Alaska : Geographical Facts

Alaska is situated on the northwest corner of the US and is bordered by the Arctic Ocean and Beaufort Sea to the north, Canada's Yukon Territory and province of British Columbia to the East; the Gulf of Alaska, Pacific Ocean, and Bering Sea to the South; and on the West by the Bering Sea, Bering Strait, Chukchi Sea, and Arctic Ocean. It occupies 16% of the total US land area with the East-West extension being 2,261 miles (3,639 km) and the maximum North-South extension is 1,420 miles (2,285 km). The highest point in the US, Point Barrow and the western-most point—Cape Wrangell on Attu Island in the Aleutians is located in Alaska.

There are six distinct regions in Alaska. The southeast region holds a number of mountain peaks of 10,000 ft (3,000 m) in elevation which is paralleled by the Alexander Archipelago. The south-central region of Alaska along the Gulf of Alaska includes the Kenai Peninsula and Cook Inlet, Alaska Peninsula is present in the southwestern region which is mostly rugged, and lightly wooded. Western Alaska extends from Bristol Bay to the Seward Peninsula, an immense tundra dotted with lakes and containing the deltas of the Yukon and Kuskokwim rivers, the longest in the state at 1,900 mi (3,058 km) and 680 mi (1,094 km), respectively. Interior Alaska extends north of the Alaska Range and south of the Brooks Range and includes the Yukon and its tributaries, the Tanana and Porcupine rivers. The Arctic region extends from Kotzebue, north of the Seward Peninsula, east to Canada. The highest mountain of North America, Mt. McKinley (20,320 ft/6,198 m), is located in the Alaska Range. Alaska is also famous for its glaciers, the largest being the Malaspina, which covers more area than the entire state of Rhode Island. Alaska also boasts of some offshore islands like St. Lawrence, St. Matthew, Nunivak, and the Pribilof group in the Bering Sea.