Nome

Location - Anvil City Science Academy (ACSA) Pond

The ALISON observatory in Nome was located about 0.5 km from the Anvil City Science Academy (ACSA) and 8 km from downtown Nome. The lake is one of many located among the tailings left behind by the gold dredges that enriched Nome many years ago. The lake is simply known as “The Pond.” Being an old dredge pond, it is quite deep, measuring 9 meters.

Nome itself is located in far Northwest Alaska on the coast of Norton Sound, part of the Bering Sea. The surrounding terrain is characterized as upland tundra, with rolling hills and mountainous terrain measuring up to 1,500 m in height. Vegetation is predominately made up of low-growing shrubs and tundra grasses. Average monthly temperatures range from lows of -19 °C in the Winter to highs of 15 °C in the Summer. The average precipitation is about 50 cm per year.

An aerial view of Nome, Alaska.

An aerial view of the ALISON site pond (ACSA Pond). The ALISON site was set up in the SE corner, with the boot shape, going from the heal of the boot up towards the leg.

People

The observatory at ACSA Pond was run by Todd Hindman and the students of the Anvil City Science Academy (ACSA) from 2002 to 2003. Todd is originally from Texas and he taught for two years in Sand Point, AK before moving to ACSA in 1999. ACSA is a charter school with forty-four 5th through 8th grade students. Todd has participated in many professional development programs, including GLOBE and Teachers Experiencing Antarctica and the Arctic (TEA), where he participated in the final phase of the ice trials of the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter "Healy" in June 2000, Baffin Bay. Since then he has participated in a Toyota Tapestry grant in 2004-2005 and went on an IARC Arctic Expedition in September 2006, sailing north of Russia on the Icebreaker Kapitan Dranitsan. He and his students also participated in a grant through the US Department of Fish and Wildlife which restored the habitat of a local creek for silver salmon spawning.

Data

Download data for these graphs and other ALISON data.