IASOA

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Barrow

Barrow Observatory

Location: 71.323 N, 156.609 W, 11 m asl (36 ft asl)  

Governing Institution:  National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)

Station Contact:  Steve Grove (Steve.P.Grove@noaa.gov)

Main web site:  http://www.esrl.noaa.gov/gmd/obop/brw/

Facilities: The Barrow Observatory is located about 8km east of the village of Barrow, AK. 

Observatory Mission and Purpose:  The Barrow Observatory hosts multiple cooperative international research projects.   

Site News:

Topography and History:  The Observatory was established in 1973 and located on the coast of the Arctic Ocean.  The village of Barrow has earned the distinction of being the farthest north population center in the United States.  The surrounding terrain is tundra, housing numerous melt lakes in the summer, which freeze over during the winter months.  Instrumentation is maintained year round by at least 2 scientists and engineers.  Polar bears are a frequent visitor to Barrow and a very real safety concern for any who work outdoors.     

Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) site at the North Slope of Alaska (NSA)

Location:  71.323 N, 156.6156 W (Barrow); 70.4722 N, 157.4078 W (Atqasuk) 

Governing Institution:  United States Department of Energy

Station Director:  Mark D. Ivey (mdivey@sandia.gov)

Main web site:  www.arm.gov/sites/nsa

Facilities: There are two facilities that make up the ARM NSA site.  They are Barrow and Atqasuk, which is located 70 miles south of Barrow.   

ARM Mission and Purpose:  To provide data about clouds and radiative processes at high latitudes to improve numerical models and model parameterizations.

Site News:

Topography and History:  Both Barrow and Atqasuk are located on flat tundra terrain with an elevation seperation of only 12m.  Barrow's population is a little over 4,500 while Atqasuk is a much smaller community with a stable population of around 225.  Even without roads, there is frequent travel between the two villages via planes or snow machine.     

Table of Measurements

Station Identifier: 70026

Station Abbreviations: BRW, PABR, BAR, BROA2, and STN199 (Barrow); PATQ and MDEA2 (Atqasuk)

Barrow Global Atmosphere Watch - Station Information System (GAWSIS) 

Data archives:

ARM data archive

NOAA Global Monitoring Division data ftp site

National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC)

Univ. of Alaska Fairbanks sea ice data

Georectification of satellite imagery of Barrow

Derived cloud parameters at Barrow using AERI, ceilometer, MMCR, MPL, and TSI data (March 1998 - present)

Derived cloud parameters at Atqasuk using ceilometer data (March 1998 - present)

NSF Ultraviolet Monitoring Network Version 2 - Barrow

Prototype Network for Measuring Arctic Winter Precipitation and Snow Cover -- Snow-Net

Informational links: 

Global Atmosphere Watch (GAW) - Barrow station page

Detailed information on ARM instrumentation

ARM North Slope of Alaska site information

Univ. of Alaska Fairbanks Barrow Sea Ice Observatory

USGS Barrow Geomagnetic Observatory

Barrow Arctic Science Consortium (BASC)

WERC - North Slope Current Conditions

See the Barrow station on YouTube, along with an explanation of the scientific research happening there

NOAA Barrow Weather Station on YouTube

All information on this page was gathered from the web sites listed above.  We welcome your comments - if you have any additions or corrections that apply to this page, please forward them to lisa.darby@noaa.gov.

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