GEOGRAPHIC

Alaska is one-fifth the size of the contiguous United States; 488 times larger than the state of Rhode Island; larger than the three largest states combined.

Alaska contains 586,412 square miles. A map of Alaska superimposed on a map of the lower 48 states would touch South Carolina, Mexico, California and the U.S.-Canadian border.

"East to west (including the Aleutian Islands), Alaska measures 2,400 miles -- roughly the same distance between Florida and the state of Washington. North to south, Alaska measures 1,420 miles -- the distance between Denver and Mexico City."

Alaska is nearly equidistant from Japan, Europe and the east coast of the United States.

Little Diomede Island off the west coast of Alaska is only 2.5 miles from Russia's Big Diomede Island.

Alaska has 6,640 miles of coastline (longer than that of all of the rest of the lower 48 states) and, including islands, 33,904 miles of shoreline.

The tallest mountain in North American, Mt. McKinley at 20,320 feet, is located in Alaska.

Alaska has more than 5,000 glaciers. Both Bering and Malispina Glaciers, the largest glaciers in North American are approximately 2,900 miles, making each larger than the State of Delaware.

Ice fields cover 28,800 of Alaska's 586,412 square miles, or just 4 percent of the state.

Alaska has more than three million lakes over 20 acres each. One of these, Lake Iliamna, is America's second largest fresh water lake.

Alaska has over 3,000 rivers. The Yukon River discharges 240,000 cubic feet per second at the mouth making it the fifth ranked U.S. river. The Mississippi discharging 640,000 cubic feet per seconds is first. The Yukon River (2,300 miles total, 1,875 in Alaska) ranks third in length of U.S. rivers behind the Mississippi and Missouri.

The nation's two largest national forests are located in Alaska: Tongass in Southeast has 16.8 million acres, and Chugach on Southcentral has 4.8 million acres.

Barrow, the northermost city in the U.S., is only 800 miles from the North Pole. When the sun rises in Barrow on May 10, it doesn't set again for nearly three months. When it sets November, Barrow residents don't see the sun again for more than two months.