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Spatial and Temporal Attributes of the Active-Layer Thickness Record, Barrow, Alaska, U.S.A

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Spatial and Temporal Attributes of the Active-Layer Thickness Record, Barrow, Alaska, U.S.A SPATIAL AND TEMPORAL ATTRIBUTES OF THE ACTIVE-LAYER THICKNESS RECORD, BARROW, ALASKA, U.S.A. F.E. Nelson1,4, S.I. Outcalt2, J. Brown3, N.I. Shiklomanov1, K.M. Hinkel2 1. Department of Geography, University of Delaware, Newark, DE, U.S.A. 19716 2. Department of Geography, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH, U.S.A. 45221 3. International Permafrost Association, P.O. Box 7, Woods Hole, MA, U.S.A. 02543 Abstract Active-layer thickness was measured during the periods 1962-1968 and 1991-1997 in a series of 19 plots repre- senting different landcover and terrain characteristics near Barrow, Alaska. Mean values in the 1960Õs were gen- erally higher than in the 1990Õs. Climate Matrix Analysis (CMA) reveals strong internal consistency in the active-layer data. Plotted for the entire record, considerable scatter exists in the relation between active-layer thickness and the square root of the thawing index. Partitioning of the data into interdecadal segments, howev- er, reveals very strong relations between these variables. This discrepancy may be an artifact of interannual or interdecadal variations in soil moisture, ice content in the uppermost permafrost, ground cover characteristics, and/or nonconductive heat-transfer processes. The Barrow active-layer record illustrates the value of systemat- ic, long-term observations of thaw depth, currently being performed under the Circumpolar Active Layer Monitoring (CALM) program. Introduction and terrain characteristics near Barrow (Brown and Johnson, 1965; Brown, 1969). That programme ended in Barrow, Alaska (71¡ 18Õ N, 156¡ 47Õ W) has been a cen- 1968 and measurements at the CRREL plots were made ter of permafrost-related research since the inception of in only the first year of the 1970-74 IBP Tundra Biome the Naval Arctic Research Laboratory in the late 1940Õs project at Barrow (Brown et al., 1980). At the conclusion (e.g., Brewer, 1958; Drew et al., 1958; Lachenbruch, of the 1960s observations, it was assumed that they con- 1959; Kelley and Weaver, 1969). Situated at the conflu- tained the minimum and maximum mean thaw depth ence of the Beaufort and Chukchi Seas, the absence of for the period of climate record at Barrow (1921 to pre- erect shrubs at mesic sites in the Barrow Peninsula indi- sent). However, resumption of the observation pro- cates its proximity to the southern boundary of the gramme in the 1990Õs refuted this supposition. Annual High Arctic Tundra subzone. Wet sedge meadows cover observations at the CRREL sites were resumed in 1991 a landscape dominated by ice-wedge polygons and as part of the Arctic Systems Science/Land- revegetated, oriented thaw lake basins of varying age Atmosphere-Ice Interactions (ARCSS/LAII) program, (Britton, 1957; Carson and Hussey, 1962; Brown, 1967). supported by the U.S. National Science Foundation. Mean annual temperature is -12.6¡C and measured pre- The area in which measurements are made is part of the cipitation averages 12.4 cm/yr. A steep climatic gradi- recently established Barrow Environmental ent exists near the coast (Clebsch and Shanks, 1968). Observatory (BEO), an area set aside and protected for Extrapolation of borehole temperatures indicates that research by the Ukpeagvik Inupiat Corporation (inset, permafrost thickness in the area exceeds 400 m Figure 1). The observations reported here are a contri- (Lachenbruch et al., 1988). A recent study by bution to the Circumpolar Active Layer Monitoring Waelbroeck et al. (1997) used geocryological and eco- (CALM) program, a coordinated effort operated on a logical data from Barrow to model relations between voluntary basis by permafrost researchers at some 70 active-layer thickness and carbon dynamics over time. locations in ten countries (Brown, 1997). The set of stan- dardised monitoring procedures employed at many of In 1962, the U.S. ArmyÕs Cold Regions Research and these sites is detailed in the ITEX (International Tundra Engineering Laboratory (CRREL) initiated a research Experiment) Manual (Nelson et al., 1996). programme that included sampling thaw depth at a series of plots chosen as representative of landcover F.E. Nelson, et al. 797 Figure 1. Map of research area near Barrow. Labeled dots indicate locations of the 20 CRREL experimental plots. Numbers correspond to those shown in Table 1. Crosses mark locations of nodes on the 1*1 km ARCSS grid (Nelson et al.,1998). Boundary of the Barrow Environmental Observatory is shown on inset. Coordinates in corners of map area show position (feet) within the Alaska Coordinate System (Zone 6). Numbers along bottom and left side are eastings and nor- things (metres), respectively, in the Universal Transverse Mercator system, Zone 4. From Hinkel et al. (1996). Sampling design summer observations. Data summaries for 1962-68 and 1991-97 