Annual Snowpack Report 2011-2012

A main objective of the CAKN snowpack monitoring program is to record long-term trends in snow and monitor changes in the extent, duration, and character of the seasonal snow cover. This is accomplished through an interagency agreement with the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) to survey snow courses and aerial snow markers and to install and maintain Snow Telemetry (SNOTEL) sites in all three CAKN parks. The SNOTEL sites have proven to be the most accurate instrumented sites to document all forms of precipitation in Alaska, including snowfall which is difficult to measure in remote locations. The agreement between the NPS and NRCS includes data dissemination and archiving. These summary reports compile snowpack data for the central Alaska region and are produced annually. The timing of the report follows the end of the water year which runs from October 1 through September 30. The data provided in this report comes almost exclusively from the NRCS Alaska Snow, Water and Climate Services web based server (NRCS 2012).