Figure 1. Fort Greely and Fort Wainwright military installations

TR-01-5
Page Navigation
5

is a major user of Fort Greely and has delineated the

is 297 mm and annual snowfall averages 178 cm.

Oklahoma/Delta Creek Impact Areas as the primary

sites of military aircraft training. About 62,720 ha

Geomorphology and vegetation

(156,800 acres) or 25% of the entire base is used as an

Jorgenson et al. (2001) described and mapped the

Army artillery and Air Force impact area (Fig. 2)

geomorphology, vegetation, and ecosystems of Fort

Climate

Greely using an Ecological Land Classification ap-

proach. They mapped geomorphic units, with 22 of them

The continental climate of interior Alaska has ex-

being fluvial, 3 being eolian, 4 being glacial, and 5 be-

treme annual temperature variations and relatively low

ing organic classes. Glacial and eolian processes domi-

precipitation. Although light winds are typical over

nate, with the earlier Delta glaciation and the later

much of the interior region, Fort Greely experiences

Donelly glaciation producing the moraines and associ-

strong gusty winds, particularly from the south (Benson

ated deposits of eolian sediments (Church et al. 1965,

1972). According to U.S. Weather Bureau records

(193798), the mean annual temperature is 2.3C, with

Pw and Reger 1983). Jorgenson et al. (2001) also

extremes ranging from 51 to 38C (Nelson 1995). The

mapped five ecodistricts (Fig. 3) on the basis of physi-

ography and climate associated with topography. Moun-

mean monthly temperature is 15.6C for July and