Area The study region covers an area of approx. 6500 km² in Alaska’s North Slope Territory including 5 observational sites, from north to south West Dock, Deadhorse/Prudhoe Bay, Franklin Bluffs, Sagwon and [...] about snow cover is necessary, since snow covers the ground for up to 9 months per year in Alaska’s North Slope. In addition to that, spatial and seasonal variability of snow cover can lead to large uncertainties [...] part 2 - requirements . . . . . . 1015 4.2.1 Ground heat flux . . . . . . . . . . . 10 4.2.2 Land-sea-fraction . . . . . . . . . . . 10 4.2.3 MODIS data gaps . . . . . . . . . . . 10 5 Results 11 5.1