Wasilla

Location - Memory Lake (2007-2009)

Memory Lake is located in a residential area (61° 38' 0'' N, 149° 25' 0'' W). The lake is “8” shaped. Pike were introducted in the lake threatening salmon populations. AK F&G stock the lake with rainbows, kings and arctic char.

The ALISON observatory at Memory Lake was modified. The TWITT was located in front of a former student’s home, so it was less likely to be a target for snowmachiners. The 21 stakes were not frozen in the lake to form a transect due to high snowmachine traffic.

Wasilla gets intermittent snow, with a lot of wind in the winter. Many weeks there is no snow, so only ice thickness and surface temperatures are taken. Usually Wasilla will have two or three warm weather events with temperatures above zero.

An aerial view of Memory Lake

A Bathymertic map of Memory Lake produced by Fish and Game

Location - Lucile Lake (2002-2007)

The Wasilla Observatory was located at 61° 34.282’N, 149° 928’W on the south side of Lucille Lake, which runs parallel to and is on the south side of the Parks Highway. The lake is 1.75 km wide by 5 km long, and the water is >1 m deep at the observatory. The frozen lake is popular with snowmachiners and ice fishermen, and we saw at least two pick-up trucks on the ice. The observatory was set up on Tuesday 28 January 2003 by Kim Morris and Martin Jeffries under cloudy skies in a brisk wind and a temperature of about ­3°C. The mean snow depth was 0.09 m and the mean ice thickness was 0.35 m. To install the hot-wire ice thickness gauge requires a slot to be cut in the ice with a chainsaw. Since our chainsaw bar is 0.35 m long, we were fortunate to find a site for the hot-wire gauge where the ice was 0.31 m thick.

Lucile Lake lies south of the highway that goes through Wasilla, AK.

People - Memory Lake (2007-2009)

Cheryl Williams' Wasilla High School science classes participated in ALISON. They included her 11th and 12th grade Ecology class (data collection and climate change); her 11th and 12th grade AP Environmental Science class (data collection and climate change); her 9th grade Honors Physical Science class (heat and energy, data share project, one visit to lake); and her 9th grade Earth Science class (climate/weather, data share project).

Measurements were done every other week after school. Ecology and AP students traveled 4 miles out of town to Memory Lake. The observatory was ¼ mile from the public access for Memory Lake. Students “volunteered” (for points) to collect data. Group size varied from 1-10. If possible, the physical science classes visited the observatory one time at the beginning of the season. During the field trip to the observatory the class collected a full set of data.

People - Lucile Lake (2002-2007)

The Lucile Lake observatory was operated by Cheryl William and her ecology class at Wasilla High School. Lucille Lake was chosen because Cheryl had an Alaska Department of Natural Resources grant to study the water quality in the lake. The ALISON study and the water quality study made a nice combination, one for the frozen lake and one for the open lake. Cheryl is originally from Palmer, about 20 km east of Wasilla. She has taught at Wasilla High School since she graduated from the University of Idaho six years ago and participates in the Alaska GLOBE Program. Observatory training included a classroom session on Tuesday 28 January 2003 and a meeting on the lake at 8 am on Wednesday 29 January. Think about the implications of 8 am in Alaska in January. The photograph below might help. Our early morning visit to the ALISON observatory was also featured in the Wasilla newspaper, "The Frontiersman".

Wasilla High School ecology students gather in the dark at Lucille Lake.

Data

Download data for these graphs and other ALISON data.