skip to main content
US FlagAn official website of the United States government
dot gov icon
Official websites use .gov
A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.
https lock icon
Secure .gov websites use HTTPS
A lock ( lock ) or https:// means you've safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

Explore Research Products in the PAR
It may take a few hours for recently added research products to appear in PAR search results.


  • NSF Public Access
  • Search Results
  • Water depth, surface elevation, and water temperature of lakes in the Fish Creek Watershed in northern Alaska, USA, 2011-2022
Title: Water depth, surface elevation, and water temperature of lakes in the Fish Creek Watershed in northern Alaska, USA, 2011-2022
This set of eleven lakes located in the Fish Creek Watershed in northern Alaska have been monitored for varying periods of time starting as early as 2011 as part of the Fish Creek Watershed Observatory (http://www.fishcreekwatershed.org/) and in coordination with several NSF supported projects. Lakes were primarily selected for long-term monitoring because of interest in water supply for industrial activities and corresponding ecosystem services along with dynamics related to climate change and variability. These data include basic lake attributes of water surface elevation and water temperature at the lake bed of interest to studies of water balance, aquatic habitat, and permafrost stability. In some cases, additional data or studies have been completed on some of these lakes which are reported separately in other datasets or scientific papers or reports.  more » « less
Award ID(s):
1806213
PAR ID:
10473690
Author(s) / Creator(s):
; ; ;
Publisher / Repository:
NSF Arctic Data Center
Date Published:
Subject(s) / Keyword(s):
Arctic Alaska lakes water level water temperature
Format(s):
Medium: X
Sponsoring Org:
National Science Foundation
More Like this
  1. ; ; ; (, Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences)
    null (Ed.)
    Stream and lake fishes are important economic and recreational resources that respond to alterations in their surrounding watersheds and serve as indicators of ecological stressors on aquatic ecosystems. Research suggests that fish species diversity is largely influenced by surface water connectivity, or the lack thereof; however, few studies consider freshwater connections and their effect on both lake and stream fish communities across broad spatial extents. We used fish data from 559 lakes and 854 streams from the midwestern–northeastern United States to examine the role of surface water connectivity on fish species richness and community composition. We found that although lakes and streams share many species, connectivity had a positive effect on species richness across lakes and streams and helped explain species composition. Taking an integrated approach that includes both lake and stream fish communities and connectivity among freshwaters helps inform scientific understanding of what drives variation in fish species diversity at broad spatial scales and can help managers who are faced with planning for state-, regional-, or national-scale monitoring and restoration. 
    more » « less
  2. ; ; ; ; ; ; ; (, Ecological Applications)
    Abstract Agricultural land use is typically associated with high stream nutrient concentrations and increased nutrient loading to lakes. For lakes, evidence for these associations mostly comes from studies on individual lakes or watersheds that relate concentrations of nitrogen (N) or phosphorus (P) to aggregate measures of agricultural land use, such as the proportion of land used for agriculture in a lake’s watershed. However, at macroscales (i.e., in hundreds to thousands of lakes across large spatial extents), there is high variability around such relationships and it is unclear whether considering more granular (or detailed) agricultural data, such as fertilizer application, planting of specific crops, or the extent of near‐stream cropping, would improve prediction and inform understanding of lake nutrient drivers. Furthermore, it is unclear whether lake N and P would have different relationships to such measures and whether these relationships would vary by region, since regional variation has been observed in prior studies using aggregate measures of agriculture. To address these knowledge gaps, we examined relationships between granular measures of agricultural activity and lake total phosphorus (TP) and total nitrogen (TN) concentrations in 928 lakes and their watersheds in the Northeastern and Midwest U.S. using a Bayesian hierarchical modeling approach. We found that both lake TN and TP concentrations were related to these measures of agriculture, especially near‐stream agriculture. The relationships between measures of agriculture and lake TN concentrations were more regionally variable than those for TP. Conversely, TP concentrations were more strongly related to lake‐specific measures like depth and watershed hydrology relative to TN. Our finding that lake TN and TP concentrations have different relationships with granular measures of agricultural activity has implications for the design of effective and efficient policy approaches to maintain and improve water quality. 
