Selected Climatie and Soil Thermal Characteristics 
of the 
Prudhoe Bay Region 
JERRY BROWN and RICHARD K. HAUGEN 
U. S. Army Cold Regions Research and 
Engineering Laboratory 
Hanover, New Hampshire 03755 
SCOTT PARRISH* 
Tundra Biome Center 
University of Alaska 
Fairbanks, Alaska 99701 
Introduction 
Biological, ecological, and environmental 
phenomena are dependent to a significant degree 
upon the air and soil thermal regimes. The 
climate of the Prudhoe Bay region was virtually 
unknown prior to 1969. The National Weather 
Service stations at Barrow and Barter Island 
provide the short- and long-term records from 
which to compare Prudhoe’s climatic position in 
the coastal plain. Based on previous analyses of 
North Slope air temperatures (Watson 1959; 
Searby and Hunter 1971), Prudhoe Bay should 
lie within the following temperature ranges: 
Mean maximum January between -20° and 
ZENG 
Mean minimum January between -27° and 
-30°C 
Mean maximum July less than +8°C 
Mean minimum July between 1° and 2°C 
Although a variety of standard climatic data 
have been obtained for the immediate Prudhoe 
Bay area over the past 4 to 5 years, air tempera- 
ture is emphasized in this report as this is the 
only parameter for which there are reasonably 
continuous and reliable records. Selected precip- 
itation, soil temperature, and thaw data are also 
“Deceased. 
presented to provide initial data for this relative- 
ly unknown region of the North Slope. 
The objectives of this report are: (1) To 
compare the limited air temperature and precip- 
itation records for Prudhoe Bay with a compar- 
able period for Barrow and Barter Island, (2) to 
examine annual and seasonal temperature varia- 
tions at Prudhoe Bay, (3) to characterize differ- 
ences in the temperature regimes of coastal and 
inland sites, and (4) to present limited soil 
temperature and thaw data. 
Methods 
Reasonably consistent climatic data are 
available from four principal sites (Fig. 1): 
(1) BP Alaska, Inc. radio station in the 
vicinity of the Mukluk Camp: This includes 
wind speed and direction and air temperature on 
a mast, recorded continuously. For the present 
report, daily minimum and maximum_ air 
temperatures were obtained from the original 
records. These records were made available by 
BP Alaska, Inc. and appear to offer the most 
consistent and continuous set of temperatures for 
the Prudhoe Bay area. The data from this site 