are available on the IPAÕs Circumpolar Active- Beginning in 1962, the thickness of the active layer layer Permafrost System (CAPS) compact disc, com- was determined in the CRREL plots, which are distri- piled and distributed by the National Snow and Ice buted along a transect between Central Marsh and Data Center in Boulder, Colorado. The combined end- Elson Lagoon (Figure 1). The sampling design was dis- of-season average value for all of the CRREL plots is in cussed in detail by Brown and Johnson (1965). Each close agreement with the average value for 121 sam- 10 x 10 m plot was marked with a permanent stake, and pling points on the 1 km2 ARCSS/LAII grid at Barrow, 36 sampling points were delimited with a series of sec- which partially overlaps the CRREL transect (Figure 1; ondary markers. Measurements were made with a Nelson et al., 1998). 1.0 cm diameter steel rod pushed into the soil to the point of refusal. Comparison of paired observations Analysis obtained by this method with thermal determinations made at nearby (~10 cm away) points indicate no sig- Haugen et al. (1983) employed data from a sparse and nificant differences in this vicinity (Nelson, irregularly distributed climate observation network to unpublished data). estimate temperatures in a remote region of northern Alaska. The technique used in that study, Climate To minimise disturbance to the plots, measurements Matrix Analysis (CMA), is easily adapted to problems were initially made at weekly intervals near the outer- involving active-layer thickness. A matrix consisting of most 20 points, with end-of-season determinations data elements with temporal (climatic time series) and also made near the interior 16 markers. Observations geographic (location) coordinates is constructed, and were made at small staggered distances from the mar- operations are performed for either or both of two pur- kers to avoid a cumulative impact at the sampling loca- poses: (1) to produce estimates of missing elements in tions. Although measurements were made at weekly the matrix; and (2) to assess the degree of the internal intervals during several years in both decades, the consistency of data values in the matrix with respect to record for most years contains only a single set of late- the set of spatial/temporal coordinates. Because 798 The 7th International Permafrost Conference Table 1. Average active-layer thickness (cm) at 19 CRREL plots in 13 years. Temporal vector C and geographic vector G, given by equations (1) and (2), form right-hand and bottom-most column and row respectively active-layer data from the CRREL plots were not col- The ÒunexplainedÓ variance Vu resulting from the lected for 20 consecutive years (1971-1990), only the CMA, expressed in per cent, is defined as second CMA function is pursued in this study, and esti- mation of values for missing cells was not attempted. [4] VRXu =()var / var· 100 In the present analysis, the ÒclimateÓ matrix X (Table 1) consists of an m x n array of (late summer) active- The ÒexplainedÓ variance Ve , given by layer thickness observations xi,j , where i is a temporal index for the m = 13 years covered in the data set, and j VV=-100 [5] is a ÒgeographicÓ index referencing the n = 19 plots cu included in the study. Stated alternatively, xi,j repre- sents the mean value of active-layer thickness in year provides a goodness-of-fit type index indicating the i at CRREL plot j. degree of consistency in the spatial/temporal array. Values of Ve close to unity indicate a high level of An m-element Òtemporal vectorÓ C, with elements ci covariation between the elements of X, and that indi- defined by vidual xi,j can be predicted accurately from others. This result has important implications for efficient sampling. n [1] If V is reasonably large (e.g., ³80%), missing elements cXn= / e iijå , can be replaced by their estimated values (c + g ); this j =1 i j is the approach used by Haugen et al. (1983). Climate is depicted in the right-hand column of Table 1. An n- Matrix Analysis can also be used as a check on the element Ògeographic vectorÓ G, with elements g internal consistency of complete matrices. Large resi- j dual elements may indicate measurement or transcrip- obtained by tion errors, or a physical effect such as station reloca- tion. Large values (>20%) of V indicate that the m [2] u gXcm/ method is not suitable for a particular data set. This jiji=-å(), ij= situation can arise through application of the technique to climatically heterogeneous data sets, such as those appears as the lowermost row in Table 1. arising in complex terrain. To assess the internal consistency (degree of Discussion spatial/temporal covariation) in X, the elements ri,j of a residual matrix R are defined as For the Barrow data, CMA yields Ve = 90.8%, indica- ting a high degree of internal consistency in the data [3] matrix. Large residuals arise in most years for Plots 16 rXij,,=-+ ij() cg i j and 19 because these locations occupy a small drainage line in which soil moisture conditions are variable.
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