CALM SITE U7C

BETTY PINGO WET

Site code

U7C

Site name

Betty Pingo WET (former FLUX 2)

CAPS I Metadata form

NA

CAPS II Metadata form

NA

Site Photograph

Data

Responsible for data submission

Nikolay Shiklomanov

Email Address

shiklom”-at-“udel.edu

Institution/Organization

University of Delaware

Location description

Arctic Alaska

Location Lat.

70.2750 N

Location Lon.

148.9190 W

Elevation avg. (m)

12

Methods Grid

100

Methods Other

Air Temperature, Soil Surface Temperature

Landscape Description

Outer coastal plain, drained lake basins

Vegetation /Classification

Flat with low-centered polygons; wet nonacidic tundra

Soils (or Material)

Histic Pergelic Cryaquolls (39%), P. Cryaquolls (25%), P.Cryofibrists (24%), others (12%).

Thaw depth measurements (year started)               

1995

Air temp. measurements (year started)

1995

Snow cover measurements (year started)

NA

soil temp. measurements (year started)

1995 (surface only)

soil moisture measurements (year started)

NA

general description of soil moisture (dry, moist, wet, saturated)

Very wet to saturated

soil texture: if non organic describe texture, if organic indicate thickness of organic layer (cm)

Organic layer thickness: 25 +/- 1.5 cm mineral texture -- silty loam /silt/peat

 

DESCRIPTION OF AREA CONTAINING SITE:

Site description: Flat with low-centered polygons; wet nonacidic tundra.

Vegetation communities: (1) Lower microsites, including polygon basins and troughs: Wet Eriophorurn angustifolium, Carex aquatilis, Scorpidiurn scorpioides graminoid tundra. (2) Raised microsites, including polygon rims and hummocks: Moist Eriophorum triste, Dryas integrifolia, Tomenthypnum nitens graminoid, prostrate-shrub tundra. Cover of top 5 species: Eriophorum angustifolim (28%), Scorpidium scorpioides (11%), Carex aquatilis (10%), Drepanocladus brevifolius (3%),Dryas integrifolia (3%)

Mean vegetation height: 4.1 +/- 3.9 cm

Mean live moss layer thickness: 0.8 +/- 0.7 cm

Organic layer thickness: 25 + 1.5 cm.

 (Walker and Bockheim, 1995)

  

SOIL DESCRIPTION: (predominant texture, i.e., ‘sand’, ‘gravel’, ‘peat’, etc.): Pergelic Cryoborolls (55%), P. Cryaquolls (16%), P. Cryaquepts (16%), others (13%).

 

SAMPLING DESIGN AND METHOD:

Beginning in 1995, the active layer has been probed at least annually at the site. The procedure involves pushing a metal rod, calibrated in cm, to the point of refusal, interpreted in most cases to be the frost table. Thaw depth measurements at each site were obtained by probing at 5 m intervals along the plot’s two perpendicular and one diagonal transect, resulting in 71 points per plot per probing date.

 

In 1995 the site was instrumented with several OnsetTM portable data loggers connected to probe-type thermistors. Each logger/thermistor system has an effective temperature range of -50oC to +33oC and resolution of approximately 0.32oC. At each site, one thermistor was placed in a radiation shield approximately 2 m above the ground surface, and nine loggers were placed at the interface between mineral soil and organic material in various microtopographic positions within the site. Temperature measurements were collected at, 1 hr, and 2 hr intervals depending on season, and year. Details on methodology are provided in Klene et. al 2001.

 

REFERENCES:

Walker, D. A., and J. G. Bockheim, Site selection for the portable flux towers, ARCSS/LAII/Flux Study, 13–16 June 1995, Summary of field activities, Land-Atmos.-Ice Interact. Sci. Manage. Off., Geophys. Inst.,Univ. of Alaska-Fairbanks, 1995.

 

Shiklomanov, N.I. and F.E. Nelson. 2003 Climatic variability in the Kuparuk region, north-central Alaska: optimizating spatial and temporal interpolation in a sparse observation network. Arctic, 56: 136-146.

