Annual climate summary 2018: Arctic Inventory and Monitoring Network

Sousanes, Pamela; Hill, Ken

The Arctic Network (ARCN) climate monitoring program has seventeen remote weather stations to monitor climate in Gates of the Arctic National Park and Preserve (GAAR), Noatak National Preserve (NOAT), Kobuk Valley National Park (KOVA), Cape Krusenstern National Monument (CAKR), and Bering Land Bridge National Preserve (BELA). The main goal of the program is to operate these remote sites for the long term in order to help scientists and park managers understand the climate patterns across these large parks. This report summarizes the annual and monthly temperature and precipitation deviations at long-term sites near the parks and at the ARCN weather stations in the parks. The data are downloaded from each park station annually (during summer) and processed in the fall; this report summarizes the last full year of data, which is 2018. 2018 was much warmer than normal statewide and the fifth year in a row where the average temperature was among the top ten warmest years on record since 1925. The mean annual temperatures at the ARCN climate stations were also warm in 2018 even when compared against a relatively short measurement record (2012–2018). Annual temperatures ranged from −6.4 °C at Killik Pass in GAAR to −1.1 °C at the Serpentine site in BELA. The sites near the coast were warmer overall in 2018 than the interior sites, a result of warmer than normal ocean temperatures and record low sea ice extent in the Bering Sea. Across the network, the fall of 2018 was the warmest to date. Fall and early winter brought significant snow to the interior region near GAAR, while the coast experienced heavy snowfall in March. Overall, the snowfall throughout the ARCN region was above normal for the 2017–2018 season. Summer rainfall was greatest at the higher elevation interior sites in the ARCN network; August was the wettest month of summer 2018 across the network. Between May and September of 2018, the Arctic Network staff performed annual site maintenance at the seventeen ARCN climate stations, four fire remoted automated weather stations (RAWS), and the Snotel site at Kelly Ranger Station in Noatak National Preserve. All of the 2018 ARCN RAWS weather data and corresponding metadata are available through the Integrated Resource Management Applications (IRMA) Data Store at https://irma.nps.gov/DataStore/Reference/Profile/2254699.

Annual climate summary 2018: Arctic Inventory and Monitoring Network

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