Alaska
hideAlaska ( /əˈlæskə/ (help·info)) is the largest state of the United States of America by area; it is situated in the northwest extremity of the North American continent, with Canada to the east, the Arctic Ocean to the north, and the Pacific Ocean to the west and south, with Russia further west across the Bering Strait. Approximately half of Alaska's 683,478 residents reside within the Anchorage metropolitan area. As of 2007, Alaska remains the least densely populated state of the U.S.
The U.S. Senate approved the purchase of Alaska from the Russian Empire on March 30, 1867, for $7.2 million at two cents per acre, about five cents per hectare. The land went through several administrative changes before becoming an organized territory on May 11, 1912 and the 49th state of the U.S. on January 3, 1959. The name "Alaska" was already introduced in the Russian colonial time, when it was used only for the peninsula and is derived from the Aleut alaxsxaq, meaning "the mainland" or more literally, "the object towards which the action of the sea is directed." It is also known as Alyeska, the "great land," an Aleut word derived from the same root.
For more information about Alaska, read the full article at
Wikipedia.
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News tagged with alaska
Feds give sea otters habitat protection in Alaska
Oct 08, 2009 |
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(AP) -- Four years after being placed on the Endangered Species List, the dwindling sea otters of southwest Alaska on Wednesday were given an important recovery tool.
Study: Endangered AK beluga whale group declining
Oct 07, 2009 |
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(AP) -- A government study found that a group of endangered beluga whales in Alaska is declining, raising concern that bolstered protection for the animals is not coming quickly enough.
Understand the Arctic before exploiting it
Sep 18, 2009 |
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America's Arctic has long been a place of myth and dream, where the Inupiat Eskimos have thrived, explorers endured and artists found inspiration. While competing visions of the Arctic have clashed in the past, we are now ...
Seaglider sets new underwater endurance and range records
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Sep 10, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- A University of Washington Seaglider operated for 9 months and 5 days in the Pacific Ocean, an endurance record more than double what any other autonomous underwater vehicle has accomplished ...
Satellite imagery shows Typhoon Vamco has a huge 45-mile wide eye
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Aug 24, 2009 |
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Typhoon Vamco is being as stubborn in its quest to live in the Pacific Ocean as Bill is in the Atlantic Ocean this week, and NASA satellite data confirmed that the large storm has a huge eye, about 45 miles ...
Research finds higher acidity in Alaska waters
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Aug 24, 2009 |
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(AP) -- Erosion threatens to topple coastal Alaskan villages. Melting ice threatens polar bears. Now, a marine scientist says the state's marine waters are turning acidic from absorbing greenhouse gases faster ...
New data: Mega-quake could strike near Seattle
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Aug 16, 2009 |
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Using sophisticated seismometers and GPS devices, scientists have been able to track minute movements along two massive tectonic plates colliding 25 miles or so underneath Washington state's Puget Sound basin. Their early ...
New findings show increased ocean acidification in Alaska waters
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Aug 13, 2009 |
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The same things that make Alaska's marine waters among the most productive in the world may also make them the most vulnerable to ocean acidification. According to new findings by a University of Alaska Fairbanks scientist, ...
'Hydropalooza' provides deeper understanding of Alaska's Kachemak Bay
Aug 13, 2009 |
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NOAA ships and scientists have returned to Alaska's Kachemak Bay to kick off year two of Hydropalooza — a NOAA-led project to develop the most detailed seafloor and coastline maps ever generated of the area.
California lawmakers take aim at Alaska's aerial wolf hunts
Aug 10, 2009 |
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Alaska's predator-control program to kill wolves, which drew renewed national scrutiny last year during former Gov. Sarah Palin's bid for vice president, is under attack again in Congress.
Vast expanses of Arctic ice melt in summer heat
Aug 09, 2009 |
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(AP) -- The Arctic Ocean has given up tens of thousands more square miles (square kilometers) of ice on Sunday in a relentless summer of melt, with scientists watching through satellite eyes for a possible ...
'Benchmark glaciers' shrinking at faster rate, study finds
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Aug 07, 2009 |
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Climate change is shrinking three of the nation's most studied glaciers at an accelerated rate, and government scientists say that finding bolsters global concerns about rising sea levels and the availability of fresh drinking ...
King salmon vanishing in Alaska, smokehouses empty
Aug 02, 2009 |
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(AP) -- Yukon River smokehouses should be filled this summer with oil-rich strips of king salmon - long used by Alaska Natives as a high-energy food to get through the long Alaska winters. But they're mostly empty.
Forest service carves new experimental forest out of Tongass NF
Jul 02, 2009 |
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The USDA Forest Service established a new experimental forest in Alaska on June 25. The 25,000-acre Héen Latinee Experimental Forest is located inside the Tongass National Forest, and is easily accessible ...
Scientists lower Alaska volcano threat level
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Jul 01, 2009 |
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(AP) -- Alaskans can put away their dust masks and spare air filters, for now, because Mount Redoubt seems to have cooled off since its last major eruption nearly three months ago.
