Discharge and water temperatures of water track seeps in Ward Hunt Island, for 2013 and 2016

• Main Authors: Fortier, Daniel, Paquette, Michel, Vincent, Warwick
• Format: Dataset
• Language: unknown
• Published: Canadian Cryospheric Information Network 2018
• Subjects: Arctic; Hunt Island; Ward Hunt Island; permafrost; polar desert
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.21963/12948; https://www.polardata.ca/pdcsearch/?doi_id=12948

Water tracks are often the principal flow pathways in permafrost affected areas, and their hydrological functions influence slope physical and biogeochemical processes. In this dataset, we measured the flow of water though seeping water track networks and at the front of a perennial snowdrift in the Canadian High Arctic, showing they all possessed a glacio-nival discharge regime. Flow production mechanisms at this polar desert site included saturation overland flow, throughflow and infiltration excess overland flow. The water tracks are part of a patterned ground network, through which water flows, and these networks increase hydrological connectivity between the source of water (the melting snowdrifts) and the bottom of the slope. This in turn reduces soil-water interactions and solute release, favoring a low-nutrient status in the downstream lake.