Observations in ice-rich permafrost systems, Prudhoe Bay Alaska, 2020-21 (AGC Data Report 22-01)

The NNA Track 1 project Landscape evolution and adapting to change in ice-rich permafrost systems (NNA-IRPS) is investigating how climate change and infrastructure affect ice-rich permafrost systems (IRPS); the roles ecosystems play in the development and degradation of IRP; and how people and infrastructure can adapt to changes in IRPS. NNA-IRPS research at the Prudhoe Bay Oilfield (PBO), Alaska, is focused on (1) how differences in vegetation, soils, water, and time influence the accumulation and degradation of ground ice in IRP landscapes; and (2) how the loss of ground ice can radically change these landscapes, their components, and the infrastructure built on them. This data report covers data and preliminary analysis from the 2020 and 2021 field seasons at Prudhoe Bay research sites including overviews of the tasks, field team, schedule, and logistics for each year, followed by summaries of research methods and results by team members: (1) remote sensing activities (Daanen and Jones); (2) observations along research transects (Walker et al.); (3) observations from terrestrial vegetation plots (Walker and Breen); (4) thermokarst-pond vegetation and environments (Watson-Cook); (5) trace-gas fluxes (Kade); (6) basal peat dating (Bergstedt), (7) permafrost borehole temperature stations (Nicolsky and Romanovsky); and (8) permafrost cryostructure (Kanevskiy and Shur). Data tables are grouped into seven appendices in this PDF volume and area also archived as separate datasets for each field season in the Arctic Data Center.