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Abstract. Studies in recent decades have shown strong evidence of physical and biological changes in the Arctic tundra, largely in response to rapid rates of warming. Given the important implications of these changes for ecosystem services, hydrology, surface energy balance, carbon budgets, and climate feedbacks, research on the trends and patterns of these changes is becoming increasingly important and can help better constrain estimates of local, regional, and global impacts as well as inform mitigation and adaptation strategies. Despite this great need, scientific understanding of tundra ecology and change remains limited, largely due to the inaccessibility of this region and less intensive studies compared to other terrestrial biomes. A synthesis of existing datasets from past field studies can make field data more accessible and open up possibilities for collaborative research as well as for investigating and informing future studies. Here, we synthesize field datasets of vegetation and active-layer properties from the Alaskan tundra, one of the most well-studied tundra regions. Given the potentially increasing intensive fire regimes in the tundra, fire history and severity attributes have been added to data points where available. The resulting database is a resource that future investigators can employ to analyze spatial and temporal patterns in soil, vegetation, and fire disturbance-related environmental variables across the Alaskan tundra. This database, titled the Synthesized Alaskan Tundra Field Database (SATFiD), can be accessed at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory Distributed Active Archive Center (ORNL DAAC) for Biogeochemical Dynamics (Chen et al., 2023: https://doi.org/10.3334/ORNLDAAC/2177). 

The Toolik Field Station (TFS) plant phenology program monitors the timing of specific phenological developmental stages of plant species commonly found in the dry heath tundra plant community. The TFS phenology program began in response to TFS research community requests to collect baseline environmental data that would be broadly applicable and provide context to research projects conducted near TFS. The TFS plant phenology data collection protocol is based on the International Tundra Experiment (ITEX) (www.geog.ubc.ca/itex) protocol for the Toolik Snowfence Experiment. This dry heath tundra dataset began in 2011 and continues through 2023. 

The Toolik Field Station (TFS) plant phenology program monitors the timing of specific phenological developmental stages of plant species commonly found in the moist acidic tundra plant community. The TFS phenology program began in response to TFS research community requests to collect baseline environmental data that would be broadly applicable and provide context to research projects conducted near TFS. The TFS plant phenology data collection protocol is based on the International Tundra Experiment (ITEX, www.geog.ubc.ca/itex) protocol for the Toolik Snowfence Experiment. This moist acidic tundra dataset began in 2007 and continues through 2023. 

Environmental impact assessments for new Arctic infrastructure do not adequately consider the likely long-term cumulative effects of climate change and infrastructure to landforms and vegetation in areas with ice-rich permafrost, due in part to lack of long-term environmental studies that monitor changes after the infrastructure is built. This case study examines long-term (1949–2020) climate- and road-related changes in a network of ice-wedge polygons, Prudhoe Bay Oilfield, Alaska. We studied four trajectories of change along a heavily traveled road and a relatively remote site. During 20 years prior to the oilfield development, the climate and landscapes changed very little. During 50 years after development, climate-related changes included increased numbers of thermokarst ponds, changes to ice-wedge-polygon morphology, snow distribution, thaw depths, dominant vegetation types, and shrub abundance. Road dust strongly affected plant-community structure and composition, particularly small forbs, mosses, and lichens. Flooding increased permafrost degradation, polygon center-trough elevation contrasts, and vegetation productivity. It was not possible to isolate infrastructure impacts from climate impacts, but the combined datasets provide unique insights into the rate and extent of ecological disturbances associated with infrastructure-affected landscapes under decades of climate warming. We conclude with recommendations for future cumulative impact assessments in areas with ice-rich permafrost.