Growing Season Trends in the Alaskan Climate Record
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.14430/arctic1383Keywords:
Atmospheric temperature, Climate change, Climatology, Effects of climate on plants, Growing season, History, Plant distribution, Barrow, Alaska, Bethel, Fairbanks, Juneau, Ketchikan, Sitka, TalkeetnaAbstract
Linkages between presumed global climate change and agricultural production will enable the development of management strategies to meet the needs of a diverse and future world agricultural enterprise. This study evaluated characteristic trends in the growing season length and dates of the last spring and first fall freezes at eight climate stations in Alaska between 1924 and 1989. Two minimum temperature criteria of 0 degrees and -3 degrees were used in assessing freeze dates. Half of the stations had no change in growing season length over the last 65 years, whereas the other four stations had a lengthening of the season. Tendencies for longer seasons were in part a result of earlier spring freezes. The growing season shortened at three stations during the period 1940-70, which corresponded with declining Northern Hemisphere temperatures. The presence of changes in the growing season over the last 65 years was apparent in Alaska temperature records.
Key words: frost-free season, spring freeze, fall freeze, frost, climate change
