| Summary: | This data report contains methods and data from transects, permanent vegetation plots, and permafrost boreholes sampled in summer-fall 2015 at the Airport Site at Prudhoe Bay, Alaska, for the National Science Foundation (NSF)-funded project, "Cumulative effects of Arctic oil development—planning and designing for sustainability," with additional funding from National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)'s Land-Cover and Land-Use Change (LCLUC) Program. The study site consists of three transects located near the Deadhorse Airport. This builds on data collected in 2014 at a site near Lake Colleen. A forthcoming data report will contain additional data from both sites collected from fall 2015 to summer 2016. The main objectives of the 2014 field program were to document the extent and effects of road dust and road-related flooding to the topography, landforms, permafrost, soils and vegetation near the Spine Road—the oldest, most heavily traveled road in the Prudhoe Bay region. A full description of the project goals, methods, data and conclusions from the 2014 field season is in Alaska Geobotany Center Data Report AGC 15-01 (Walker et al., 2015). Objectives of the 2015 field program were similar to those in 2014, except the focus of the study was three new transects established near the Deadhorse Airport and the northern terminus of the Dalton Highway at Milepost 414. This site offers some contrasts to Colleen Site A, including extensive dry thermokarst terrain with well-developed high-centered polygons along Transect 3, located southeast of the Dalton High‐way between the road and the Sagavanirktok River, and terrain in a heavily disturbed area northwest of the road where Transect 4 was established, that is mostly continuously flooded due to drainage being blocked by the road berm. Transect 5 was established to provide better options for permafrost coring on the west side of the road, since deep flooding and gravel deposits from previous flood events prevented coring on Transect 4. Transect 5 also provides an approximate local analog of the conditions that existed prior to road construction. Data were collected on all three transects during 1-10 August and 16-23 September 2015. Another coring site, Sagavanirktok River Site 1 (SR-1), was established south of the Airport Site along the Sagavanirktok River, where local destruction of the highway caused by flooding from the Sagavanirktok River in spring 2015 created a major disturbance (Shur et al., 2016). More info: http://www.geobotany.uaf.edu/arcsees/
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