Miesner, Frederieke; Grünberg, Inge; Bolshiyanov, Dimitry Yu; Bornemann, Niko; Grigoriev, Mikhail N; Langer, Moritz; Martin, Julia; Boike, Julia (2024): Snow physical properties, temperature and depth data from central Samoylov Island, Lena River Delta, Siberia (2012 – 2021) [dataset]. PANGAEA, https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.972408,

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In: Boike, Julia; Grünberg, Inge; Miesner, Frederieke; Bornemann, Niko; Bolshiyanov, Dimitry Yu; Grigoriev, Mikhail N: Comprehensive snow, soil, and climate data from central Samoylov Island, Lena River Delta, Siberia (2012 -2021) [dataset bundled publication]. PANGAEA, https://doi.pangaea.de/10.1594/PANGAEA.967748 (dataset in review)

The Arctic is changing rapidly as strong air temperature warming induces a multitude of feedback mechanisms including changes in the snow cover and warming and thawing of permafrost soils. Due to the high interannual variability, multi-year datasets are needed to asses the complex interaction between climate and soil variables. However, such data series are scarce in the Arctic and some areas such as North-east Siberia are widely understudied. Here we provide a comprehensive data set consisting of snow physical properties and temperature data at a site 72.36945 °N, 126.47643 °E) in the center of Samoylov Island, located in the Lena River Delta, Siberia. The location is characterized by a cold, dry tundra climate with mean annual air temperature of -11.7 °C. The station was installed in late summer of 2012 as part of the permafrost long-term observatory and the data set compiles 10 years of data. Measurements at this site include snow depth over different features of the polygonal tundra (wet centers, elevated rims, troughs), snow temperatures and snow density measurements at different heights, as well as accompanying ground/snow surface, air, and soil temperatures; the latter in a profile down to 1 m depth. Additionally, two horizontally installed distance sensors measured freeze-thaw-induced horizontal displacement in the center and over a crack through the trough of a polygon. The observations are suitable for use in integrating, calibrating and testing permafrost as a component in Earth System Models. The resulting quality-controlled dataset is unique in the Arctic and serves as a baseline for future studies.