Spatial and interannual patterns of winter N-factors near

• Main Authors: Kenneth M. Hinkel, Anna E. Klene, Frederick E. Nelson
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: press 2008
• Subjects: Alaska; air temperature; n-factor; permafrost; snow cover; urbanization; Barrow
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.578.6479; http://www.cas.umt.edu/geography/documents/Hinkel_et_al_NICOP_2008.pdf

A 150-km2 area near Barrow, Alaska, was monitored at hourly intervals between 2001 and 2005 using ~70 data loggers recording air and near-surface soil temperature as part of the Barrow Urban Heat Island Study. Data records for the winter period were used to calculate site-specific n-factors, the ratio between seasonally cumulated degree days at the ground surface to those at standard screen height at corresponding locations. Winter n-factors have similar magnitudes between sites and across years, with typical averages of 0.65-0.70. However, n-factor magnitudes are generally lower and their spatial variability much higher near the urbanized area, owing to heterogeneous snow accumulation and the effects of drifting snow.