Mass Fluxes through Small River Systems on the Alaskan North Slope in Response to Spatial and Temporal Thermodynamic Variations

Abstract:

During the 2019 summer, a joint Service Academy research team in collaboration with Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory (CRREL) Fairbanks conducted the first of three field campaigns to examine the evolution of heat and material fluxes through small river and stream systems on the Alaskan North Slope. This study investigates the spatial and temporal evolution of heat transport through the Sagavanirktok and Kuparuk watersheds as contributing mountain and transitional tundra streams interact with the atmospheric, cryospheric, and terrestrial heat balances. To accomplish these objectives, thermistors where deployed in small-to-large scale systems and spatially separated by study area micro-climates (mountains, tundra, coastal) to best capture spatial heterogeneities, temporal fluctuations, and fluxes of heat between the mountain and ocean end-members. Heat transport results were then combined with observations of particle size distribution, total suspended solids, and freshwater discharge to correlate fluvial thermal erosion with hydrologic events. These collection efforts from the Brooks Range to the Arctic Ocean provide an initial look at the scale of influence small river watersheds have on the North Slope surface heat budget as well as characterize seasonal mass transport through deepening permafrost systems.