New book puts Alaska climate in focus

Submitted by Amy Hartley
Phone: 907-474-5823
02/01/08

On average, Barrow residents see snow in their community 136 days of the year, while downtown Juneau experiences 86 inches of precipitation. During the summer months, the Tanana Valley is one of Alaska’s hot spots, averaging 70 degrees Fahrenheit or warmer. "The Climate of Alaska," a new book that includes facts such as these, came out this month and was written by two Alaska Climate Research Center scientists. Information on temperature and humidity, precipitation, clouds and radiation, climate change and more are available in this easy-to-use reference.

It took Martha Shulski, the book’s lead author, four years to compile all of the data needed to cover the book’s multiple topics. She said the book was designed so it would be accessible to readers who were not specialists in the field of climatology. However, this book also is a useful reference for researchers.

Gerd Wendler co-wrote the book with Shulski. Wendler is a professor emeritus of geophysics and directs the Alaska Climate Research Center. Both authors will be available on Tuesday, Feb. 5 at a book sale and signing in the lobby of the International Arctic Research Center at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. The event will run from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.

The University of Alaska Press published the Climate of Alaska. It’s currently available for purchase online and in bookstores for $21.95.

The Alaska Climate Research Center is a research service organization at the Geophysical Institute at UAF. The group conducts research focusing on Alaska and polar regions climatology and archives climatological data for Alaska.

CONTACT: Martha Shulski, Alaska Climate Research Center climatologist, at 907-474-7885. Amy Hartley, Geophysical Institute information officer, at 907-474-5823.

ON THE WEB:
www.uaf.edu/uapress/book/
climate.gi.alaska.edu/