Ice thickness and surface elevation survey of Teshekpuk Lake in northern Alaska during late winter 2024

At 850 square kilometers (km2), freshwater Teshekpuk Lake stands out among abundant thermokarst lakes of the Arctic Coastal Plain of northern Alaska. Its size, latitude, and proximity to the Beaufort Sea coast make long (>9 months) seasonal ice-cover its dominant regime, which likely plays a role in the regions value in waterbird and caribou habitat. Despite these important characteristics related to ice regime, little scientific attention has been given to this lentic system. Extensive ice thickness and snow depth surveys conducted using ice penetrating radar and Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) imaging in April 2024 is helping us understand surface patterns across this massive lake in relation to winter wind-fetch, pressure ridges, and bathymetry. Data are organized by ground-penetrating radar transects summarized at 10-meter (m) increments of ice thickness with calibration ice thickness and snow depth measurements collected at transect endpoints. Drone (UAS) surveys with real-time kinematic elevation base-station corrections were made along portions of these transects and opus-corrected structure-for-motion digital elevation models were used to estimate surface elevations. These data are primarily intended to severe as calibration and validation data for the new Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) mission and similar remote sensing applications, but also provide an opportunity to understand ice and snow variability and the formation and impact of pressure ridges and lake bathymetry in this unusually large arctic lake. During this survey, water samples were also collected for environmental DNA analysis to assess fish community presence and these will be reported elsewhere.