Extent Changes in the Perennial Snowfields of Gates of the Arctic National Park and Preserve, Alaska
Perennial snowfields in Gates of the Arctic National Park and Preserve (GAAR) in the central Brooks Range of Alaska are a critical component of the cryosphere. They serve as habitat for an array of wildlife, including caribou, a species that is crucial as a food and cultural resource for rural subsi...
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Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.3390/hydrology6020053 |
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ftmdpi:oai:mdpi.com:/2306-5338/6/2/53/ 2023-08-20T04:04:05+02:00 Extent Changes in the Perennial Snowfields of Gates of the Arctic National Park and Preserve, Alaska Molly E. Tedesche Erin D. Trochim Steven R. Fassnacht Gabriel J. Wolken agris 2019-06-17 application/pdf https://doi.org/10.3390/hydrology6020053 EN eng Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute https://dx.doi.org/10.3390/hydrology6020053 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Hydrology; Volume 6; Issue 2; Pages: 53 snow hydrology remote sensing perennial snowfields Brooks Range Landsat supervised classification climate change Arctic alpine hydrology Google Earth Engine Text 2019 ftmdpi https://doi.org/10.3390/hydrology6020053 2023-07-31T22:21:54Z Perennial snowfields in Gates of the Arctic National Park and Preserve (GAAR) in the central Brooks Range of Alaska are a critical component of the cryosphere. They serve as habitat for an array of wildlife, including caribou, a species that is crucial as a food and cultural resource for rural subsistence hunters and Native Alaskans. Snowfields also influence hydrology, vegetation, permafrost, and have the potential to preserve valuable archaeological artifacts. By deriving time series maps using cloud computing and supervised classification of Landsat satellite imagery, we calculated areas and evaluated extent changes. We also derived changes in elevations of the perennial snowfields that remained stable for at least four years. For the study period of 1985 to 2017, we found that total areas of perennial snowfields in GAAR are decreasing, with most of the notable changes in the latter half of the study period. Equilibrium areas, or bright areas, of the snowfields are shrinking, while ablation, or dark areas, are growing. We also found that the snowfields occur at higher elevations over time. Climate change may be altering the distribution, elevation, and extent of perennial snowfields in GAAR, which could affect caribou populations and subsistence lifestyles in rural Alaska. Text Arctic Brooks Range Climate change permafrost Alaska MDPI Open Access Publishing Arctic Hydrology 6 2 53 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
MDPI Open Access Publishing |
op_collection_id |
ftmdpi |
language |
English |
topic |
snow hydrology remote sensing perennial snowfields Brooks Range Landsat supervised classification climate change Arctic alpine hydrology Google Earth Engine |
spellingShingle |
snow hydrology remote sensing perennial snowfields Brooks Range Landsat supervised classification climate change Arctic alpine hydrology Google Earth Engine Molly E. Tedesche Erin D. Trochim Steven R. Fassnacht Gabriel J. Wolken Extent Changes in the Perennial Snowfields of Gates of the Arctic National Park and Preserve, Alaska |
topic_facet |
snow hydrology remote sensing perennial snowfields Brooks Range Landsat supervised classification climate change Arctic alpine hydrology Google Earth Engine |
description |
Perennial snowfields in Gates of the Arctic National Park and Preserve (GAAR) in the central Brooks Range of Alaska are a critical component of the cryosphere. They serve as habitat for an array of wildlife, including caribou, a species that is crucial as a food and cultural resource for rural subsistence hunters and Native Alaskans. Snowfields also influence hydrology, vegetation, permafrost, and have the potential to preserve valuable archaeological artifacts. By deriving time series maps using cloud computing and supervised classification of Landsat satellite imagery, we calculated areas and evaluated extent changes. We also derived changes in elevations of the perennial snowfields that remained stable for at least four years. For the study period of 1985 to 2017, we found that total areas of perennial snowfields in GAAR are decreasing, with most of the notable changes in the latter half of the study period. Equilibrium areas, or bright areas, of the snowfields are shrinking, while ablation, or dark areas, are growing. We also found that the snowfields occur at higher elevations over time. Climate change may be altering the distribution, elevation, and extent of perennial snowfields in GAAR, which could affect caribou populations and subsistence lifestyles in rural Alaska. |
format |
Text |
author |
Molly E. Tedesche Erin D. Trochim Steven R. Fassnacht Gabriel J. Wolken |
author_facet |
Molly E. Tedesche Erin D. Trochim Steven R. Fassnacht Gabriel J. Wolken |
author_sort |
Molly E. Tedesche |
title |
Extent Changes in the Perennial Snowfields of Gates of the Arctic National Park and Preserve, Alaska |
title_short |
Extent Changes in the Perennial Snowfields of Gates of the Arctic National Park and Preserve, Alaska |
title_full |
Extent Changes in the Perennial Snowfields of Gates of the Arctic National Park and Preserve, Alaska |
title_fullStr |
Extent Changes in the Perennial Snowfields of Gates of the Arctic National Park and Preserve, Alaska |
title_full_unstemmed |
Extent Changes in the Perennial Snowfields of Gates of the Arctic National Park and Preserve, Alaska |
title_sort |
extent changes in the perennial snowfields of gates of the arctic national park and preserve, alaska |
publisher |
Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute |
publishDate |
2019 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.3390/hydrology6020053 |
op_coverage |
agris |
geographic |
Arctic |
geographic_facet |
Arctic |
genre |
Arctic Brooks Range Climate change permafrost Alaska |
genre_facet |
Arctic Brooks Range Climate change permafrost Alaska |
op_source |
Hydrology; Volume 6; Issue 2; Pages: 53 |
op_relation |
https://dx.doi.org/10.3390/hydrology6020053 |
op_rights |
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.3390/hydrology6020053 |
container_title |
Hydrology |
container_volume |
6 |
container_issue |
2 |
container_start_page |
53 |
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1774714499128885248 |