This data release includes continuous measurements of stream temperature and specific conductance from 24 sites on the Yukon River and other arctic rivers in Alaska. Measurements were collected at selected U.S. Geological Survey stream gages and in communities along major rivers.

This dataset includes 15-minute interval data on stream temperature, stage, and discharge from low-order streams in the Yukon River Basin in interior Alaska, collected during the summer months. The depth of the water and temperature were determined using a combined pressure transducer and temperature sensor that was deployed through the summer months. Different sensors were used in each stream and year, so a file is included detailing the stage and temperature accuracy for each year and stream. Discharge was derived from the stage data by creating a rating curve relating stage to discharge measured during site visits.

CO2 and water vapor fluxes and ecosystem characteristics were measured at 24 sites along a 317-km transect from the Arctic coast to the latitudinal treeline in Alaska during the growing seasons of 1994-1996. The sites were stratified to sample the ranges of climate, physiography, soil moisture, and vegetation type within the region. Our main objective was to understand what factors control variations in CO2 and water vapor exchange across the region. We therefore developed a spatially extensive approach of documenting fluxes for 1-2 weeks at each of the sites in order to study as many sites as possible during the middle of the short arctic growing season, when plant phenology is most comparable among different vegetation types and climatic regions. This allowed us to compare, with some replication, a given vegetation type across different provinces and climatic zones, as well as multiple vegetation types within a given geographic area.

This data release includes remotely sensed lake and lake chemistry and water temperature data collected from 2011 to 2014) from a series of lakes on the Arctic Coastal Plain of Alaska. Most of the data is from two sites within the Chipp River Basin.

Data deliverables for stream surveys, 2013-2019

This data package includes 17,014 pairs of raster geotiffs. Each pair is made up of two geotiff rasters derived from historical observations from Landsat satellites (04-09) over the Yukon, Kuskokwim, and Tanana rivers in Alaska. One raster reports estimated mid-day water surface temperature (ST) in degrees Celsius (deg_Cc). The second raster reports the surface temperature quality assessment (sST_QA_c) and provides the ST product uncertainty (also in degrees). The period of observation is May through October for the years 1984-2022.

This data set includes 15-minute interval data on stream temperature, stage, and discharge from low-order streams in the Noatak and Kobuk River valleys in Northwestern Alaska, collected during the summer months. Several sites in the Agashashok River basin were monitored in 2015 and 2016, and additional sites were added in 2017. The depth of the water and temperature were determined using a combined pressure transducer and temperature sensor that was deployed through the summer months. Different sensors were used in each stream and year, so a file is included detailing the stage and temperature accuracy for each year and stream. In rare instances in the fall, stage was estimated for certain streams (e.g. NFT3) based on remote camera images of the staff plate. Discharge was derived from the stage data by creating a rating curve relating stage to discharge measured during site visits.

Meteorological data was collected from two locations in the Agashashok River Watershed, one high in the drainage located on tundra (67.5440 N, 161.6828 W) and a second on a rocky knoll near the watershed mouth (67.2821 N, 162.5841 W). The data contain information on air temperatures, rainfall, barometric pressure, relative humidity, incoming and outgoing radiation, and wind speed and direction. Data collection was discontinued due to equipment failure and substantial demolition of one station by a bear.

These data include water chemistry from springs, streams, rivers, and shallow groundwater collected in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in northern Alaska. Chemical analyses were performed for hydrochemical parameters including field parameters, major ions, nutrients, metals, stable isotopes of water, and tritium, as well as for dissolved gases useful for determining the timescale over which the water was in the subsurface (i.e. age dating tracers), including noble gases and chlorofluorocarbons.

The dataset includes field measurements and laboratory analysis of water-quality data collected by trained community technicians across the Yukon River Basin in Alaska and Canada and Yukon River Inter-Tribal Watershed Council staff and analyzed at the U.S. Geological Survey National Research Program laboratories in Boulder, CO.