By

• Main Author: William Robert Bolton
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 2006
• Subjects: Arctic; Ice; permafrost
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.465.9061; http://ine.uaf.edu/werc/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/BBolton-Dissertation2006.pdf

iii The presence or absence of permafrost is the dening hydrologic characteristic in the sub-arctic environment. Discontinuous permafrost introduces very distinct changes in soil hydraulic properties, which introduce sharp discontinuities in hydrologic processes and ecosystem characteristics. The variation in hydraulic properties vary over short and long time scales as the active layer thaws over the course of a summer or with changes in per-mafrost extent. The inuence of permafrost distribution, active layer thaw depth, and wildre on the soil moisture regime and stream ow were explored through a combina-tion of eld-based observations and computer simulation. Ice-rich conditions at the per-mafrost table do not allow signicant percolation of surface waters, which result in near saturated soils and limited subsurface storage capacity, compared to well-drained non-permafrost sites. As the active layer thaws, the storage capacity of the soils is increased, inuencing the hydrologic response to precipitation events. The removal of vegetation by wildre result in short-term (<10 years) increases in moisture content through reduced