Alaska Permafrost Soils Inventory and Thermokarst Monitoring Database 2024 Update

This database contains data on site, soil stratigraphy, soil physical and chemical properties, Carbon-14 (C14) and stable isotope, and vegetation composition and structure acquired from permafrost soil surveys and thermokarst monitoring sites. The data are from projects that we have conducted, as well as data compiled from numerous other project and reports, that have emphasized the study of the intermediate layer of upper permafrost and the dynamic responses of permafrost to environmental conditions. This 2024 update includes data from our recent National Science Foundation (NSF)-funded project on the upper permafrost. The Access Database has 11 main data tables (tbl_) for site (environmental), soil stratigraphy, soil physical data, soil chemical data, water Oxygen-18 (O18), soil radiocarbon dates, vegetation cover, vegetation structure, study areas, personnel, and project data sources. The Site data includes information of location, observers, geomorphology, topography, hydrology, soil summary characteristics, pH and electrical conductivity (EC), soil classification, and vegetation cover by species. Soil stratigrapy has information on soil texture and ground ice. Soil physical and chemical data includes lab data on bulk density, moisture, carbon, and nitrogen. The database has 42 reference tables (REF_) that have codes and descriptions for variables used in site, soil stratigraphy, and vegetation cover tables. Query tables (qry_) are used to link data tables and reference tables to display data with names instead of codes. In addition to the permafrost soils information, the Site data includes topographic survey control and other monitoring information for repeat monitoring of thermokarst study areas. Some sites have repeat sampling so there can be more than one record per site. As of end of 2024, there were 3412 records in the Site table, including 2728 sites with soils data and 1208 with permafrost data (some sites have multiple records from repeat sampling). This database is a work in progress, is incomplete, and has not undergone complete and universal quality checks, so user should do additional review before using.