Tieszen, L. L. 2001. NPP Tundra: Point Barrow, Alaska, 1970-1972. Data set. Available on-line [http://www.daac.ornl.gov] from Oak Ridge National Laboratory Distributed Active Archive Center, Oak Ridge, Tennessee, U.S.A.
The study area (71.30 N 156.67 W) is located 3 km inland from the Chukchi Sea on a complex sequence of drained lakes, about 850 km north-northwest of Fairbanks, Alaska. It was thought to be fairly representative of the tundra vegetation around Barrow as a whole. The area was not glaciated during the Pleistocene, but the soil, which includes marine sediments and thin buried peat layer, is believed to be 5,000-10,000 years old.
The climate is very cold, both on an annual basis and during the short growing season (June, July, August) when the temperature rises just a few degrees above freezing. Solar irradiance is low, even on clear days during the summer season, when cloud cover averages about 85%. Graminoid vegetation at Barrow is grazed discontinuously and sometimes intensively by the brown lemming.
Estimated above-ground net primary production (ANPP) of the different classes of vascular plants ranged from 18.1 to 118.5 g/m2/yr. In combination with vegetation mapping information, ANPP of vascular plants was estimated at 42.2 g/m2/yr for the 1972 growing season. Including bryophyte ANPP of 25.1 g/m2/yr, this gives total ANPP of 68.6 g/m2/yr. Although probably an underestimate (since below-ground biomass ranged from 153 to 1305 g/m2; mean 734 g/m2), below-ground net primary production of vascular plants was assumed equal to ANPP. Total NPP was therefore estimated to be 111 g/m2/yr.
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