Evaluating integrated surface/subsurface permafrost thermal hydrology models in ATS (v0.88) against observations from a polygonal tundra site
Numerical simulations are essential tools for understanding the complex hydrologic response of Arctic regions to a warming climate. However, strong coupling among thermal and hydrological processes on the surface and in the subsurface and the significant role that subtle variations in surface topogr...
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:1ea72a99e7524e35b609272f352797d7 2023-05-15T15:13:41+02:00 Evaluating integrated surface/subsurface permafrost thermal hydrology models in ATS (v0.88) against observations from a polygonal tundra site A. Jan E. T. Coon S. L. Painter 2020-05-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-13-2259-2020 https://doaj.org/article/1ea72a99e7524e35b609272f352797d7 EN eng Copernicus Publications https://www.geosci-model-dev.net/13/2259/2020/gmd-13-2259-2020.pdf https://doaj.org/toc/1991-959X https://doaj.org/toc/1991-9603 doi:10.5194/gmd-13-2259-2020 1991-959X 1991-9603 https://doaj.org/article/1ea72a99e7524e35b609272f352797d7 Geoscientific Model Development, Vol 13, Pp 2259-2276 (2020) Geology QE1-996.5 article 2020 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-13-2259-2020 2022-12-31T16:05:28Z Numerical simulations are essential tools for understanding the complex hydrologic response of Arctic regions to a warming climate. However, strong coupling among thermal and hydrological processes on the surface and in the subsurface and the significant role that subtle variations in surface topography have in regulating flow direction and surface storage lead to significant uncertainties. Careful model evaluation against field observations is thus important to build confidence. We evaluate the integrated surface/subsurface permafrost thermal hydrology models in the Advanced Terrestrial Simulator (ATS) against field observations from polygonal tundra at the Barrow Environmental Observatory. ATS couples a multiphase, 3D representation of subsurface thermal hydrology with representations of overland nonisothermal flows, snow processes, and surface energy balance. We simulated thermal hydrology of a 3D ice-wedge polygon with geometry that is abstracted but broadly consistent with the surface microtopography at our study site. The simulations were forced by meteorological data and observed water table elevations in ice-wedge polygon troughs. With limited calibration of parameters appearing in the soil evaporation model, the 3-year simulations agreed reasonably well with snow depth, summer water table elevations in the polygon center, and high-frequency soil temperature measurements at several depths in the trough, rim, and center of the polygon. Upscaled evaporation is in good agreement with flux tower observations. The simulations were found to be sensitive to parameters in the bare soil evaporation model, snowpack, and the lateral saturated hydraulic conductivity. Timing of fall freeze-up was found to be sensitive to initial snow density, illustrating the importance of including snow aging effects. The study provides new support for an emerging class of integrated surface/subsurface permafrost simulators. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Ice permafrost Tundra wedge* Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Arctic Geoscientific Model Development 13 5 2259 2276 |
institution |
Open Polar |
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Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
op_collection_id |
ftdoajarticles |
language |
English |
topic |
Geology QE1-996.5 |
spellingShingle |
Geology QE1-996.5 A. Jan E. T. Coon S. L. Painter Evaluating integrated surface/subsurface permafrost thermal hydrology models in ATS (v0.88) against observations from a polygonal tundra site |
topic_facet |
Geology QE1-996.5 |
description |
Numerical simulations are essential tools for understanding the complex hydrologic response of Arctic regions to a warming climate. However, strong coupling among thermal and hydrological processes on the surface and in the subsurface and the significant role that subtle variations in surface topography have in regulating flow direction and surface storage lead to significant uncertainties. Careful model evaluation against field observations is thus important to build confidence. We evaluate the integrated surface/subsurface permafrost thermal hydrology models in the Advanced Terrestrial Simulator (ATS) against field observations from polygonal tundra at the Barrow Environmental Observatory. ATS couples a multiphase, 3D representation of subsurface thermal hydrology with representations of overland nonisothermal flows, snow processes, and surface energy balance. We simulated thermal hydrology of a 3D ice-wedge polygon with geometry that is abstracted but broadly consistent with the surface microtopography at our study site. The simulations were forced by meteorological data and observed water table elevations in ice-wedge polygon troughs. With limited calibration of parameters appearing in the soil evaporation model, the 3-year simulations agreed reasonably well with snow depth, summer water table elevations in the polygon center, and high-frequency soil temperature measurements at several depths in the trough, rim, and center of the polygon. Upscaled evaporation is in good agreement with flux tower observations. The simulations were found to be sensitive to parameters in the bare soil evaporation model, snowpack, and the lateral saturated hydraulic conductivity. Timing of fall freeze-up was found to be sensitive to initial snow density, illustrating the importance of including snow aging effects. The study provides new support for an emerging class of integrated surface/subsurface permafrost simulators. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
A. Jan E. T. Coon S. L. Painter |
author_facet |
A. Jan E. T. Coon S. L. Painter |
author_sort |
A. Jan |
title |
Evaluating integrated surface/subsurface permafrost thermal hydrology models in ATS (v0.88) against observations from a polygonal tundra site |
title_short |
Evaluating integrated surface/subsurface permafrost thermal hydrology models in ATS (v0.88) against observations from a polygonal tundra site |
title_full |
Evaluating integrated surface/subsurface permafrost thermal hydrology models in ATS (v0.88) against observations from a polygonal tundra site |
title_fullStr |
Evaluating integrated surface/subsurface permafrost thermal hydrology models in ATS (v0.88) against observations from a polygonal tundra site |
title_full_unstemmed |
Evaluating integrated surface/subsurface permafrost thermal hydrology models in ATS (v0.88) against observations from a polygonal tundra site |
title_sort |
evaluating integrated surface/subsurface permafrost thermal hydrology models in ats (v0.88) against observations from a polygonal tundra site |
publisher |
Copernicus Publications |
publishDate |
2020 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-13-2259-2020 https://doaj.org/article/1ea72a99e7524e35b609272f352797d7 |
geographic |
Arctic |
geographic_facet |
Arctic |
genre |
Arctic Ice permafrost Tundra wedge* |
genre_facet |
Arctic Ice permafrost Tundra wedge* |
op_source |
Geoscientific Model Development, Vol 13, Pp 2259-2276 (2020) |
op_relation |
https://www.geosci-model-dev.net/13/2259/2020/gmd-13-2259-2020.pdf https://doaj.org/toc/1991-959X https://doaj.org/toc/1991-9603 doi:10.5194/gmd-13-2259-2020 1991-959X 1991-9603 https://doaj.org/article/1ea72a99e7524e35b609272f352797d7 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-13-2259-2020 |
container_title |
Geoscientific Model Development |
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13 |
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5 |
container_start_page |
2259 |
op_container_end_page |
2276 |
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