Seasonal Water Table Depth (WTD) from the Mobile Instrumented System Platform (MISP) and the Circumpolar Active Layer Monitoring (CALM) grids in Barrow and Atqasuk, Alaska 2020

• Main Author: A. Vargas, Sergio
• Format: Dataset
• Language: English
• Published: NSF Arctic Data Center 2020
• Subjects: EARTH SCIENCE > LAND SURFACE > SOILS > SOIL MOISTURE/WATER CONTENT; TRANSECT; 30 METERS TO 100 METERS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS > PROBES > PROBES; FIELD SURVEY; MONTHLY TO ANNUAL; environment; Arctic; Active layer monitoring; Barrow; Tundra; Alaska
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.18739/a26m3347s; https://arcticdata.io/catalog/view/doi:10.18739/A26M3347S

Seasonal water table depth measurements were collected during 2020 growing seasons at each Mobile Instrumented System Platform (MISP) located at Utqiaġvik (formerly Barrow), Alaska as well as in Atqasuk, Alaska. If a uniform representation of the water table within each plot was visible, then a WTD tube was placed there to measure the change in water table throughout the season. One water table depth measurement was acquired, the date, start and end times, and the people present were also recorded, at alternating grid meters. Water table depth was taken on the north side of the grid at each WTD tube in order to reduce disturbance of vegetation. These measurements are part of the Arctic Observing Network (AON) - International Tundra Experiment (ITEX) initiative and help to document seasonal changes in surface moisture and structure at high spatial scales. Special note on COVID-19 impact: 2020 summer field work was restricted due to COVID-19. Travel was halted prompting field work to be coordinated remotely. Field observations were limited and those that occurred were spread across multiple days and had missing data points that reduce their utility. Despite 3 of 7 complete scheduled datasets, we consider the basic field observations a success because we received at least one complete set of field observations from each site.