Permafrost development and active-layer hydrology of peat plateaus in wetland-dominated discontinuous permafrost ...

• Main Author: Christensen, Brendan
• Format: Master Thesis
• Language: English
• Published: Graduate Studies 2014
• Subjects: Hydrology; Engineering > Environmental; Permafrost; subarctic; Peatlands; Runoff; Active-layer; Northwest Territories; Peat; permafrost; Subarctic
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.11575/prism/27308; https://prism.ucalgary.ca/handle/11023/1410

In the wetland dominated discontinuous permafrost of the Canadian sub-artic, hydrological processes are governed by permafrost and active layer development associated with different landcover types. Subsurface runoff from the mosaic of different landcover types in the Scotty Creek research basin, Northwest Territories, Canada, is governed by permafrost cored peat plateaus that are elevated above surrounding bogs and fens. To predict how runoff from peat plateaus in this environment may be changing as permafrost freeze-thaw processes evolve under changing physical and climatic conditions, a model accounting for surface and soil freeze-thaw processes and lateral runoff from simplified peat plateaus is developed. This model utilizes the Northern Ecosystem Soil Temperature (NEST) model to simulate surface and soil freeze-thaw processes by solving the surface energy balance and soil heat conduction equation. As runoff processes from NEST are not physically based, the Simple Fill And Spill Hydrology (SFASH) model, ...