Some Characteristics of the Climate in Forest and Tundra Regions in Alaska

• Published in: ARCTIC
• Main Author: Hopkins, David M.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: The Arctic Institute of North America 1959
• Subjects: Caribou; Snow; Tundra ecology; Winter ecology; Arctic; Tundra; Alaska
• Online Access: https://journalhosting.ucalgary.ca/index.php/arctic/article/view/66776

Discusses, as basis for paleoclimatic reconstruction, the relationship of climate to three major vegetation types: coastal Sitka spruce - hemlock forest, interior white spruce - birch forest, and tundra. These types are also represented in late Cenozoic fossil plant assemblages found in western Alaska. The vegetation types reflect annual temperature differences shown in data from 78 weather stations: forest stations record more than 130 days above 50 F, tundra stations less; interior forest stations have at least one month with a mean temperature below 10 F but most coastal stations remain above 15 F. Assuming that the fossil plants had the same climatic requirements as their living representatives, past periods of warm summers and mild winters are suggested from the fossil remains of coastal Sitka spruce - hemlock, warm summers and severe winters from those of the interior white spruce - birch forest, and cold summers with either mild or severe winters from the tundra vegetation remains.