Abstract
Perennial snowfields in Gates of the Arctic National Park and Preserve (GAAR) in the central Brooks Range of Alaska are a critical component of the cryosphere. They serve as habitat for an array of wildlife, including caribou, a species that is crucial as a food and cultural resource for rural subsistence hunters and Native Alaskans. Snowfields also influence hydrology, vegetation, permafrost, and have the potential to preserve valuable archaeological artifacts. By deriving time series maps using cloud computing and supervised classification of Landsat satellite imagery, we calculated areas and evaluated extent changes. We also derived changes in elevations of the perennial snowfields that remained stable for at least four years. For the study period of 1985 to 2017, we found that total areas of perennial snowfields in GAAR are decreasing, with most of the notable changes in the latter half of the study period. Equilibrium areas, or bright areas, of the snowfields are shrinking, while ablation, or dark areas, are growing. We also found that the snowfields occur at higher elevations over time. Climate change may be altering the distribution, elevation, and extent of perennial snowfields in GAAR, which could affect caribou populations and subsistence lifestyles in rural Alaska.
Highlights
Pronounced warming of the climate is driving significant physical and ecological changes throughout the Arctic cryosphere [1,2,3,4], including both a shortening of the annual duration of seasonal snow cover [5], as well as retreat and loss of glaciers and perennial snowfields
This study focuses on perennial snowfields in Gates of the Arctic National Park and Preserve (GAAR), which is a focuses
We considered snowfields as perennial if they persisted year-round for at least four years
Summary
Pronounced warming of the climate is driving significant physical and ecological changes throughout the Arctic cryosphere [1,2,3,4], including both a shortening of the annual duration of seasonal snow cover [5], as well as retreat and loss of glaciers and perennial snowfields. Hydrology 2019, 6, 53 thick enough to flow under the influence of gravity. They are most persistent where the climatological snowline intercepts subtle terrain and plateau topography in the Arctic [6], and where preferential snow deposition occurs and topography limits exposure to solar radiation [7]. Perennial snowfields are vulnerable to climate changes because they are strongly controlled by the height of the summer freezing level in the atmosphere
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