Noatak National Preserve

The Cutler River bathed in golden light.
The Cutler River in golden light.

Ken Hill

The 6.6-million-acre Noatak National Preserve covers most of the Noatak River watershed and has been home to people for over 11,000 years.
The Noatak Valley has many large icings (aufeis). Aufeis forms in places where the water is forced to the surface in the winter and it freezes layer-upon-layer until it is so thick that it lasts most of the following summer. Parts of the preserve are very flat with many shallow lakes formed by thawing permafrost and where the only high spots are ice-cored hills known as pingos—ground that was once under a lake freezes again after the lake drains. On the banks of the Noatak River there is a massive erosion feature, or rather a retrogressive thaw slump. These slumps occur where a steep escarpment in ice-rich permafrost advances as the ground thaws and then falls or flows downhill. There are numerous slumps in the Kavachurak Moraine in the upper Noatak River valley.

What's Happening in Noatak National Preserve

Showing results 1-10 of 18

  • Memory influences where Western Arctic Herd caribou spend the winter

    • Type: Article
    • Locations: Bering Land Bridge National Preserve, Cape Krusenstern National Monument, Gates Of The Arctic National Park & Preserve, Kobuk Valley National Park, Noatak National Preserve
    • Offices: Arctic Inventory & Monitoring Network
    View from a caribou collar

    Read a summary and get the link to a published paper that describes how caribou decide where to spend the winter based on previous experience. Gurarie, E., C. Beaupré, O. Couriot, M. D. Cameron, W. F. Fagan, and K. Joly. 2024. Evidence for an adaptive, large-scale range shift in a long-distance terrestrial migrant. Global Change Biology 30 (11): e17589.

  • Methane Changes in the Wetlands of Beringia

    • Type: Article
    • Locations: Noatak National Preserve
    • Offices: Arctic Inventory & Monitoring Network
    The mouth of the Noatak River.

    Read a summary and get the link to an article on methane changes in Beringia since the last Glacial Maximum, in: Fuchs, M., M. Jones, E. Gowan, S. Frolking, K. W. Walter Anthony, G. Grosse, B. Jones, L. Brosius, J. A. O’Donnell, and C. Treat. 2024. Potential methane flux from Beringian coastal wetlands during the last deglaciation. Quaternary Science Reviews 344: 108976.

  • Metals released from thawing permafrost are rusting Arctic streams

    • Type: Article
    • Locations: Gates Of The Arctic National Park & Preserve, Kobuk Valley National Park, Noatak National Preserve
    • Offices: Arctic Inventory & Monitoring Network
    An orange stream joins a blue-water stream.

    Read the abstract and get the link to a published paper on how permafrost thaw is releasing metals into streams and turning them orange: O'Donnell, J. A., M. P. Carey, J. C. Koch, C. Baughman, K. Hill, C. E. Zimmerman, P. F. Sullivan, R. Dial, T. Lyons, D. J. Cooper, and B. A. Poulin. 2024. Metal mobilization from thawing permafrost to aquatic ecosystems is driving rusting of Arctic streams. Communications Earth & Environment 5: 268.

  • Perspectives of Indigenous harvesters and agency staff on subsistence management in Alaska national parks

    • Type: Article
    • Locations: Bering Land Bridge National Preserve, Cape Krusenstern National Monument, Noatak National Preserve
    Indigenous Alaskans meeting around a table.

    The subsistence harvest of animals and plants—that is, harvest for survival or continuation of cultural traditions—is critical to Alaska Native peoples for nutritional, cultural, social, and spiritual benefits. Interviews about subsistence resources statewide were conducted to understand the perspectives about: (1) the communication and relationships between these two groups; and (2) barriers to, and solutions for, improving subsistence management.

  • Beavers and the Arctic carbon cycle

    • Type: Article
    • Locations: Noatak National Preserve
    • Offices: Arctic Inventory & Monitoring Network
    A scientist collects data from an Arctic stream.

    Read the abstract and link to a peer reviewed science article on methane emmissions in beaver ponds and streams in the Arctic: Clark, J. A., K. D. Tape, L. Baskaran, C. Elder, C. Miller, K. Miner, J. A. O'Donnell, and B. M. Jones. 2023. Do beaver ponds increase methane emissions along Arctic tundra streams? Environmental Research Letters 18: 075004.

  • When are newly collared caribou representative of the herd?

    • Type: Article
    • Locations: Bering Land Bridge National Preserve, Cape Krusenstern National Monument, Gates Of The Arctic National Park & Preserve, Kobuk Valley National Park, Noatak National Preserve
    A collared caribou bounds away.

    Read the abstract and get the link to a paper published in the Wildlife Bulletin about representativeness among collared animals in a population: Prichard, A. K., K. Joly, L. S. Parrett, M. D. Cameron, D. A. Hansen, and B. T. Person. 2022. Achieving a representative sample of marked animals: A spatial approach to evaluating post-capture randomization. Wildlife Society Bulletin e1398.

  • Predicting Seasonal Distributions and Migratory Routes of Western Arctic Herd Caribou

    • Type: Article
    • Locations: Bering Land Bridge National Preserve, Cape Krusenstern National Monument, Gates Of The Arctic National Park & Preserve, Kobuk Valley National Park, Noatak National Preserve
    The western arctic caribou herd along the Kobuk River.

    Read the abstract and get the link for an article on caribou migration patterns published in Movement Ecology: Baltensperger, A. P., and K. Joly. 2019. Using seasonal landscape models to predict space use and migratory patterns of an arctic ungulate. Movement Ecology 7 (18). DOI: 10.1186/s40462-019-0162-8.

  • Weather Impacts on Dall's Sheep

    • Type: Article
    • Locations: Denali National Park & Preserve, Gates Of The Arctic National Park & Preserve, Lake Clark National Park & Preserve, Noatak National Preserve, Wrangell - St Elias National Park & Preserve
    Dalls sheep lambs and ewes on a rock cliff.

    Read the abstract and link to a recent paper in Ecosphere on Dall's sheep population impacts from weather events: Rattenbury, K. L., J. H. Schmidt, D. K. Swanson, B. L. Borg, B. A. Mangipane, and P. J. Sousanes. 2018. Delayed spring onset drives declines in abundance and recruitment in a mountain ungulate. Ecosphere 9(11):e02513. 10.1002/ecs2.2513

  • Is flow declining in headwater streams of Arctic Alaska?

    • Type: Article
    • Locations: Kobuk Valley National Park, Noatak National Preserve
    An Arctic stream with vegetation in fall color.

    Read the abstract and get the link to a published science article on how permafrost thawing and borealization impacts streamflow of headwater streams: Koch, J. C. Y. Sjoberg, J. O’Donnell, M. Carey, P. F. Sullivan and A. Terskaia. 2022. Sensitivity of headwater streamflow to thawing permafrost and vegetation change in a warming Arctic. Environmental Research Letters 17(4): 044074.

  • How stream chemistry can be used to understand ecosystems and disturbances in Arctic Alaska

    • Type: Article
    • Locations: Kobuk Valley National Park, Noatak National Preserve
    Arctic river with gravel beach.

    Read the abstract and get the link to an article on monitoring stream chemistry for insights on the impacts of climate change in the Arctic: Shogren, A. J., ... O'Donnell, J. A., Patch, L., Poulin, B. A., Williamson, T. J., et al. 2022. Multi-year, spatially extensive, watershed-scale synoptic stream chemistry and water quality conditions for six permafrost-underlain Arctic watersheds, Earth System Science Data 14(1): 95-116.

Tags: science articles science articles arcn noat arctic
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Last updated: February 2, 2022

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