Alaskan Air, Ground, Snow, and Soil Temperatures, 1998-2001

Summary

This data set contains air and ground temperature measurements collected from three different regions, each with multiple sites. The regions sampled are North Slope, Council, and Ivotuk.

Measurements were taken as part of the Land-Atmosphere-Ice Interactions - Arctic Transitions in the Land-Atmosphere System (LAII-ATLAS) program. The research project was funded by the Arctic System Sciences (ARCSS) Program, grant numbers OPP-9721347, OPP-9870635, and OPP-9732126.

Data are available for ordering through NCAR.

Citing These Data:

Romanovsky, V.E., editor. 2003. Alaskan Air and Ground Temperatures, 1998-2001. Boulder, CO: National Center for Atmospheric Research, ARCSS Data Archive.

Overview Table

Table of Contents

1. Contacts and Acknowledgments:

Investigator(s) Name and Title:

2. Detailed Data Description:

Format:

Data are available as tab-delimited text files.

File Naming Convention:

Each file is named according to region, site, and date of collection. For example,

• "ivotuk_moss_9800.txt" contains data from the Ivotuk region, Moss site, collected from 1998-2000.
• "council_c4tundra_9901.txt" contains data from the Council region, C4 Tundra site, collected from 1999-2001.

File Size:

File sizes range from 37 KB to 341 KB.

Spatial Coverage:

Data were collected from 14 sites located within three different regions in Alaska. The collection sites were within the following geographic coordinates:

Southernmost Latitude: 64.842º N
Northernmost Latitude: 70.374º N
Westernmost Longitude: 164.736º W
Easternmost Longitude: 148.465º W

Temporal Coverage:

Data were collected from 1998-05-01 to 2001-10-31.

Temporal Resolution:

Data were collected every 10 minutes and averaged daily (from midnight to midnight).

Parameter or Variable:

Parameter Description:

The parameters measured were air temperature, ground temperature, snow temperature, and soil moisture.

North Slope

Data are from six sites in the North Slope of Alaska: West Dock, Deadhorse, Franklin Bluffs, Galbraith Lake, Chandalar Shelf, and Toolik Lake. Coordinates and a short description of the sites are included at the beginning of each data file.

Each file is tab-delimited text with a 13-line header if opened in a spreadsheet software program (43-line header if opened as a text file):

Column A (ST_TIME) contains Standard Time of measurement in code, in format YYYYMMDD.

Column B-D (YEAR, DAY, DATE) contains ALASKAN SUMMER TIME (year, day of year and date in format MM/DD/YY)

Other columns contain temperatures (in degrees C) or soil moisture (volumetric water content in fractions by volume (cm3/cm3)). Please note that the depths or heights at which temperatures were measured are listed in the second row of the header for that column. For example, column F in file nslope_westdock_9701.txt displays as follows:

Temperature
-0.17 m

This indicates that air/snow temperatures in column F were measured at -0.17 m.

WARNING: Fields that contain 999 indicate invalid data; fields that contain -999 indicate missing data.

Data collection at this site was funded by the Office of Polar Programs grant number OPP-9721347 and OPP-9870635.

The following tables include detailed information for each of the North Slope stations.

Instrumentation for file nslope_westdock_9701.txt (please refer to the data file):

Column E: Air temperature at 1.6 m above ground surface.
Columns F to H: Air/snow temperatures at different elevations above the ground surface.
Column I: Temperature of the ground surface.
Columns J to Q: Soil temperatures at different depths (depths are shown in line 13).
Columns R to S: Soil temperatures at different depths (additional measurements; depths are shown in line 13).
Columns T to V: Soil moisture (volumetric water content; depths are shown in line 13).

Instrumentation for file nslope_deadhorse_9701.txt (please refer to the data file):

Column E: Air temperature at 1.6 meters above ground surface.
Columns F: Additional temperature measurement (height is shown in line 13 if viewing file in spreadsheet format).
Column G: Temperature of the ground surface.
Columns from H to Q: Soil temperatures at different depths (depths are shown in line 13 if viewing file in spreadsheet format).
Columns R to S: Soil temperatures at different depths (additional measurements; depths are shown in line 13 if viewing file in spreadsheet format).
Columns T to V: Soil moisture (volumetric water content; depths are shown in line 13 if viewing file in spreadsheet format).

Instrumentation for file nslope_franklin_9701.txt (please refer to the data file):

Column E: Air temperature at 1.6 meters above ground surface.
Columns F: Additional temperature measurement (height is shown in line 13).
Column G: Temperature of the ground surface.
Columns from H to Q: Soil temperatures at different depths (depths are shown in line 13).
Columns R to S: Soil temperatures at different depths (additional measurements; depths are shown in line 13).
Columns T to V: Soil moisture (volumetric water content; depths are shown in line 13).

Instrumentation for file nslope_galbraith_9701.txt (please refer to the data file):

Column E (AIR): Air temperature at 1.6 meters above ground surface.
Columns F: Additional temperature measurement (height is shown in line 13).
Column G: Temperature of the ground surface.
Columns from H to Q: Soil temperatures at different depths (depths are shown in line 13).
Columns R to S: Soil temperatures at different depths (additional measurements; depths are shown in line 13).
Columns T to V: Soil moisture (volumetric water content; depths are shown in line 13).

Instrumentation for file nslope_chandalar_9701.txt (please refer to the data file):

Column E (AIR): Air temperature at 1.6 meters above ground surface.
Columns F to G (-0.11 m, -0.04 m): Air/snow temperature
Columns from H (0 m): - Temperature of ground surface.
Columns I to Q (0.04 m, 0.12 m, 0.19 m, 0.27 m, 0.34 m, 0.42 m, 0.57 m, 0.72 m, 0.88 m): Soil temperatures at different depths

Instrumentation for file nslope_toolik_9899.txt (please refer to the data file):

Column E (AIR): Air temperature at 1.6 m above ground surface.
Columns F to H: Air/snow temperature (height is shown in line 13).
Columns I to S: Soil temperatures at different depths (depths are shown in line 13).

Ivotuk

Data are from four sites on Ivotuk: Moist Acidic Tundra (MAT), Moist Non-Acidic Tundra (MNT), Shrub, and Moss. Coordinates and a short description of the sites are included at the beginning of each data file.

Each file is tab-delimited text with a 10-line header if opened in a spreadsheet software program (28-line header if opened as a text file):
Column A contains Standard Time (ST_TIME) of measurement in code, in format YYYYMMDD.
Column B-D contains ALASKAN SUMMER TIME (year, day of year, and date in format MM/DD/YY).
Other columns contain temperatures (in degrees C) or soil moisture (volumetric water content in fractions by volume (cm3/cm3)).

WARNING: Fields that contain 999 indicate invalid data; fields that contain -999 indicate missing data.

All data were measured every five minutes and averaged daily (from midnight to midnight).

Data collection at this site was funded by the Office of Polar Programs grant number OPP-9732126.

The following tables include detailed information for each of the Ivotuk stations.

Instrumentation for files ivotuk_mat_9800.txt and ivotuk_mat_0001.txt (please refer to the data files):

Column E: Air temperature at approximately 1.6 meters above ground surface
Column F: Ground surface (interface between the ground and the atmosphere) temperature (1 cm below the surface)
Columns G to L: Air/snow temperatures at different elevations above the ground surface (elevations are shown in line 11)
Columns M to Q: Soil temperatures at different depths (depths are shown in line 11) Please, ignore column R
Columns S to V: Soil moisture (volumetric water content) at 0.15 m, 0.25 m, 0.45 m and 0.65 m depths.

Instrumentation for files ivotuk_mnt_9800.txt and ivotuk_mnt_0001.txt (please refer to the data files):

Column E: Air temperature at approximately 1.6 meters above ground surface
Column F: Ground surface (interface between the ground and the atmosphere) temperature (1 cm below the surface)
Columns G to K: Air/snow temperatures at different elevations above the ground surface (elevations are shown in line 11)
Columns L to S: Soil temperatures at different depths (depths are shown in line 11) Please, ignore column R
Columns T to V: Soil moisture (volumetric water content) at 0.11 m, 0.26 m, 0.43 m depths.

Note: in file ivotuk_mnt_0001.txt, values for 20000713 in columns E-S are interpolated values.

