Surface Climate and SnowWeather Relationships of the Kuparuk Basin
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SITE DESCRIPTIONS
Starting in 1985 on Alaska's Arctic Slope, meteorological stations at various
research sites were located in a roughly southnorth transect along the Dalton
Highway (Fig. 1). All of the sites are within or near the Kuparuk River basin.
The southernmost site (IMN) was established in the foothills of the Philip
Smith Mountains near the headwaters of Imnavait Creek (latitude 6837'N, lon-
gitude 14918'W, 940 m elevation). Upstream of the gaging site, this watershed
165 km south of Prudhoe Bay and 15 km north of the Brooks Range. Instrumen-
tation for collecting meteorologic, hydrologic, and soil data was installed in
1984, and data collection began in the spring of 1985. The mineral soils in this
area are cold, wet, poorly drained silt loams with a high organic content and
include many glacial erratics of various sizes. The mineral soils are covered by a
peaty layer and are classified as Histic Pergelic Cryaquepts (Rieger et al. 1979).
The vegetation is mostly water-tolerant plants such as tussock sedges and
mosses, but there are also lichens and shrubs such as willows, alders, and dwarf
birches. More complete descriptions of tundra vegetation have been published
(Brown and Berg 1980, Walker et al. 1989). The area was glaciated during the
Pleistocene and is underlain by continuous permafrost. The maximum depth of
the active layer averaged 53 cm between 1992 and 1999 (Brown and Hinkel
2000).
In 1986, two additional meteorological sites were established north of the
Imnavait Creek site. For access reasons, both sites were located along the Dalton
Highway, just outside the Kuparuk River watershed boundary. One site (SAG)
was established on a hilltop near the Sagwon Bluffs (latitude 6925'N, longitude
14842'W) approximately 100 km south of Prudhoe Bay. This site is located in a
transitional zone between the coastal plain and the foothills at an elevation of 300
m. The vegetation is also characteristic of tussock tundra, and the soils are loamy
with a peaty surface layer and are poorly drained (Everett 1980). Instrumentation
for measuring soil temperatures and meteorologic conditions was installed near
the top of a 10% north-facing slope. The depth of thaw above permafrost is typi-
cally about 50 cm.
Also in 1986 a meteorological research area (FRA) near Franklin Bluffs
(latitude 6954'N, longitude 14846'W) was established on the coastal plain 50
km south of Prudhoe Bay. This site is located in the relatively flat area of the
Sagavanirktok River floodplain at an elevation of 80 m. The vegetation consists
of a continuous cover of grasses and sedges rooted in mosses and lichens
(Komarkova and Webber 1980). The soils are poorly drained and generally do
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