ig8 Alaskan Science Conference 



Geographical location and general climatological data of the 

 region 



The Tanana Valley lies between parallels 64 and 66 Northern 

 latitude and 146 and 149 West longitude, extending from Big 

 Delta River, approximately 205 miles in width with an esti- 

 mated area of 4.5 to 5 million acres. About 8% of this area, 

 or 400,000 acres is probably suitable for agriculture (Fig. 1). 



The Alaska Agricultural Experiment Station of the Uni- 

 versity of Alaska is located at 64 51' N. latitude and 147 52' W. 

 longitude on the gentle slope of a hill facing south adjoining 

 the flood plain bottom land of the Tanana valley. The mete- 

 orological station is located on this slope 510 feet above sea 

 level. Two additional stations were established for micro- 

 climatological observations by the author with the agreement 

 of the U. S. Weather Bureau in 1947: one is on the top of the 

 hill, elevation 620 feet, and the other on the bottom land at 

 475 feet elevation. A diary of the agro-climatological observa- 

 tions during the growing season was published in 'Jessen's 

 Weekly," Fairbanks, as a special column: "Alaska's Nature, 

 Climate and Agriculture" from 1946 to 1950. Besides regular 

 meteorological data this column described some results of 

 acclimatization work with grains, legumes, grasses and vege- 

 table crops, as well as of microclimatological observations and 

 experiments. Special attention was given to phenological data 

 for native and cultivated plants, and to data on soil temperature 

 movements at depths of 6, 12, 24 and 36 inches both on hillside 

 and on the bottomland. 



General climatological data for the Tanana valley recorded 

 over a period of years by the U. S. Weather Bureau are given 

 on Table 1, including normal mean temperatures and precipi- 

 tation recorded at 5 stations of the region. 



The general character of the climate of this region is dis- 

 tinctly continental with low annual precipitation of 12.8 inches 

 and highest precipitation during the months of July and 

 August. The greater part of the Tanana valley is located within 

 the July isotherm of 6o°F., as is shown on Fig. 2, being the 

 warmest spot in Alaska during the summer months. Due to the 



