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In Arctic landscapes, watershed processes are tightly linked to cold temperatures, permafrost, snow, and strong seasonality in precipitation, storage, and runoff. Thus, a rapidly changing Arctic climate will affect watershed function and result in changes to the transport of water, sediment, and nutrients to downstream aquatic and marine ecosystems. There is increasing evidence of hydrologic intensification of the Arctic terrestrial water cycle, fueling inquiry into the hydrologic responses that integrate the varying climate and landscape units. Key to understanding these complex watershed processes is long-term hydrologic monitoring in Arctic Alaska. The goal of this study is to operate and maintain hydroclimate observation stations in the Kuparuk River basin to obtain continuous datasets for the community of Arctic stakeholders. Imnavait Creek is a small (2.2 square kilometers) watershed located in the northern foothills region of Brooks Range and the headwaters of the Kuparuk River. The Kuparuk River flows north through the foothills and coastal plain of Alaska, before discharging into the Beaufort Sea. The gauging station at Imnavait Creek is approximately 3 kilometers south of the Dalton Highway, near MP (milepost) 291. Imnavait Creek parallels the Upper Kuparuk River and enters the Kuparuk River 12 kilometers north of the Water and Environmental Research Center (WERC) Upper Kuparuk gauging station. Streamflow at Imnavait Creek persists throughout the summer months, but during the winter months flow is non-existent. Streamflow in Imnavait Creek has been measured by researchers at the University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF) WERC from 1985 to 2023. This data package contains continuous streamflow data collected by researchers from University of Alaska Fairbanks from 2018-2023. For UAF-WERC historical discharge data for Imnavait Creek (1985-2017) see the data package at https://arcticdata.io/catalog/view/doi%3A10.18739%2FA2K649S9D.more » « less
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The data files in this data set contain climate information from sites on the North Slope of Alaska in or near the Kuparuk River basin. The data was collected for a hydrologic study of rivers in the North Slope region between 1985-present. Hydro-meteorological stations were established at various locations throughout the Kuparuk, but also in the Putuligayuk and Sagavanirktok watersheds. The variables collected at most stations were air temperature, humidity, wind speed and direction, soil temperature, snow temperature, precipitation, snow depth, and radiation. In the Imnavait Creek watershed (headwaters of the Kuparuk River), the Imnavait B site (IB) meteorological station operated from 1986 to present. This data package contains meteorological data from the Imnavait B site (IB) station and snow depth from the nearby station in the valley bottom (Imnavait Creek weir [IH]) collected from 2017 to 2023. Variables in this data package include air temperature, relative humidity, wind speed and direction, rainfall, and radiation at the Imnavait B site (IB) (2018-2023) and winter snow depth at Imnavait Weir (IH) (2017-2023). IMPORTANT NOTE: This dataset contains Imnavait B site (IB) meteorological data for 2018-2023. Updates and corrections to Imnavait B site (IB) (and others) were made in 2021 to the original datasets by the investigators, and all of the previously published data files (prior to 2008) should be replaced with the updated dataset (1985-2018) available at https://arcticdata.io/catalog/view/doi%3A10.18739%2FA2TQ5RF72. The following corrections were made to the datasets originally published in 2008 and 2010 (for data collected 1985-2008): 1) data from annual .csv files were merged into one .csv file (for each station) containing all years of data, 2) appended new data collected from 2008 to 2018 into the .csv file 3) standardized file headers, 4) standardized variable names, units, and sensor installation height above ground surface 5) reviewed all data for quality assurance and added qualifiers to erroneous data, 6) added a data qualifier to wind data during periods of extensive riming on wind sensors, 7) added a qualifier when air temperatures are below -39 degrees Celsius (C) (minimum reporting temperature of some air temperature sensors), and 8) removed duplicative data and fixed timestamp issues. See https://arcticdata.io/catalog/view/urn%3Auuid%3Ad5fa4cfa-b84b-4970-926a-8dd10b418e6d for additional climate data from other nearby stations in our studies.more » « less
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Abstract. The quantity and quality of river discharge in Arctic regions is influenced by many processes including climate, watershed attributes and, increasingly, hydrological cycle intensification and permafrost thaw. We used a hydrological model to quantify baseline conditions and investigate the changing character of hydrological elements for Arctic watersheds between Utqiagvik (formerly known as Barrow)) and just west of Mackenzie River over the period 1981–2010. A synthesis of measurements and model simulations shows that the region exports 31.9 km3 yr−1 of freshwater via river discharge, with 55.5 % (17.7 km3 yr−1) coming collectively from the Colville, Kuparuk, and Sagavanirktok rivers. The simulations point to significant (p<0.05) increases (134 %–212 % of average) in cold season discharge (CSD) for several large North Slope rivers including the Colville and Kuparuk, and for the region as a whole. A significant increase in the proportion of subsurface runoff to total runoff is noted for the region and for 24 of the 42 study basins, with the change most prevalent across the northern foothills of the Brooks Range. Relatively large increases in simulated active-layer thickness (ALT) suggest a physical connection between warming climate, permafrost degradation, and increasing subsurface flow to streams and rivers. A decline in terrestrial water storage (TWS) is attributed to losses in soil ice that outweigh gains in soil liquid water storage. Over the 30-year period, the timing of peak spring (freshet) discharge shifts earlier by 4.5 d, though the time trend is only marginally (p=0.1) significant. These changing characteristics of Arctic rivers have important implications for water, carbon, and nutrient cycling in coastal environments.more » « less