Form Approved
REPORT DOCUMENTATION PAGE
OMB No. 0704-0188
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OMB control number. PLEASE DO NOT RETURN YOUR FORM TO THE ABOVE ADDRESS.
1. REPORT DATE (DD-MM-YY)
2. REPORT TYPE
3. DATES COVERED (From - To)
August 2002
Technical Report
4. TITLE AND SUBTITLE
5a. CONTRACT NUMBER
5b. GRANT NUMBER
Surface Climate and SnowWeather Relationships
of the Kuparuk Basin on Alaska's Arctic Slope
5c. PROGRAM ELEMENT NUMBER
6. AUTHOR(S)
5d. PROJECT NUMBER
5e. TASK NUMBER
Peter Q. Olsson, Larry D. Hinzman, Matthew Sturm,
Glen E. Liston, and Douglas L. Kane
5f. WORK UNIT NUMBER
7. PERFORMING ORGANIZATION NAME(S) AND ADDRESS(ES)
8. PERFORMING ORGANIZATION REPORT
NUMBER
U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center
Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory
72 Lyme Road
ERDC/CRREL TR-02-10
Hanover, NH 03755-1290
9. SPONSORING/MONITORING AGENCY NAME(S) AND ADDRESS(ES)
10. SPONSOR / MONITOR'S ACRONYM(S)
National Science Foundation
11. SPONSOR / MONITOR'S REPORT
Washington, DC
NUMBER(S)
12. DISTRIBUTION / AVAILABILITY STATEMENT
Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited.
Available from NTIS, Springfield, Virginia 22161.
13. SUPPLEMENTARY NOTES
14. ABSTRACT
This report summarizes temperature, wind, and snow-cover data for the Kuparuk River Basin in Arctic Alaska spanning the five-year period
of 19941998. Comparison of results from five meteorological towers is presented to illustrate both the differences and similarities of the
regional climate and weather along a 200-km transect. A picture emerges of the Arctic Slope as a region dominated by subfreezing tempera-
tures for most of the annual cycle. The five sites showed a good deal of similarity in both seasonal variation and meteorological forcing on
a time scale of a few days. While the Kuparuk Basin is typified by almost constant moderate winds, winds greater than 10 m s1 are fairly
rare. The observed patterns of temperature and wind have important ramifications for the winter snow cover of the Kuparuk Basin, explain-
ing why the snow cover forms first in the foothills and last near the coast. The surprisingly low wind speeds across the network in October
and November help to explain the presence of thick but low-density layers observed in the basal snowpack. A pronounced warming event
occurring each November capped this early snow with a melt crust or wind slab or both, protecting it from subsequent wind erosion.
15. SUBJECT TERMS
Arctic meteorology
Snow cover
Thaw
Climate
Snowweather relationships
16. SECURITY CLASSIFICATION OF:
17. LIMITATION OF
18. NUMBER
19a. NAME OF RESPONSIBLE PERSON
OF ABSTRACT
OF PAGES
a. REPORT
b. ABSTRACT
c. THIS PAGE
19b. TELEPHONE NUMBER (include area code)
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49
Standard Form 298 (Rev. 8-98)
Prescribed by ANSI Std. 239.18
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