Surface Climate and SnowWeather Relationships of
the Kuparuk Basin on Alaska's Arctic Slope
PETER Q. OLSSON, LARRY D. HINZMAN, MATTHEW STURM,
GLEN E. LISTON, AND DOUGLAS L. KANE
1
INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND
The Arctic Slope of Alaska is generally defined as that portion of Alaska
north of the crest of the Brooks Range. This region, with an area over 230,000
km2, is one of the least-understood climatic regions of the United States and is
certainly the most sparsely populated. At the same time, it is estimated that more
than 30% of the nation's domestic petroleum is produced there. Economic devel-
opment and the concomitant concern over its potential environmental impact
have been the impetus for much of the geophysical research that has been con-
ducted on the Arctic Slope to date. Along with renewed political and economic
interest in petroleum exploration of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge
(ANWR) in the eastern part of the Arctic Slope comes a heightened concern for
the integrity of the fragile ecosystem of this region in the face of a significant
anthropogenic disturbance.
High-latitude climates are thought to be particularly sensitive and variable.
Recent studies in this area (Kattenburg et al. 1996, Oechel et al. 2000, Sturm et
al. 2001) show a tight coupling between the biosphere and the physical environ-
ment, suggesting that both natural and anthropogenic changes in climate and the
planetary surface would be expected to induce responses in the biota inhabiting
the region. A more complete understanding of the current Arctic Slope climate is
necessary to quantify change as it occurs and to anticipate and potentially miti-
gate the effects induced by alterations of the geophysical environment. This
report attempts to quantify a critical subset of the full Arctic Slope climate sys-
tem as it is today--namely the climate of the cold season, which we define here
to be that period dominated by subfreezing temperatures and snow cover.
Our focus on the cold season is motivated by the following points:
The cold season lasts from September to June and is the norm for the
Arctic, occupying nearly of the annual cycle.
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