The Barrow Urban Heat Island Study: Mapping active-layer thickness in an urbanized environment
Collaborators:Anna Klene, Fritz Nelson and Nickolay Shiklomanov - University of Delaware - Newark, DE.
Ken Hinkel - University of Cincinnati - Cincinnati, OH.
Jim Bockheim - University of Wisconsin - Madison, WI.
Changes in the Arctic climate, whether from local or from global effects, may have profound impacts on hydrology, soil stability, and infrastructure, including roads, buildings, and water, gas, or oil pipelines. These changes will be manifested in large part through permafrost, which can influence virtually all physical, chemical, and biological processes occurring in the soil.
The "Barrow Urban Heat Island Study" (BUHIS) is an ongoing project being conducted by colleagues at the University of Cincinnati and the University of Delaware in northern Alaska that examines the effects of urbanization on air and soil temperatures in and around Barrow (population 4500), the largest native settlement in the circumarctic region and the northernmost urban area in the United States. Initiated in summer 2001, BUHIS is recording temperature and thaw depth at more than 60 locations throughout the central business district, the developing suburbs, and surrounding undisturbed tundra.
The MSU AEL is collaborating with one aspect of the study examining the active layer and anthropogenic influences on its thickness. Summer air and soil temperature data, together with digital vegetation and soil maps, are used as input to a modified Stefan solution to map depth of thaw over an area of 60 square kilometers that includes both the village of Barrow and the surrounding tundra.
Maps representing end-of-summer conditions for 2001 and 2002 provide the first spatial/temporal representation of active-layer variability within an urbanized area. As urban development increases in Arctic regions, information about changes accompanying industrial development and urbanization will become more vital, particularly given the possibility of a warming climate. Data from MSU AEL are being used to validate models developed by this project.