    more » « less
  3. (, NSF Arctic Data Center)
    {"Abstract":["Lakes are abundant features on coastal plains of the Arctic and most are termed "thermokarst" because they form in ice-rich permafrost and gradually expand over time. The dynamic nature of thermokarst lakes also makes them prone to catastrophic drainage and abrupt conversion to wetlands, called drained thermokarst lake basins (DTLBs). Together, thermokarst lakes and DTLBs cover up to 80% of arctic lowland regions, making understanding their response to ongoing climate change essential for coastal plain environmental assessment. Datasets presented here document water level and temperature (surface and ground) regimes for a large (38 sites) array of lake with high drainage potential and lake basin (DTLBS), which have already drained, located on differing terrain units of Alaska's Arctic Coastal Plain. Lake data was measured along deep protected shorelines using pressure transducers to record hourly water level and bed temperature. Wetland (DTLB) data was also measured with pressure transducers and ground thermistors at 25 and 100 centimeters (cm) depth. Of special interest at some DTLB sites was the potential occurrence of snow-dam outburst events during the early summer snowmelt periods. In these cases, pressure transducers were set to log at 10 minute intervals for this period. All data archived here are summarized at daily average values."]} 
    more » « less
  4. ; (, Limnology and Oceanography)
    Abstract Lake water residence time and depth are known to be strong predictors of phosphorus (P) retention. However, there is substantial variation in P retention among lakes with the same depth and residence time. One potential explanatory factor for this variation is differences in freshwater connectivity of lakes (i.e., the type and amount of freshwater connections to a lake), which can influence watershed P trapping or the particulate load fraction of P delivered to lakes via stream connections. To examine the relationship between P retention and connectivity, we quantified several different measures of connectivity including those that reflect downstream transport of material (sediment, water, and nutrients) within lake‐stream networks (lake‐stream‐based metrics) as well as those that reflect transport of material from hillslope and riparian areas adjacent to watershed stream networks (stream‐based metrics). Because it is not always clear what spatial extent is appropriate for determining functional differences in connectivity among lakes, we compared connectivity metrics at two important spatial extents: the lake subwatershed extent and the lake watershed extent. We found that variation in P retention among lakes was more strongly associated with connectivity metrics measured at the broader lake watershed extent rather than metrics measured at the finer lake subwatershed extent. Our results suggest that both connectivity between lakes and streams as well as connectivity of lakes and their terrestrial watersheds influence P retention. 
    more » « less
  5. ; ; (, Environmental Data Initiative)
    This data set is a derived data set based on fish catch and length data. Data are collected annually to enable us to track the fish assemblages of eleven primary lakes (Allequash, Big Muskellunge, Crystal, Sparkling, Trout, bog lakes 27-02 [Crystal Bog] and 12-15 [Trout Bog], Mendota, Monona, Wingra and Fish). Sampling on Lakes Monona, Wingra, and Fish started in 1995; sampling on other lakes started in 1981. Sampling is done at six littoral zone sites per lake with seine, minnow or crayfish traps, and fyke nets; a boat-mounted electrofishing system samples three littoral transects. Vertically hung gill nets are used to obtain two pelagic samples per lake from the deepest point. A trammel net samples across the thermocline at two sites per lake. In the bog lakes only fyke nets and minnow traps are deployed. Parameters measured include species-level identification and lengths for all fish caught, and scale samples and weight from a subset. Derived data sets include species richness, catch per unit effort, and size distribution by species, lake, and year. Dominant species vary from lake to lake. Perch, rockbass, and bluegill are common, with walleye, large and small mouth basses, northern pike and muskellunge as major piscivores. Cisco have been present in the pelagic waters of four lakes, and the exotic species, rainbow smelt, is present in two. The bog lakes contain mudminnows. Protocol used to generate data: The number of fish caught in each five mm length interval (0 
    more » « less
  • Citation Formats
  • MLA
  • APA
  • Chicago
  • BibTeX
  • Save / Share this Record
  • Send to Email