The ground temperature variability across the arctic landscape depends on the air temperature, snow cover, moisture content, vegetation, terrain, soil properties, and related environmental…

This federal contract award from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to the University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF) is for a project titled "THE GROUND TEMPERATURE VARIABILITY ACROSS THE ARCTIC LANDSCAPE." The purpose is to enhance understanding of permafrost conditions and variability across Alaska and northern Canada by deploying ground temperature profilers to supplement existing data loggers. This will help address the challenge of predicting subsurface temperature dynamics and identify "hot spots" of change that could contribute to thaw and carbon emissions. The $166,073 grant does not have a set-aside designation, reflecting UAF's status as a public university. UAF has a long history of conducting Arctic and climate research, as well as supporting various federal agencies through contracts and grants. This project leverages UAF's specialized facilities and expertise in this domain.

The ground temperature variability across the arctic landscape depends on the air temperature, snow cover, moisture content, vegetation, terrain, soil properties, and related environmental variables. A juxtaposition of all these factors results in a highly heterogeneous distribution of the ground temperature, active layer thickness and permafrost conditions. As a result, prediction of subsurface temperature dynamics remains challenging, and mean temperatures for a study region may not account for "hot spots" of change, which alone could significantly contribute to thaw and associated carbon emissions. A solution is to sample (record) temperature regimes within different ecotypes, temperature and precipitation conditions, and build a portfolio of subsurface thermal regimes across various ground conditions. The proposed ground temperature profilers will supplement the existing data loggers and provide means to sample the ground temperature regime in currently underrepresented ecotypes and increase our knowledge of permafrost variability across alaska and northern canada.