Addressing the Impacts of Climate Change on U.S. Army Alaska with Decision Support Tools Developed Through Field Work and Modeling
Abstract
The U.S. Army is the largest DoD land user in Alaska overseeing 1.5 million acres of training range and cantonment lands. Some of the training ranges are inaccessible by road and planned infrastructure over the next 10 years will greatly expand the DoDs presence and capabilities in Alaska. The area is underlain by a complex mosaic of discontinuous permafrost and its presence (or absence) plays a major role in soil thermal, hydrologic, and vegetation regimes. A projected 1 to 3 deg C increase in mean annual air temperatures in the area between now and 2100 is expected to have major ramifications on ecosystem and hydrologic processes. To identify the potential impacts of climate warming on U.S. Army Alaska training lands and to provide land managers with scientifically based information to help them plan for a warmer future we conducted this four year study. We combined field measurements at a variety of spatial and temporal scales with thermal, hydrologic, and ecosystem transitions modeling efforts to be able to apply the point scale nature of our field measurements across a broader region. Our results were linked with a broad array of historical and projected meteorological and climatological information to develop a geospatial decision support system to help DoD manage their lands in a potentially warmer future.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Feb 01, 2016
- Accession Number
- AD1030958
Entities
People
- Anna K. Liljedahl
- C. A. Hiemstra
- C. Downer
- D. N. Brown
- G. Senseman
- K. Olson
- M. T. Jorgenson
- N. Pradhan
- S. Campbell
- S. Marchenko
- Thomas A. Douglas