigg's killer whales in western Alaska are ascribed to a single broad stock for management under the US Marine Mammal Protection Act. However, recent nuclear microsatellite and mitochondrial DNA analyses indicate that this stock is likely comprised of genetically distinct sub-populations. In accordance with what is known about group-specific killer whale vocal dialects in other locations, we sought to evaluate and refine Bigg's killer whale population structure by using acoustic recordings to examine the spatial distribution of call types in western Alaska. Digital audio recordings were collected from 34 encounters with Bigg's killer whales throughout the Aleutian and Pribilof Islands in the summers of 2001-2007 and 2009-2010, then visually and aurally reviewed using the software Adobe Audition. High quality calls were identified and classified into discrete call types based on spectrographic characteristics and aural uniqueness. A comparative analysis of call types recorded throughout the study area revealed spatial segregation of call types, corresponding well with proposed genetic delineations. These results suggest that Bigg's killer whales exhibit regional vocal dialects, which can be used to help refine the putative sub-populations that have been genetically identified throughout western Alaska. Our findings support the proposal to restructure current stock designations.

  20. 49 CFR 212.231 - Highway-rail grade crossing inspector.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-10-01

    ... 49 Transportation 4 2012-10-01 2012-10-01 false Highway-rail grade crossing inspector. 212.231... § 212.231 Highway-rail grade crossing inspector. (a) The highway-rail grade crossing inspector is required, at a minimum, to be able to conduct independent inspections of all types of highway-rail grade...