References

Results and Discussion

Study Area

Temperature Regimes in Traditional Iñupiat Meat Cellars in Barrow, AlaskaAnna E. Klene*1, Kenji Yoshikawa2, Dimitry A. Streletskiy3, Jerry Brown4, Frederick E. Nelson5, and Nikolay I. Shiklomanov3

1University of Montana, Missoula, MT, 2University of Alaska – Fairbanks, AK, 3George Washington University, Washington, DC, 4Woods Hole, MA, 5University of Delaware, Newark, DE

Introduction

Acknowledgments

Historically, meat cellars excavated in permafrost (perennially frozen ground) have been essential to Arctic residents. They remain so today. Iñupiat people in Barrow, Alaska (Figure 1), have many of these cellars, some of which were created more than a century ago and some of which were established recently and continue to be enlarged. These traditional facilities allow secure, year-round frozen storage of subsistence harvests over long periods (Figure 2). In the Arctic region, average consumption of wildlife resources is about 650 lbs/person/year, almost three times the average U.S. per capita consumption of fish, poultry, and meat at 222 lbs/person /year (Wolfe and Bosworth, 1994). Hence, these subsistence harvests are central not only to the cultural heritage of the area, but also to its economic health.

Climatic change has been suspected of compromising and causing damage to meat cellars in some northern communities, with thaw and spoilage of meat occurring in a number of cases in northern Alaska, including Point Hope, Kivalina, and Barrow (Brubaker et al., 2009; Barber, 2010). Investigation of temperature regimes in these cellars is critically important for the continued well-being of local residents. Long-term monitoring may also yield useful climatic and geocryological information.

Table 1. List of the five instrumented cellars included in the study, as well as depth, distance from the coast (measured perpendicular to the coastline), mean annual temperature (2005-2010), and the range of mean monthly temperatures.

Barber, V., 2010, Warming permafrost threatens Arctic ice cellars, Arctic Sounder, 9 June 2010.

Brubaker, M., H. Dingman, P. Leavitt, and V. Romanovsky, 2010. Climate Change Effects on Traditional Food Cellars in Barrow, Alaska. Center for Climate and Health Bulletin No. 04. Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium.

Ray, P.H., J. Murdoch, C.V. Riley, A. Gray, W.H. Dall, C.A. Schott, 1885. Report of the International Polar Expedition to Point Barrow, Alaska. Washington, Government Printing Office.

Smith, S.L., V.E. Romanovsky, A.G. Lewkowicz, C.R. Burn, M. Allard, G.D. Clow, K. Yoshikawa, and J. Throop, 2010. Thermal State of Permafrost in North

America: A Contribution to the International Polar Year. Permafrost and Periglacial Processes, v21, n2, 117–135..

USDA, 2001. Cold Storage Chart.

Methods Between 2005 and 2010, the maximum daily temperature observed in the meat cellars ranged from -3.4 to -5.6°C, and mean annual temperatures within the meat cellars ranged from -6.6 to -8.1°C. The mean annual air temperature during the same period was -10.1°C (Figure 5). The annual temperature cycle in the meat cellars lags behind that of the air by several months during the summer but much less during the winter. The warmest cellar temperatures of the year were observed between October and December, and the coldest temperatures were found between February and April. The difference between warmest and coldest monthly temperature was from 4.4 to 7.8°C in the cellars, while the NWS air temperature had a 31.4°C range (Figure 6).

Permafrost at depth in northern Alaska has been documented to have warmed, particularly since the late 1970s (Smith et al., 2010). Meat cellars generally have temperatures close to those of the surrounding permafrost. Temperatures within the cellars are critical because bacteria can damage meat even at temperatures below the freezing point. For optimal storage of meat and game, the USDA recommends temperatures of -10 to 0°F (-23 to -18°C; USDA, 1994). However, that is probably colder than what meat cellars in this region have been for many years. The meat cellar located next to what is now the Brower Café is near a cellar excavated by the Ray Expedition during the first International Polar Year in 1882-3. At that time, they observed permafrost temperatures of -11.1°C and observed that temperatures within the meat cellar did not exceed -5.6°C (Ray et al., 1885). In each of the last five years, mean monthly temperatures within the Brower’s Café cellar exceeded that temperature every month between August and December. While this site is quite close to the coast and not necessarily representative of conditions at all of the meat cellars, it underscores the need for vigilant monitoring of cellar temperatures.