 

Shiklomanov, N.I. and F.E. Nelson. 2003 Statistical representation of landscape-specific active-layer variability. In Phillips, M., Springman, S. M., and Arenson, L. U. (eds.), Proceedings of the Eighth International Conference on Permafrost, vol. 2. Lisse: A.A. Balkema, 1039-1044.

 

Walker D.A., Jia G.J., Epstein H.E., Raynolds M.K., Chapin III F.S., Copass C., Hinzman L.D., Kane D., Knudson J.A., Maier H., Michaelson G.J., Nelson F.E., Ping C.L., Shiklomanov N.I., Romanovsky V.E., Shur Y.  2003 Vegetation-soil-thaw-depth relationships along a Low Arctic bioclimatic gradient, Alaska: Synthesis of information from the Atlas studies. Permafrost and Periglacial Processes, 14: 103-123.

 

Shiklomanov N. I. and F. E. Nelson, F. E., 2002. Active-layer mapping at regional scales: a 13-year spatial time series for the Kuparuk region, north-central Alaska. Permafrost and Periglacial Processes, 13: 219-230.

 

Klene A.E., Nelson F.E., and N.I. Shiklomanov. 2001   The n-factor as a tool in geocryological mapping: seasonal thaw in the Kuparuk River Basin, Alaska.  Physical Geography, 22(6): 449-466.

 

Klene A.E., Nelson F.E., Shiklomanov N.I., and K.M. Hinkel. 2001   The n-factor in natural landscapes: Variability of air and soil-surface temperatures, Kuparuk River basin, Alaska.  Arctic, Antarctic and Alpine Research, 33(2): 140-148.

 

Nelson, F.E., Shiklomanov, N.I., and G.R. Mueller. Variability of active-layer thickness at multiple spatial scales, north-central Alaska, USA. 1999   Arctic, Antarctic, and Alpine Research, 31(2): 179-186.

 

Shiklomanov, N.I. and F.E. Nelson. Analytic representation of the active layer thickness field, Kuparuk River basin, Alaska. 1999 Ecological Modelling, 123: 105-125.

 

Bockheim, J.G., Walker, D.A., Everett, L.R., Nelson, F.E. and N.I. Shiklomanov. 1998 .  Soils and cryoturbation in moist nonacidic and acidic tundra in the Kuparuk River basin, Arctic Alaska, USA. Arctic and Alpine Research, 30(2): 166-174.

 

Nelson, F.E., Hinkel, K.M., Shiklomanov, N.I., Mueller, G.R., Miller, L.L., and D.A.

Walker. Active-layer thickness in north central Alaska: systematic sampling, scale, and spatial autocorrelation. 1998    Journal of Geophysical Research-Atmospheres, 103(D22): 28963-28973.

 

Nelson, F.E., Outcalt, S.I., Brown, J., Shiklomanov, N.I., and K.M. Hinkel. Spatial and temporal attributes of the active-layer thickness record, Barrow, Alaska, USA, 1998   Proceedings of the Seventh International Conference on Permafrost. Centre de etudes nordiques de l'Universite Laval, Laval, Quebec, Canada, Yellowknife, NWT, Canada, pp. 797-802

 

Walker, D.A., Auerbach, N.A., Bockheim, J.G., Chapin, F.S., Eugster, W., King, J.Y., McFadden, J.P., Michaelson, G.J., Nelson, F.E., Oechel, W.C., Ping, C.L., Reeburg, W.S., Regli, S., Shiklomanov, N.I., and G.L. Vourlitis.1998 Energy and trace-gas fluxes across a soil pH boundary in the arctic. Nature, 394(6692): 469-472.

 

Nelson F.E., Shiklomanov, N.I., Mueller G.R., Hinkel K.M., Walker D.A., and J.G. Bockheim.1997 Estimating active-layer thickness over a large region: Kuparuk River basin, Alaska, USA. Arctic and Alpine Research, 29(4): 167-378.

DATA

 

Site Photos

List of available data

Data Access

 

Additional Climate data are also available at http://www.uaf.edu/water/projects/NorthSlope/coastal_plain/betty/betty.html