Field Studies
The UDel permafrost group conducts much of its fieldwork in northern Alaska. Most of this work is done in collaboration with Dr. Ken Hinkel of the University of Cincinnati. Focus is on the thermal regime and heat-transfer processes operating in the active layer and shallow permafrost, as well as the climate of north-central Alaska. Geomorphic investigations in Alaska include the spatial variability of frost heave and thaw subsidence and topographically induced variations in soil climate. We also work with Dr. Jim Bockheim on the soils of northern Alaska.
UDPG operates a climate network incorporating several hundred data loggers on the coastal plain in and around Prudhoe Bay, in the Brooks Range foothills, and in the Barrow and Atqasuk areas. Much of this network is devoted to recording temperature at the ground surface and at standard screen height in representative land-cover categories in or near the Kuparuk River basin. A recent addition to the network is a collaborative undertaking with Ken Hinkel employing a series of 60 loggers in the vicinity of Barrow to study the heat-island effect at Barrow.
In collaboration with Dr. Ron Paetzold, we also maintain a series of Campbell data loggers reading temperatures and soil moisture in the active layer and shallow permafrost at Happy Valley, Betty Pingo, the Sagwon Uplands, Barrow, Atqasuk, and West Dock. The latter site has more complex instrumentation aimed at investigating the variability of the surface energy budget and shallow ground thermal regime.
At least once each summer the UDPG group measures the thickness of the active layer at representative sites on the North Slope. Measurements are made at the 1 km2 ARCSS/CALM grids (Nelson et al. 1998; Hinkel and Nelson in press) and at the 1 ha Flux Study plots (Nelson et al. 1997; Klene et al. 2001), as well as the Barrow CRREL sites (Brown 1969; Nelson et al. 1998).
Under the direction of Mike Walegur, UDPG operates a network of 20 climate stations at high elevation in the Appalachian Mountains. Each station records temperature at standard screen height, at the ground surface, and at 25 cm in the soil. The network extends from Maine to North Carolina, and has been in operation since 1996. We have also undertaken field studies of relict periglacial blockfields and colluvial deposits in the Appalachian region (Walegur et al. 2000, Millar and Nelson 2001) and on the coastal plain of Delaware (Lemcke 2001).
UDPG operates a climate network incorporating several hundred data loggers on the coastal plain in and around Prudhoe Bay, in the Brooks Range foothills, and in the Barrow and Atqasuk areas. Much of this network is devoted to recording temperature at the ground surface and at standard screen height in representative land-cover categories in or near the Kuparuk River basin. A recent addition to the network is a collaborative undertaking with Ken Hinkel employing a series of 60 loggers in the vicinity of Barrow to study the heat-island effect at Barrow.
In collaboration with Dr. Ron Paetzold, we also maintain a series of Campbell data loggers reading temperatures and soil moisture in the active layer and shallow permafrost at Happy Valley, Betty Pingo, the Sagwon Uplands, Barrow, Atqasuk, and West Dock. The latter site has more complex instrumentation aimed at investigating the variability of the surface energy budget and shallow ground thermal regime.
At least once each summer the UDPG group measures the thickness of the active layer at representative sites on the North Slope. Measurements are made at the 1 km2 ARCSS/CALM grids (Nelson et al. 1998; Hinkel and Nelson in press) and at the 1 ha Flux Study plots (Nelson et al. 1997; Klene et al. 2001), as well as the Barrow CRREL sites (Brown 1969; Nelson et al. 1998).
Under the direction of Mike Walegur, UDPG operates a network of 20 climate stations at high elevation in the Appalachian Mountains. Each station records temperature at standard screen height, at the ground surface, and at 25 cm in the soil. The network extends from Maine to North Carolina, and has been in operation since 1996. We have also undertaken field studies of relict periglacial blockfields and colluvial deposits in the Appalachian region (Walegur et al. 2000, Millar and Nelson 2001) and on the coastal plain of Delaware (Lemcke 2001).
