DATE OF SNOWMELT AT BARROW, ALASKA, USA

The date of snowmelt near Barrow, Alaska, for recent years is determined from radiometric in situ measurements of the tundra solar albedo. The snowmelt dates determined from the albedo measurements dispute recently published values based on routine visual observations at the Barrow National Weather Service (NWS) Office. Local heat-budget-altering effects of the village and its recent abrupt growth are suggested as the cause for the disagreement between the rural albedo and NWS "in town" observations. The open tundra albedo measurements combined with hitorical NWS observations suggest that there is no significant trend in the date of snowmelt near Barrow.