Subsurface soil monitoring stations are located across each of the four NGEE Arctic, Utqiagvik (Barrow), Alaska, intensive study Areas: (A) low-centered polygons with well-defined troughs, (B) high-centered polygons, (C) flat-centered or transitional polygons, and (D) inundated low-centered polygons with no troughs. Two data products are being generated - both with high temporal (hourly) and spatial resolution (within polygon and with depth): (1) soil profile temperature measurements and (2) active layer and permafrost temperature and moisture measurements from instrumented soil pits. This data package currently contains seventy-nine .csv files, one .xlsx, and one .pdf. Data from September 2012 through August 2022 are available as annual files. Additional data will be added annually after quality checks have been completed. These data are being collected to better understand the thermal dynamics of the active layer and permafrost. Together this information serves as calibration and evaluation data for fine-scale simulations of polygons.
NGEE Arctic Project Summary
The Next-Generation Ecosystem Experiments: Arctic (NGEE Arctic), was a research effort to reduce uncertainty in Earth System Models by developing a predictive understanding of carbon-rich Arctic ecosystems and feedbacks to climate. NGEE Arctic was supported by the Department of Energy’s Office of Biological and Environmental Research.
The NGEE Arctic project had two field research sites: 1) located within the Arctic polygonal tundra coastal region on the Barrow Environmental Observatory (BEO) and the North Slope near Utqiagvik (Barrow), Alaska and 2) multiple areas on the discontinuous permafrost region of the Seward Peninsula north of Nome, Alaska.
Through observations, experiments, and synthesis with existing datasets, NGEE Arctic provided an enhanced knowledge base for multi-scale modeling and contributed to improved process representation at global pan-Arctic scales within the Department of Energy’s Earth system Model (the Energy Exascale Earth System Model, or E3SM), and specifically within the E3SM Land Model component (ELM).