Instrumentation for files ivotuk_moss_9800.txt and ivotuk_moss_0001.txt (please refer to the data files):

Column E: Air temperature at approximately 1.6 meters above ground surface
Column F: Ground surface (interface between the ground and the atmosphere) temperature (1 cm below the surface)
Columns G to L: Air/snow temperatures at different elevations above the ground surface (elevations are shown in line 11)
Columns M to S: Soil temperatures at different depths (depths are shown in line 11)
Column R: Please ignore this colume.
Columns T to V: Soil moisture (volumetric water content) at 0.16 m, 0.28 m, 0.39 m depths.

Instrumentation for files ivotuk_shrub_9899.txt, ivotuk_shrub_9900.txt, and ivotuk_shrub_0001.txt (please refer to the data files):

Column E: Air temperature at approximately 1.6 meters above ground surface
Column F: Ground surface (interface between the ground and the atmosphere) temperature (1 cm below the surface)
Columns G to K (from G to J for ivotuk_shrub_9899.txt): Air/snow temperatures at different elevations above the ground surface (elevations are shown in line 11, line 10 in file ivotuk_shrub_9900.txt)
Columns L to Q (from K to Q for ivotuk_shrub_9899.txt): Soil temperatures at different depths (depths are shown in line 11, line 10 in file ivotuk_shrub_9900.txt) Please, ignore column R
Columns S to U: Soil moisture (volumetric water content) at 0.1 m, 0.21 m, 0.38 m depths.

Council

Data are from four sites on Council (Seward Peninsula): Forest, Woodland, Shrub and Tundra. Coordinates and a short description of the sites are included at the beginning of each data file.

Each file is tab-delimited text with an 11-line header:
Column A contains Standard Time (ST_TIME) of measurement in code, in format YYYYMMDD.
Column B-D contains ALASKAN SUMMER TIME (year, day of year, and date in format MM/DD/YY).
Other columns contain temperatures (in degrees C) or soil moisture (volumetric water content in fractions by volume (cm3/cm3)).

WARNING: Fields that contain 999 indicate invalid data; fields that contain -999 indicate missing data.

Data collection at this site was funded by the Office of Polar Programs grant number OPP-9732126.

The following tables include detailed information for each of the Council stations.

Instrumentation for file council_c1shrub_9901.txt (please refer to the data file):

Column E: Air temperature at 1.6 meters above ground surface.
Column F: Temperature of the ground surface.
Columns G to Q: Soil temperatures at different depths (depths are shown in line 11).
Column R: Please ignore this column. Columns S to T: Soil temperatures at different depths (additional measurements; depths are shown in line 11).
Columns U to W: Soil moisture (volumetric water content; depths are shown in line 11).

Note: Data for 07/19/00-07/18/01 were lost.

Instrumentation for file council_c2forest_9901.txt (please refer to the data file):

Column E: Air temperature at 1.6 meters above ground surface.
Column F: Temperature of the ground surface.
Columns G to Q: Soil temperatures at different depths (depths are shown in line 11).
Column R: Please ignore this column. Columns S to T: Soil temperatures at different depths (additional measurements; depths are shown in line 11).
Columns U to W: Soil moisture (volumetric water content; depths are shown in line 11).

Instrumentation for file council_c3wood_9901.txt (please refer to the data file):

Column E: Air temperature at 1.6 meters above ground surface.
Column F: Temperature of the ground surface.
Columns G to K: Soil temperatures above different depths (depths are shown in line 11).
Columns L to Q: Soil temperatures at different depths (depths are shown in line 11).
Column R: Please ignore this column. Columns S to T: Soil temperatures at different depths (additional measurements; depths are shown in line 12).
Columns U to W: Soil moisture (volumetric water content; depths are shown in line 11).

Instrumentation for file council_c4tundra_9901.txt (please refer to the data file):

Column E: Air temperature at 1.6 meters above ground surface.
Column F: Temperature of the ground surface.
Column G: Soil temperatures above 0.03 m.
Columns H to Q: Soil temperatures at different depths (depths are shown in line 11).
Column R: Please ignore this column. Columns S to T: Soil temperatures at different depths (additional measurements; depths are shown in line 11).
Columns U to W: Soil moisture (volumetric water content; depths are shown in line 11).

Sample Data Record:

Sample Data Table:

3. Document Information:

Document Creation Date:

2003-02-04

Document Revision Date:

Document Review Date:

Document URL:

http://data.eol.ucar.edu/codiac/dss/id=106.ARCSS903