Geography of Alaska

Alaska occupies the northwestern portion of the North American continent and is bordered only by Canada on the east. It is one of two U.S. states not bordered by another state; Hawaii is the other. Alaska has more ocean coastline than all of the other U.S. states combined.[1] About 500 miles (800 km) of Canadian territory consisting of British Columbia (in Canada) separate Alaska from Washington U.S. state. Alaska is thus an exclave of the United States that is part of the continental U.S. and the U.S. West Coast, but is not part of the contiguous U.S.[2]

Central Alaska in late September 2010, as seen from a satellite

The state is bordered by Yukon and British Columbia, Canada to the east, the Gulf of Alaska and the Pacific Ocean to the south, Russia (Chukotka Autonomous Okrug), Bering Sea, the Bering Strait, and the Chukchi Sea to the west, and the Beaufort Sea and the Arctic Ocean to the north.

Alaska's area compared to the 48 contiguous states

Because it extends into the Eastern Hemisphere, it is technically both the westernmost and easternmost state in the United States, as well as also being the northernmost.

Alaska is the largest state in the United States in terms of land area at 570,380 square miles (1,477,300 km2), over twice (roughly 2.47 times) as large as Texas, the next largest state, and is the seventh largest country subdivision in the world, and the third largest in North America, about 20.4% smaller than Denmark's autonomous country of Greenland and 17.6% smaller than Canada's largest territory of Nunavut. If the state's westernmost point were superimposed on San Francisco, California, its easternmost point would be in Jacksonville, Florida. Alaska is larger than all but 18 sovereign nations (it is slightly larger than Iran but slightly smaller than Libya). Alaska is home to 3.5 million lakes of 20 acres (8.1 ha) or larger.[3] Marshlands and wetland permafrost cover 188,320 square miles (487,700 km2) (mostly in northern, western and southwest flatlands). Frozen water, in the form of glacier ice, covers some 16,000 square miles (41,000 km2) of land and 1,200 square miles (3,100 km2) of tidal zone. The Bering Glacier complex near the southeastern border with Yukon, Canada, covers 2,250 square miles (5,800 km2) alone.

  1. ^ https://fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/RS21729.pdf CRS Report for Congress on international borders
  2. ^ The other three exclaves of the United States are the Northwest Angle of Minnesota, Point Roberts, Washington, and Alburgh, Vermont.
  3. ^ "Facts About Alaska, Alaska Kids' Corner, State of Alaska". alaska.gov. Retrieved April 13, 2018.