Capabilities / Atmospheric Observatories / North Slope of Alaska / Locations

C1

NSA - Central Facility, Barrow AK

Established

11 December 1997

Latitude

71.323° N

Longitude

156.615° W

Altitude

8 meters

Surface Type

Tundra

Instruments

42 (0 active)

Primary Measurement Types

51 (0 active)

The C1 facility, located near the city of Barrow, officially known as Utqiaġvik, Alaska, was installed in July 1997. Utqiaġvik is located at the northernmost point in the United States, 330 miles north of the Arctic Circle.

Also known as the “Top of the World,” Utqiaġvik is Alaska’s largest Eskimo village. Tax revenue from the local oil fields pays for services boroughwide, and natural gas is used to heat homes and generate electricity in Utqiaġvik. Many residents maintain traditional lifestyles. Subsistence foods include whale, seal, polar bear, walrus, duck, caribou, grayling, and whitefish.

The Utqiaġvik facility includes a trailer and several platforms to support the instrumentation and data system. ARM operates many of the same instruments, including a 35 GHz cloud radar, that are located at its warmer sites. However, many of these instruments have been hardened to withstand frigid temperatures ranging from -20 to 40 °F.

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