Seasonal Changes Across Alaska Parks

A climate monitoring station in the Brooks Range in Noatak National Preserve, Alaska.

Remote cameras mounted on climate monitoring stations can tell us a lot about the seasons. We can see when the first snow falls, when snow stays through the winter, when the snow melts, when plants green up and senesce, and we can even catch the timing of unusual weather events. Over time, this information can tell us if and how the timing of seasonal events are changing.

Check out the videos below to get a year-long snapshot of seasons in some of Alaska's parks.

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  A Year at Serpentine Hot Springs Climate Monitoring Station, Bering Land Bridge National Preserve

  This video was made from a full year of photographs from a remote camera (phenocam) located at the Serpentine Hot Springs climate monitoring station in Bering Land Bridge National Preserve.

  Duration:

  1 minute, 54 seconds

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  A Year at the Mount Noak Climate Monitoring Station, Cape Krusenstern National Monument

  This video was made from a full year of photographs from a remote camera (phenocam) located at the Mount Noak climate monitoring station in Cape Krusenstern National Monument.

  Duration:

  1 minute, 57 seconds

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  A Year at the Pamichtuk Climate Monitoring Station, Gates of the Arctic National Park and Preserve

  This video was made from a full year of photographs from a remote camera (phenocam) located at the Pamichtuk climate monitoring station in Gates of the Arctic National Park and Preserve.

  Duration:

  1 minute, 55 seconds

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  A Year at the Salmon River Climate Monitoring Station, Kobuk Valley National Park

  This video was made from a full year of photographs from a remote camera (phenocam) located at the Salmon River climate monitoring station in Kobuk Valley National Park.

  Duration:

  1 minute, 54 seconds

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  A Year at the Kugururok Climate Monitoring Station, Noatak National Preserve

  This video was made from a full year of photographs from a remote camera (phenocam) located at the Kugururok climate monitoring station in Noatak National Preserve.

  Duration:

  1 minute, 54 seconds

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  A Year at Gates Glacier Climate Monitoring Station, Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve

  This video was made from one full year of photographs taken in 2016 by a remote automated camera. This camera is located at the Gates Glacier climate monitoring station in Wrangell-St. Elias National Park, in eastern Alaska. The video is a composite of selected photos from days with good weather.

  Duration:

  2 minutes, 1 second

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  A Year at the Upper Charley River Climate Monitoring Station, Yukon-Charley Rivers National Preserve

  This video was made from a full year of photographs from a remote camera (phenocam) located at the Upper Charley River climate monitoring station in Yukon-Charley Rivers National Preserve.

  Duration:

  2 minutes, 1 second

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  Seasonal Changes in Alaska's National Parks

  National Park Service ecologist David Swanson explains the Arctic Network Inventory & Monitoring team's use of remote cameras to study seasonal changes across Alaska's northernmost national parks. Each camera is part of climate monitoring station that records weather conditions at locations across Bering Land Bridge National Preserve, Cape Krusenstern National Monument, Gates of the Arctic National Park and Preserve, Kobuk Valley National Park, and Noatak National Preserve. In doing so, we can identify long and short-term trends, provide reliable climate data to other researchers, and participate in larger scale climate monitoring and modeling efforts beyond park boundaries.

  Duration:

  4 minutes, 17 seconds

For More Information

The Arctic Snow and Growing Seasons are Getting Shorter
Vegetation and Snow Phenology Monitoring in the Arctic Network through 2020