Explanation to the data files submitted by V. Romanovsky. All data are from 5 sites, situated on North Slop of Alaska: West Dock, Deadhorse, Franklin Bluffs, Galbraith Lake, Chandalar Shelf. Coordinates and short description of sites are in the files headings. 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) of measurement. Other columns contain: Temperatures (in °C) or soil moisture (volumetric water content in fractions by volume (cm3/cm3)). WARNING: 999 fields mean not valid data; -999 fields mean data are absent. 1) File WD_d9701.xls : Measured every 10 min and daily averaged (from midnight to midnight) data at the site: 70°22.468'N; 148°33.13'W. Other observations: Active Layer (AL) probing on 100 m grid; ground temperature well to 56 m, T logger. Site history: (year started; changes): borehole temp. - 1983, temp. logger -1986, grid AL measurements-1996; 1997-new logger added; 1998-soil moisture sensors added. Elevation (meters): 3.0 Slope/Aspect: none. Landform: low-centered polygons, moist to wet tundra. Soil: Typic Aquahaplel. Instrumentation: Column E - Air temperature at 1.6 meters above ground surface. Columns from F to H - air/snow temperatures at different elevations above the ground surface (elevations are shown in line 13). Column I - Temperature of the ground surface. Columns from J to Q - Soil temperatures at different depths (depths are shown in line 13). Columns from 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). 2) File DH_d9701.xls: Measured every 10 min and daily averaged (from midnight to midnight) data at the site: 70°09.677'N;148°27.918'W. Observation: Active Layer probing on 100m grid; ground temperature well to 60 m, T logger Site history: (year started; changes): borehole temp. -1983, temp. logger-1986, grid AL measurements-1996; 1997-new logger added 1999-soil moisture sensors added. Elevation (meters): 17.0 Slope/Aspect: none. Landform: moist tundra. Instrumentation: Column E - Air temperature at 1.6 meters above ground surface. Column F - additional temperature measurement (depth 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 from 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). 3) File FB_d9701.xls: Measured every 10 min and daily averaged (from midnight to midnight) data at the site: 69°39.308'N;148°43.321'W Observation: Active Layer probing on 100m grid; ground temperature well to 60 m, T logger. Site history: (year started; changes): borehole temp. -1983, temp. logger - 1986, grid AL measurements-1996; 1997-new logger added; 1999-soil moisture sensors added. Elevation (meters): 88 Slope/Aspect: none Landform: low terrace, moist tundra Instrumentation: Column E - Air temperature at 1.6 meters above ground surface. Column F - Additional temperature measurement (depth 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 from 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). 4) Files GL_d9701.xls: Measured every 10 min and daily averaged (from midnight to midnight) data at the site: 68°28.66'N;149°30.10'W Observation: Active Layer probing on 100m grid; ground temperature well to 75 m, T logger Site history: (year started; changes): borehole temp. - 1985, temp. logger-1997, grid AL measurements-1996, 1999-soil moisture sensors added. Elevation (meters): 823 m Slope/Aspect: none Instrumentation: Column E - Air temperature at 1.6 meters above ground surface. Column F - Additional temperature measurement (depth is shown in line 13). Column G - Temperature of ground surface. Columns from H to Q - Soil temperatures at different depths (depths are shown in line 13). Columns from 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). 5) Files CS_d9701.xls: Measured every 10 min and daily averaged (from midnight to midnight) data at the site: 68°04.15'N;149°34.82'W Observation: Active Layer probing on 30m grid; ground temperature well to 61 m. Site history: (year started; changes): temp. logger - 1997, grid AL measurements -1996; 1998-soil moisture sensors added. Elevation (meters): 976 m Instrumentation: Column E - Air temperature at 1.6 meters above ground surface. Column from F to G - air/snow temperature (elevation is shown in line 10). Column H - Temperature of ground surface. Columns from I to Q - Soil temperatures at different depths (depths are shown in line 13). 6) Files TL_d9899.xls: Measured every 10 min and daily averaged (from midnight to midnight) data at the site: 68°37'23.2''N;149°36'36.4''W Elevation (meters): 756 m Instrumentation: Column E - Air temperature at 1.6 meters above ground surface. Column from F to H - air/snow temperature (elevation is shown in line 10). Columns from I to S - Soil temperatures at different depths (depths are shown in line 13).