The USGS Alaska Region has the largest geographic extent of the seven regional units within the USGS and represents a dynamic landscape of great natural wonder. It is a transforming landscape shaped by volcanoes, earthquakes, major rivers, and glaciers and a strategic landscape of yet untapped mineral and energy resources. The Region conducts research to help inform management of the extensive national parks and wildlife refuges of the far north and the international birds, fish, and marine mammals that migrate to these lands and waters; informs national Arctic energy policy through research on the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska and the U.S. Outer Continental Shelf; and provides science to understand, help respond to and mitigate impacts from natural hazards.
This work is accomplished in part by the Region's two Science Centers headquartered in Anchorage, the Alaska Science Center and the Volcano Science Center.