INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND - continued

TR02-10
Page Navigation
6

tify several points that are considered common knowledge among Arctic inhabi-

tants yet may seem counterintuitive to persons inhabiting lower latitudes. Addi-

tionally this work can serve as a baseline against which future climatic trends

may be detected.

This is also the first study to emphasize contemporary multi-year cold season

measurements in upland as well as coastal plain locations and to include both

wind speed and direction measurements throughout the period of record.

Although not discussed here, we recognize that precipitation is also an important

aspect of the winter climate. While some precipitation measurements are avail-

able for this region, the automated devices used were not designed to accurately

measure the solid-phase precipitation occurring throughout the cold season. Con-

sistent measurements of precipitation throughout the annual cycle are especially

difficult to achieve in the Arctic environment (e.g., Black 1954, Benson 1982,

Goodison et al. 1985, Yang et al. 1999).

In the following section we describe the siting of the various stations com-

prising the tower network and the meteorological instrumentation deployed at

these sites, and we discuss issues associated with the data derived from the net-

work. Next, we present the results of the data analysis and ancillary snow cover

measurements, followed by a discussion of the results and some specific weather

issues illuminated by the climate analysis. Finally we summarize the material

presented in the context of weather/snow cover interactions and climate change

research.