Glaciers and climate of the upper Susitna Basin, Alaska; supporting data

Abstract

As part of a study for a proposed hydropower facility, the authors conducted extensive field observations in the Upper Susitna basin, a 13,289 km 2 (5,130 mi 2 ) glacierized catchment in central Alaska, in 2012-2014. This comprehensive data set includes meteorological, glacier mass balance, snow cover, and soil measurements. We also include digitized snow depth data from a set of similar observations collected in the 1980s. The data will be useful for hydrological and glaciological studies, including modeling efforts.

Glaciers and climate of the Upper Susitna basin, Alaska

“…The main map focuses on the glacierized portion of the basin, the large inset shows the whole Upper Susitna basin which drains to the proposed dam site, and the small inset shows the basin in the context of the state of Alaska. from 0 to 0.73 m d −1 (Burgess et al, 2013); the highest velocities occur on Susitna and West Fork glaciers. Some glaciers experience brief periods of acceleration in spring, which have been linked to enhanced basal lubrication caused by meltwater (MacGregor et al, 2005;Bartholomaus et al, 2008).…”

“…Soil temperature measurements across the basin showed that there was no permafrost in the upper 1 m of the soil column. The data produced by this study are available at: https://doi.org/10.14509/30138 (Bliss et al, 2019) and will be useful for hydrological and glaciological studies including modeling efforts.…”