Download Alaska Climate Research Center

ALASKA CLIMATE
RESEARCH CENTER
AASC
July 2012
The Alaska Climate Research Center (ACRC) is part of the
Geophysical Institute, UAF. It was established by the
State of Alaska by Title 14, Chapter 40, Section 085.
Specific information can be found in this section.
The purpose of the center is threefold:
a) Dissemination of climatological data
b) Research on climate and climate change in Alaska and
Polar Regions
c) Education
It is noteworthy to mention that we are recognized by
AASC (ARSCO status).
STAFF
 Dr. Gerd Wendler - Director and Professor
Emeritus (part time)
 Kevin Galloway - Webmaster (full time)
 Blake Moore - Computer Programmer (part
time)
 Various Students (Bill Chen)
Dissemination:
Climatological data sets available to the
public, research organizations and
interested industries (free of charge).
Today this is mostly done over our
website:http://akclimate.org,
which
received some 26,000 hits on the
average day in 2011.
A Summary Of The ACRC
Web Resources
Online at the Alaska Climate Research Center (ACRC), we
have many summaries, products, meteorological, and
climatological information available. The website
(http://akclimate.org/) is quite popular. From our home
page, users can select any number of links: Fairbanks
weather and climate, our popular webcam and on-campus
weather station, radiation measurements, climatological
data, up-to-date summaries, Alaska weather, information
for tourists, seasonal and other weather and climate links,
and a ‘spotlight on climate’ section giving a list of the
latest features posted.
Website
PERIODIC ACTIVITIES
• Monthly Summaries for selected stations across
Alaska to be published online and in local
newspapers.
• A monthly statewide summary.
• Yearly summaries for selected stations.
• A seasonal statewide summary (in conjunction
with ACCAP) for the Climate Dispatch.
• Assist with monthly summaries with NWS staff
to be published in Weather Wise.
April 2012 for Fairbanks
In Fairbanks the average April temperature was 36.9°F, a substantial 4.4°F above the long term mean. The high
temperature for the month was 61°F on the 16th, which is also a new record high for this day. The previous maximum
for this day was 59°F observed in 1993. The low temperature for the month was -8°F observed on the 4th. The
beginning of the month was much colder than normal, followed by above normal temperatures, especially around the
middle of the month, while the end of April reported seasonally normal temperatures. It was the 13th warmest April on
record, and above normal temperatures resulted in an early breakup of the Tanana River. The ice went out at Nenana
on the 23rd of April.
OTHER ACTIVITIES
 ACRC operates a webcam camera from the third
floor of IARC, as well as a climate and radiation
station and an all sky camera located on the roof
of the Geophysical Institute. The climate station
and webcam are publicly accessible via the
internet.
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Global radiation
Global radiation inclined to latitude (65°)
Global radiation south facing
Infrared (long-wave) radiation
All-sky camera
image with
contrail
Publications by ACRC since 1998
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(journal articles and books only)
Dissing, D., and G. Wendler 1998: Solar radiation climatology of Alaska. Theor. Appl. Clim., 61, 161-175.
Curtis, J., G. Wendler, R. Stone and E. Dutton 1998: Precipitation decrease in the Western Arctic, with special
emphasis on
Barrow and Barter Island, Alaska. Intl. J. Clim., 18, 1687-1707
Magee, N., J. Curtis and G. Wendler 1999: The urban heat island effect at Fairbanks, Alaska. Theor. Appl. Clim., 64, 39-47
Stafford, J., G. Wendler and J. Curtis 2000: Temperature and precipitation of Alaska: 50 year trend analyses. Theor. Appl.
Clim., 67, 33-44
Nakanishi, S., J. Curtis and G. Wendler 2001: The influence of increased jet airline traffic on the amount of high cloudiness in
Alaska. Theor. Appl. Clim., 68, 197-205
Fan X., J.-F. Chou, B.-R. Guo, and M.D. Shulski, 2004. A coupled simple climate model and its global analysis. Theor. Appl.
Clim., 79:31-43.
Wendler, G., M. Shulski and B. Hartmann 2004: Potential climatic effects of cirrus contrails for the subarctic setting of Fairbanks,
Alaska, Theor. Appl. Clim. 81, 149-159
Stuefer, M. and G. Wendler 2005: MM5 Contrail forecasting in Alaska. Mon. Wea. Rev., 3517-3526
Hartmann, B. and G. Wendler 2005: On the significance of the 1976 Pacific climate shift in the climatology of Alaska. : J.
Clim.18,4824-4839
Wendler, G., 2006. Book Review of The Arctic Climate System by Serreze and Barry, Polar Rec., 42(223), 370-372.
Wendler, G., 2006. Climate of the Polar Realms. Chapter 5 In: The Global Climate System by H. Bridgman and J. Oliver,
Cambridge University Press, 131-169.
Damoah R., N. Spichtinger, R. Servranckx, M. Fromm, E. Eloranta, I. Razenkov, P. James, M. Shulski, C. Forster, and A. Stohl,
2006. Transport modeling of a pyro-convection event in Alaska. Atmos. Chem. Phys., 6:173-185.
Weller, G., M. Nolan, G. Wendler, C. Benson, K. Echelmeyer and N. Untersteiner 2007: Fifty years of McCall Glacier Research:
From the International Geophysical Year to the International Polar Year 2007-2008. Artic, 60(1), 1001-1011
Shulski, M. and G. Wendler, 2007. The Climate of Alaska. University of Alaska Press, 216pp.
Klein, D.R., M. Shulski, 2008. Lichen recovery following heavy grazing by reindeer delayed by climate change. Ambio,
Wendler, G and M. Shulski 2009. A Century of Climate Change for Fairbanks, Alaska: Arctic, 62 (3) 295-300
Wendler, G., M. Shulski and B. Moore 2010: Changes in the climate of the Alaskan North Slope and the ice concentration in the
adjacent Beaufort Sea. Theor. Appl. Clim. 99, 67-74
Wendler, G., J. Conner, M. Shulski and B. Moore 2010: Climatology of Alaskan wildfires with special emphasis on the extreme
year of 2004. Theor. Appl. Clim. DOI 10, 67-74
Wendler,G., L. Chen and B. Moore 2012: The first decade of the new century: a cooling trend for most of Alaska. Open
Atmospheric Science Journal, in press
First Order Stations in Alaska
Annual Temperature Trend (°C) for the Mean of the 20 First Order
Stations.
Isoplete presentation of the observed temperature change for the first
decade of the 21st century based on all first order meteorological stations
in Alaska
Averaged mean annual temperature deviation from the norm against the
Pacific Decadal Oscillation values for the first decade of the 21st century
Averaged mean annual temperature deviation from the norm
against the sunspot number for the first decade of the 21st
century
Change
in
the
geopotential height
(1000 mb) in winter
during
the
first
decade of the 21
century - (2000 to
2005) minus (2006
to 2010) - for Alaska
as obtained from the
NCEP/NCAR
reanalyzed data set.
Spring 2012 Temperature for King Salmon
The 2012 spring temperature departure based on all 20 first order
climatological stations in Alaska was 2.9°F below normal, which is in stark
contrast to the contiguous United States, where far above normal temperatures
were observed.