UDPG is involved in climatological field studies in northern Alaska and the Appalachian highlands. In Alaska, we have a network of close to 100 sites monitoring air and ground surface temperatures. This work has led to a series of papers on "n-factors" in natural landscapes (Klene 2000; Klene et al. 2001,2002). The n-factor (ratio between degree-day sums at the ground surface and the air at standard screen height) is a useful climatalogical index with applications in geocryology, engineering, and ecology. Soil moisture and temperature in the active layer and shallow permafrost are monitored continuously at several of the sites. Much of this work is done in support of the active-layer studies described above. UDPG personnel also play a primary role in the Barrow Heat Island Study, an intensive network of 60+ temperature sensors installed over a 60-km2 area centered on the city of Barrow. In collaboration with Dr. R. E. Paetzold (U.S. Natural Resources Conservation Service) we are performing energy-balance and soil climate investigations in representative land cover units of the Kuuparuk basin. We have published several papers on microclimates in northern Alaska, and are contributing to a project that will provide a classification of soil climates in Alaska. UDPG maintains a network of 20 stations monitoring air and soil temperature at high elevation in the Appalachian Mountains, extending from Maine to North Carolina (Walegur, 2001).