CALM SITE Arctic Village
Site Code	U55
Site Name	Arctic Village
CAPS 1 Metadata form
CAPS 2 Metadata form
Site Photograph	DATA
Responsible for data submission	Edda Mutter
Email Address	emutter@yritwc.org
Institution/Organization	YRITWC
Location Description	Alaska Subarctic
Location Lat.	N68.13013
Location Long.	W145.54066
Elevation avg. (m)	628
Methods Grid	50
Methods Other	Soil moisture, soil temp., air temp
Landscape Description	flat floodlands near the river, but is mostly wooded hills
Vegetation/Classification	Tall grasses, alders, some black spruce
Soils (or Material)	Gray/brown silty clay, organic black, decomposing vegitation
Thaw depth measurements (year started)	2010
Air temp. measurements (year started)	2010
Snow Cover measurements (year started)	N/A
Soil temp. measurements (start year)	2010
Soil moisture measurements (start year)	2010
General description of soil moisture	Moist-wet
Soil texture: if non organic describe texture, if organic indicate thickness of organic layer (cm)	~12cm vegetation mat ~10cm black organic ~20cm gray silty clay

DESCRIPTION OF AREA CONTAINING SITE:

Arctic Village is located on the east fork of the Chandalar River, about 100 miles north of

Fort Yukon and 290 miles north of Fairbanks. Arctic Village is part of the Yukon-

Koyukuk Census Area. The village is in the floodlands of the river, but surrounded by

rolling hills. The 50m2 grid is located next to the river on the far end of the “old” village.

The area is open and the ground is tussock with sparse alders and tall grasses. The

NW corner of the 50mx50m grid is marked by 2 crossed stakes (by the airplane). Two

parallel lines of stakes placed every 5m are along the ____ and ___ side. The grid

center (N68.13, W145.54) contains continuous soil temperature & soil moisture sensors

at above permafrost & just below surface levels. An air temperature sensor is

installed on a tree near grid center (microstation ~5m SE of tree). All sensors collect

and store data on a 30-minute continuous cycle. The grid was established in 2010, with

assistance from the Arctic Village Council, in the second year of a cooperative

agreement with the Yukon River Inter-Tribal Watershed Council and the U.S. Geological

Survey.

SOIL DESCRIPTION:

The soil is characterized by moist dark rich organic soil. A dense clay layer runs just

above the permafrost. Small round pebbles (up to 1/2in diameter) are in the clay.

SAMPLING DESIGN AND METHOD:

The Nome Creek site was chosen to increase the range of distribution of Active Layer

Network sites.

The grid consists of 2 parallel lines of 10 survey stakes at 5-meter intervals, creating a

50mx50m square grid with a maximum of 100 data points. A compass was used to

orientate the grid to a square. Active Layer measurements were taken manually every

5m. The measurements were taken at the lowest surface level within about 0.3m of the

designated point, to minimize the questionable influence of tussocks on the AL

measurement. The "surface level" was determined to be the top of the low-lying

vegetation (i.e. moss, lichen, low-bush berries). Thaw measurements greater than 1m

were noted, but not used in calculations, as of 2009.

[CALM protocol suggests a grid size of 100mx100m, however a 50m2 grid was deemed

acceptable due to difficult terrain and length of time for installation (personal

communication Dr. V.Romanovsky).]

The soil climate station was established in early September 2010 and is located near

grid center. The station monitors air temperature, soil temperature & soil moisture.

The HOBO micro station was installed at the grid center. A ~30cm4 hole was dug down

to the permafrost layer at 58cm. One set of soil moisture and soil temperature sensors

were placed just above the permafrost layer and one set just below surface level. Soil

samples were cut from 56cm and 46cm (cubes) to be analyzed for soil moisture content.

The HOBO pro v2 temp/ext temp sensor was installed, recording air temperature, near

the grid center about one meter off the ground surface. The Hobo data logger is set to

store data on 30min intervals for up to 428 days.

GPS points were taken at the four corners of the grid, as well as the center point where

the sensors were located. Site elevation is 533m, recorded at grid center.

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