Robert Stottlemyer 14181 North County Road, 25E Loveland, Colorado 80538 970.223.1628 rstottle@earthlink.net
The tree line Asik watershed (800-ha) and approximately 1200 ha of conterminous lands are located in the Tundra Climate Domain. Site coordinates are lat 67° 58’, long 162° 15’ (see ESRI file for corner coordinates). This RFI is for a core wildland site, and addresses both Grand Challenge questions.
The NEON Tundra Climate Domain incorporates four Alaskan ecoregions: the Arctic Coastal Plain, Arctic Foothills, the Brooks Range, and a northern portion of Interior Forested Lowlands and Uplands. The Asik watershed is situated at the intersection of three of the ecoregions: Arctic Foothills, the Brooks Range, and the Interior Forested Lowlands and Uplands which in total make up 86% of the area in the NEON Tundra Climate Domain. The Asik landscape includes expanses of poorly drained treeless plains with thaw ponds, rolling hills and plateaus grading from the coastal plain to the Baird Mountains on the south, to the north the uplifted sedimentary rock of the Brooks Range, and a combination of arctic and continental climate with spruce and hardwood forests on which is superimposed a complex of vegetation communities the result of the interaction of permafrost, surface water, fire, topographic elevation and aspect.
In 1990 we began continuous monitoring and study of the legally protected tree line gaged Asik watershed and conterminous land which is located 95 km northeast of Kotzebue, Alaska, in the Noatak National Preserve (NNP). The NNP is one of few National Park units where research is a mandated primary purpose. Our research focuses on climate change, biogeochemistry, carbon and nitrogen cycling, tree line shifts, and state factors. Site publications are listed. The Asik watershed is one of few longer-term study sites located at the taiga-tundra tree line. Average annual precipitation is 220 mm, summer temperature 9.8o C, and winter temperature -17° C. The estimated meteorological averages (there are few stations!) among the four ecoregions are 205 mm precipitation, winter temperature -22° C, and summer temperature 10° C. The bedrock is sedimentary and metamorphic rock. About 5-7% of the watershed consists of talus slopes. Much of the Noatak River drainage was not glaciated during the last ice age. The dominant soils are gravelly, hilly to steep Pergelic Cryaquepts - Pergelic Cryorthents, and consist of poorly drained to well-drained soils most with discontinuous permafrost.
The watershed has topographic and vegetation gradients associated with change in snowpack and soil active layer. Upper elevation portions of the lower one-third and most of the middle half of the Asik watershed are dominated by white spruce (Picea glauca). The understory of the taiga-tundra transition zone and tundra flats in and conterminous the lower one-third of the watershed is dominated by tussocks of Eriophorum vaginatum (proposed experimental areas). The upper 20% of the watershed area is dominated by transitional shrubs as birch on north and south aspects, and scattered alder (Alnus crispa) on more northern aspects with mesic non-tussock tundra at the highest elevations. The stream riparian zone is dominated by willow. There are also extensive areas of tussock tundra, mesic tundra, transitional shrub zones, and spruce forest conterminous or within the immediate vicinity of the Asik watershed (see www.treelineresearch.org for photos). The research camp and landing strip (25 minutes from Kotzebue) are located within the braided Agashashok River plain and terraces. The terraces also have been the site of several studies including an ongoing NSF-sponsored study of water sources for spruce.
Winter access is by aircraft or snowmobile. A summer camp on-site provides for laboratory and living space. The National Park Service and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service provide laboratory, living, and storage space in Kotzebue. Detailed sample analysis is conducted at our Bioanalysis Laboratory, Ft. Collins, Colorado State University, Michigan Technological University, and University of California-Davis.