CALM SITE Nenena
Site Code	U57
Site Name	ALN-NEN
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.	N64.55446
Location Long.	W149.08339
Elevation avg. (m)	111
Methods Grid	50
Methods Other	Soil moisture, soil temp., air temp
Landscape Description	Tussock flat open marshy area
Vegetation/Classification	Alders/willow, tall grasses, sparse black spruce, woody plants
Soils (or Material)	Thick gray clay for majority of soil, organic root mat of dark soil at top
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)	~ 13cm black organic mat ~ 55cm gray clay

DESCRIPTION OF AREA CONTAINING SITE:

Nenana Alaska is located at mile 305 of the Parks Highway. This historic community /

Athabascan Native Village is 56 miles from Fairbanks and 75 miles north of Denali

National Park. The ALN grid site is located off 9th street on the South side of the gravel

road. The area is open and marshy on the South side with sparse trees, the North side

of the road is treed to the road. Medium to large tussock cover the open area with

alders, willows, woody plants and tall grasses. Many of the vegetation appeared dead.

The 50mx50m grid, established in 2010, is marked with survey stakes along the North

and South sides in 5-meter intervals. The grid center contains continuous soil

temperature & soil moisture sensors at above permafrost & just below surface levels.

The NW corner of the grid is marked w/ two crossed stakes (N64.55, W149.08). An air

temperature sensor is installed on a small evergreen tree near grid center, the micro

station is located on the West side of the tree w/ the air sensor. All sensors collect and

store data on a 30-minute continuous cycle. The grid was established in 2010 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 predominantly characterized by a thick gray clay. The top portion of the soil

is a dark organic root mat.

SAMPLING DESIGN AND METHOD:

The Nenana 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 and recorded on a fieldsheet. 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 1.3m were noted, but not used in calculations, as of 2009.

[CALM protocol suggests a grid size of 100mx100m, however a 50m 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 ~30cm hole was dug down

to the permafrost layer at 68cm. 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 68cm and 9cm (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 111m, recorded at grid center.

REFERENCES: