Lake basin water level and ground temperature data in Arctic Alaska, 2019-2020

Lakes are abundant features on coastal plains of the Arctic and most are termed "thermokarst" because they form in ice-rich permafrost and gradually expand over time. The dynamic nature of thermokarst lakes also makes them prone to catastrophic drainage and abrupt conversion to wetlands, called drained thermokarst lake basins (DTLBs). Together, thermokarst lakes and DTLBs cover up to 80% of arctic lowland regions, making understanding their response to ongoing climate change essential for coastal plain environmental assessment. Datasets presented here document water level and temperature (surface and ground) regimes for a large (23 sites in 2019-2020) array of lake with high drainage potential and lake basin (DTLBS), which have already drained, located on differing terrain units of Alaska's Arctic Coastal Plain. Lake data was measured along deep protected shorelines using pressure transducers to record hourly water level and bed temperature. Wetland (DTLB) data was also measured with pressure transducers and ground thermistors at 25 and 100 centimeters (cm) depth. Of special interest at some DTLB sites was the potential occurrence of snow-dam outburst events during the early summer snowmelt periods. In these cases, pressure transducers were set to log at 10 minute intervals for this period. All data archived here are summarized at daily average values.

北极沿海平原上湖泊分布广泛，其中多数被称为热融湖（thermokarst lake），因其形成于富冰多年冻土中并随时间逐步扩张。热融湖的动态特性使其极易发生灾难性排水，并快速转变为湿地，这类湿地被称为疏干热融湖盆（drained thermokarst lake basins，DTLBs）。热融湖与疏干热融湖盆总计覆盖北极低地区域的80%，因此厘清它们对当前气候变化的响应，对沿海平原的环境评估至关重要。本数据集记录了阿拉斯加北极沿海平原不同地貌单元上，2019至2020年间的23处高易排水风险湖泊，以及已疏干的疏干热融湖盆（DTLBs）的水位与温度（地表及地下）动态过程。湖泊数据采用压力传感器（pressure transducer）沿受保护的深岸线采集，以每小时为间隔记录水位与湖床温度。湿地（即疏干热融湖盆）数据同样通过压力传感器与地下热敏电阻（ground thermistors）在25厘米及100厘米深度采集。部分疏干热融湖盆监测点的重点关注对象为初夏融雪期可能发生的雪坝溃决事件，针对此类情况，该时段内压力传感器的记录间隔设置为10分钟。本数据集存档的所有数据均已汇总为日平均值。