THE SEASONAL SNOW COVER OF ARCTIC ALASKA.
The snow cover of Arctic Alaska includes two distinct types which are separated by the Brooks Range. On the Arctic Slope the snow has a wind-swept, continuous surface which resembles that of the Greenland or Antarctic Ice Sheets. The snow of Interior Alaska, between the Brooks and Alaska Ranges, lie...
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| Format: | Text |
| Language: | English |
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1969
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| Online Access: | http://www.dtic.mil/docs/citations/AD0690547 http://oai.dtic.mil/oai/oai?&verb=getRecord&metadataPrefix=html&identifier=AD0690547 |
| Summary: | The snow cover of Arctic Alaska includes two distinct types which are separated by the Brooks Range. On the Arctic Slope the snow has a wind-swept, continuous surface which resembles that of the Greenland or Antarctic Ice Sheets. The snow of Interior Alaska, between the Brooks and Alaska Ranges, lies in heavily forested land with patches of smooth continuous snow cover occurring on lakes and swamps and on hilltops above timberline. It is possible to differentiate between Arctic and Pacific source areas for snow deposited on the Arctic Slope. The heavy isotopes of hydrogen and oxygen are more abundant in precipitation from the Pacific. The electrical conductance of melt waters derived from Pacific snowfall is also higher than that from Arctic storms. More investigations are needed, but present information suggests that Arctic sources make up nearly half of the precipitation on the Arctic Slope. This is an important factor in considerations on the origin and maintenance of the Pleistocene North American Ice Sheet. (Author) Prepared in cooperation with Alaska Univ., College. Dept. of Geology. |
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