Subsidence Measurements at the Teller 27 Field Site, Seward Peninsula, Alaska, 2021

Dataset · Mon Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 2024

DOI:https://doi.org/10.15485/2367554· OSTI ID:2367554

Dillard, Shannon ^[1]; Bennett, Katrina ^[2]

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1. Los Alamos National Laboratory; Los Alamos National Laboratory
2. Los Alamos National Laboratory

In September 2021, differential GPS (dGPS) points were collected in areas of visual subsidence in the Teller watershed near mile marker 27 of the Bob Blodgett Nome-Teller Memorial Highway on the Seward Peninsula of Alaska. This study aimed to understand how structural permafrost loss is affecting meter-scale ground elevation. As ice thaws, heaving and slumping of the landscape creates new microtopographical features on the landscape that may alter surface hydrology and soil moisture and thus plant community composition and biogeochemical cycling. The Teller 27 field site is underlain with discontinuous permafrost, so the landscape features a variety of permafrost features. We collected ground elevations from eight subsidence areas in two forms: 1) Transects were sampled laterally through areas of ground subsidence to capture the high edges and low spots where the earth slumped. 2) The circumference of the subsidence area was sampled in order to measure the ground area affected by subsidence. These data were collected with an Emlid Reach RS2 dGPS and a base station. This dataset includes one *.csv of dGPS locations of the eight subsidence locations and one *.kml of measurement locations.The Next-Generation Ecosystem Experiments: Arctic (NGEE Arctic) was a 15-year research effort (2012-2027) 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).

• Research Organization: Environmental System Science Data Infrastructure for a Virtual Ecosystem; Next-Generation Ecosystem Experiments (NGEE) Arctic
• Sponsoring Organization: U.S. DOE > Office of Science > Biological and Environmental Research (BER)
• OSTI ID: 2367554
• Report Number(s): NGA536; LA-UR-24-24807
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
EARTH SCIENCE > CLIMATE INDICATORS > TERRESTRIAL HYDROSPHERE INDICATORS > PERMAFROST MELT
EARTH SCIENCE > LAND SURFACE > SOILS
EARTH SCIENCE > LAND SURFACE > TOPOGRAPHY > TERRAIN ELEVATION
ESS-DIVE CSV File Formatting Guidelines Reporting Format
ESS-DIVE File Level Metadata Reporting Format