Mapping the Spatial and Temporal Thermal Trends of the Kuskokwim and Aniak Rivers

This project will use a combination of site-based temperature logger data and satellite imagery to model continuous temperature data at two different scales with the aim to identify thermal freshwater refugia for juvenile and adult salmon in the main Kuskokwim and Aniak rivers and to adopt a standard for thermal data collection protocols for the Kuskokwim basin.

Understanding the relationship between environmental variability and biological response metrics is critical for sustaining salmon populations. For Chinook salmon, stream temperature and discharge are key factors influencing the timing of several key life history events, but comprehensive data on temperature are lacking for the Kuskokwim Basin. This project will provide a modeled temperature data set (and methods that can be used to expand data collection basinwide in the future) which can then be used to detect thermal refugia, address questions about key life history events, and detect changing temperatures with changing climate.