Why is Alaska #1 in water area?
Alaska has more water inside its borders than any other state โ even more than Michigan, the Great Lakes State. Here are two ways ice shapes water in parts of Alaska: frozen ground that keeps water on the surface of flat land, and glaciers that carved many fjords along the southern coast.
Alaska has more water area than any other state โ lakes, rivers, bays and coastal waters inside its borders. It is also #1 in land area, and, more of a surprise, #1 in the share of workers who walk to work. This note follows the water. Check all three rankings in the quizzes below.
Basis: U.S. Census Bureau: 2024 Gazetteer Files (water area, land area) and American Community Survey 2023 (walked to work). The numbers, full rankings and sources are on each quiz page.
Ever heard that a place with little rain and snow can still be wet and boggy? At Gates of the Arctic National Park, the Park Service explains how. Most of the park sits on permafrost โ ground that stays frozen all year. In summer only the top of the ground thaws (the active layer). Because the ground beneath stays frozen, water collects on top of flat ground instead of draining away. So there are many boggy areas, wetlands and small lakes, even though the lowlands get less rain and snow than most places in the eastern and midwestern United States.
Who says so: National Park Service (Gates of the Arctic National Park & Preserve) (opens in a new tab)
Now the coast. When Earth's climate cools, glaciers form and flow downhill, often taking the easy path through old river valleys and grinding them wider, with steeper walls. Some valley glaciers flow through narrow inlets all the way into the ocean. Those inlets are fjords: tall, steep walls like a glacier valley, but with a floor below sea level โ so the ocean fills them.
Who says so: National Park Service (opens in a new tab)
The Park Service lists what Alaska's rugged, wild coast is made of: fjords, rocky coasts, lagoons, salt marshes and tundra cliffs, among others. Alaska's southern coastline has numerous fjords โ deep, narrow ocean inlets, longer than they are wide โ bearing witness to the ice that once dominated the landscape.
Who says so: National Park Service (Alaska Nature and Science) (opens in a new tab)
What if the frozen floor under the ponds thaws? The Park Service lists drainage of lakes among the effects of thawing permafrost, along with soil erosion and changing river patterns. Scientists in the park keep watch on the frozen ground to understand changes that could occur as a result of climate change โ including changes in the area of ponds and lakes.
Who says so: National Park Service (Gates of the Arctic National Park & Preserve) (opens in a new tab)
Lakes can also surprise the experts. In Alaska's Yukon Flats, the U.S. Geological Survey reports, lake levels went down over a long stretch of years โ then, after a stretch of wetter-than-usual weather, most lakes filled back up. Mud layers on the lake bottoms showed that big ups and downs had happened often, long before anyone measured them. Reading that record helps scientists spot a truly unusual trend, and gives new clues to how Alaska's lake levels may change in the future.
Who says so: U.S. Geological Survey (opens in a new tab)
Note: a โtheoryโ, โfolkloreโ or โoutlookโ is not settled fact. Always check who is saying it.
๐ Sources for the rankings mentioned in this note (links to the original data and retrieval dates) are on each quiz page below.