Predicting temperature within a meat cellar is primarily a heat conduction problem, although convective heat transfer occurs due to exchange of air whenever the cellar is accessed. It is common practice to cool the cellars during winter by leaving the doors open. Also, snow is typically used to line the cellar and is replaced each spring. Ongoing work is examining differences in soil properties (particularly salinity), cellar depth and volume, distance from the coast, and impacts of surface cover. While differences in snow and vegetation are known to have impacts on the temperature of underlying soils, meat cellars have several complicating factors. Many of the cellars have small buildings covering their entrance, which can allow snow to drift around the exterior, as well as provide insulation by preventing air exchange. Additional observations focused on the relative effects of these various factors is needed.

Beginning in August 2005, HoboPro® miniature temperature data loggers were installed in the meat cellars of four local residents and the Native Village of Barrow organization as part of the Circumpolar Active-Layer Monitoring (CALM) Project. Cellars were at a variety of depths and ages and were located at varying distances relative to the coast (Figure 1, Table 1). Access to the cellars was through bulkhead doors, some of which are located within a small building that functions as an Arctic entry (Figure 4), although some are exposed.

The data loggers were programmed to record at hourly intervals. Logger locations were chosen opportunistically, but situated such that each logger was placed approximately halfway up the main height of the cellar, away from the main access, and out of the way of access to stored meat as much as possible, on a small shelf or secured to a wall of the cellar (Figure 3). The data loggers are downloaded at least once each year and the batteries replaced. Data are then processed into daily and monthly averages.

Mean daily air temperature data were obtained from the National Weather Service (NWS) site in Barrow for 2005-10. The NWS data were used in this study owing to the proximity of the site to the cellars within the village of Barrow. Data were processed into monthly averages.

Figure 1. Map showing the Barrow area, with the locations of each of the meat cellars as red dots.

We thank Harry Brower, Ron Brower, Tom Brower III and Brower’s Café, Richard Glenn, the Native Village of Barrow, the Barrow Arctic Science Consortium, and the many Barrow residents and institutions who graciously assisted us with this study. This research was supported by U.S. National Science Foundation grants (OPP-0352958 and OPP-0856421) to N.I. Shiklomanov and F.E. Nelson.

Figure 5. Time series showing mean monthly temperature at the five meat cellars over time, as well as mean monthly air temperatures from the NWS station just south of the runway from August 2005 through December 2010.

Depth(m)

Distance from Coast

(m)

Mean Annual Temp(°C)

Mean TempRange

(°C)Brower’s Cafe 2.7 100 -6.6 7.0

Ron Brower’s 4.4 400 -8.1 6.4Native Village of Barrow

4.8 250 -7.4 7.8

Richard Glenn’s 5.6 1000 -7.0 4.3

Harry Brower’s 6.8 75 -8.1 5.2

Barrow, Alaska, (71.3°N, 156.5°W) is the northernmost community in the USA, and the largest native settlement in the circum-Arctic region (~4600 residents in 2000). It has a long history of scientific research and is the location of the Barrow Environmental Observatory.

Barrow is situated on the coast of the Barrow Peninsula, which separates the Chukchi and Beaufort Seas. Lakes comprise almost 25% of the land surface, vegetation is a complex of sedge-moss wetlands, soils are gelisols, and permafrost underlies the ground surface to a depth of almost 400 m. Maximum summer thaw depths are >50 cm in undisturbed tundra. Modern buildings are elevated 1-2 m on piles and the road network is comprised almost exclusively of 2 m thick, graded sand and gravel fill.

Figure 6. Mean annual temperature cycle based on data from 2005-2010. Mean temperatures vary from -6.6 to -8.1°C for each cellar.

Conclusions and Further Research

Figure 2. A photograph on display in the Iñupiat Heritage Center showing a bowhead whale being harvested. Whale and other game are the primary foodstuffs stored in cellars.

Figure 3. a) Schematic diagram of a meat cellar, with a simple bulkhead door and ladder for access. The temperature data logger to monitor temperature is shown as a small gray box on a shelf on the far wall from the access point. b) Photo showing installation of a data logger on a beam within one of the cellars.

Figure 4. Photos of two designs for access to meat cellars: a) a simple wooden bulkhead-door assembly; b) small building used for above-ground storage and access to Native Village of Barrow cellar. Red arrows indicate the main access to the cellar.

From the five years of observation in these meat cellars, the following preliminary conclusions can be drawn: The five cellars examined in Barrow are well below freezing and functional, despite evidence that they were colder in the past. Longer-term temperature measurements in these and other cellars are needed to confirm that the cellar temperatures are stable and also representative of other cellars within the region. Consideration of actions to increase the winter-time cooling in the cellars should be made. These could range from simply allowing additional air exchange during the coldest winter months to modifying the physical designs of the cellars through more substantial alterations such as thermosyphens.

a) b)

a) b)

Figure 7. Photos of meat cellars. a) rime ice on the access door; b) view of ice lenses within the soil of a cellar wall; c) rime ice accumulating on wall of a meat cellar.

a) b) c)