| Summary: | About half of the Arctic Coastal Plain of Alaska is covered with lakes and drained lake basins, making these features the dominant landscape elements and a crucial component of the Arctic system. Using in situ measurements, field surveys, and remote sensing/GIS technologies, this project provides raw data and processed images that will help fill information gaps and facilitate knowledge sharing. The four scientific goals of this project are to: (1) Expand on existing lake monitoring sites in northern Alaska by developing a network of regionally representative lakes along environmental gradients from which we will collect baseline data to assess current physical, chemical, and biological lake characteristics; (2) Implement a multiscale (hierarchical) lake instrumentation scheme such that basic data is collected from 69 lakes, while a subset of lakes are more intensively instrumented; (3) Provide regional scaling and extrapolation of key metrics through calibration and validation of airborne and satellite imagery with ground measurements; and (4) Develop and implement standardized protocols to enable inter-site comparison and to prepare for expansion towards a pan-Arctic network. Four years of field campaigns (2012-2015) are planned in support of this project, during which several transects of lakes across the Alaskan Coastal Plain will be sampled and instrumented.
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