Modeling the role of preferential snow accumulation in through talik development and hillslope groundwater flow in a transitional permafrost landscape
Through taliks—thawed zones extending through the entire permafrost layer—represent a critical type of heterogeneity that affects water redistribution and heat transport, especially in sloping landscapes. The formation of through taliks as part of the transition from continuous to discontinuous perm...
Published in: | Environmental Research Letters |
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IOP Publishing
2018
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Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/aadd30 https://doaj.org/article/2e39e0fe9e8b468cb83d3ca4339fb285 |
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:2e39e0fe9e8b468cb83d3ca4339fb285 2023-09-05T13:22:25+02:00 Modeling the role of preferential snow accumulation in through talik development and hillslope groundwater flow in a transitional permafrost landscape Elchin E Jafarov Ethan T Coon Dylan R Harp Cathy J Wilson Scott L Painter Adam L Atchley Vladimir E Romanovsky 2018-01-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/aadd30 https://doaj.org/article/2e39e0fe9e8b468cb83d3ca4339fb285 EN eng IOP Publishing https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/aadd30 https://doaj.org/toc/1748-9326 doi:10.1088/1748-9326/aadd30 1748-9326 https://doaj.org/article/2e39e0fe9e8b468cb83d3ca4339fb285 Environmental Research Letters, Vol 13, Iss 10, p 105006 (2018) permafrost hydrology modeling ATS talik Environmental technology. Sanitary engineering TD1-1066 Environmental sciences GE1-350 Science Q Physics QC1-999 article 2018 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/aadd30 2023-08-13T00:37:34Z Through taliks—thawed zones extending through the entire permafrost layer—represent a critical type of heterogeneity that affects water redistribution and heat transport, especially in sloping landscapes. The formation of through taliks as part of the transition from continuous to discontinuous permafrost creates new hydrologic pathways connecting the active layer to sub-permafrost regions, with significant hydrological and biogeochemical consequences. At hilly field sites in the southern Seward Peninsula, AK, patches of deep snow in tall shrubs are associated with higher winter ground temperatures and an anomalously deep active layer. To better understand the thermal-hydrologic controls and consequences of through taliks, we used the coupled surface/subsurface permafrost hydrology model ATS (Advanced Terrestrial Simulator) to simulate through taliks associated with preferentially distributing snow. Scenarios were developed based on an intensively studied hillslope transect on the southern Seward Peninsula, which predominately has taller shrubs midslope and tundra in upslope and downslope areas. The model was forced with detrended meteorological data with snow preferentially distributed at the midslope of the domain to investigate the potential role of vegetation-induced snow trapping in controlling through talik development under conditions typical of the current-day Seward Peninsula. We simulated thermal hydrology and talik development for five permafrost conditions ranging in thickness from 17–45 m. For the three thinnest permafrost configurations, a through talik developed, which allowed water from the seasonally thawed layer into sub-permafrost waters, increasing sub-permafrost groundwater flow. These numerical experiments suggest that in the transition from continuous to discontinuous permafrost, through taliks may appear at locations that preferential trap snow and that the appearance of those through taliks may drive significant changes in permafrost hydrology. Article in Journal/Newspaper permafrost Seward Peninsula Talik Tundra Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Talik ENVELOPE(146.601,146.601,59.667,59.667) Environmental Research Letters 13 10 105006 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
op_collection_id |
ftdoajarticles |
language |
English |
topic |
permafrost hydrology modeling ATS talik Environmental technology. Sanitary engineering TD1-1066 Environmental sciences GE1-350 Science Q Physics QC1-999 |
spellingShingle |
permafrost hydrology modeling ATS talik Environmental technology. Sanitary engineering TD1-1066 Environmental sciences GE1-350 Science Q Physics QC1-999 Elchin E Jafarov Ethan T Coon Dylan R Harp Cathy J Wilson Scott L Painter Adam L Atchley Vladimir E Romanovsky Modeling the role of preferential snow accumulation in through talik development and hillslope groundwater flow in a transitional permafrost landscape |
topic_facet |
permafrost hydrology modeling ATS talik Environmental technology. Sanitary engineering TD1-1066 Environmental sciences GE1-350 Science Q Physics QC1-999 |
description |
Through taliks—thawed zones extending through the entire permafrost layer—represent a critical type of heterogeneity that affects water redistribution and heat transport, especially in sloping landscapes. The formation of through taliks as part of the transition from continuous to discontinuous permafrost creates new hydrologic pathways connecting the active layer to sub-permafrost regions, with significant hydrological and biogeochemical consequences. At hilly field sites in the southern Seward Peninsula, AK, patches of deep snow in tall shrubs are associated with higher winter ground temperatures and an anomalously deep active layer. To better understand the thermal-hydrologic controls and consequences of through taliks, we used the coupled surface/subsurface permafrost hydrology model ATS (Advanced Terrestrial Simulator) to simulate through taliks associated with preferentially distributing snow. Scenarios were developed based on an intensively studied hillslope transect on the southern Seward Peninsula, which predominately has taller shrubs midslope and tundra in upslope and downslope areas. The model was forced with detrended meteorological data with snow preferentially distributed at the midslope of the domain to investigate the potential role of vegetation-induced snow trapping in controlling through talik development under conditions typical of the current-day Seward Peninsula. We simulated thermal hydrology and talik development for five permafrost conditions ranging in thickness from 17–45 m. For the three thinnest permafrost configurations, a through talik developed, which allowed water from the seasonally thawed layer into sub-permafrost waters, increasing sub-permafrost groundwater flow. These numerical experiments suggest that in the transition from continuous to discontinuous permafrost, through taliks may appear at locations that preferential trap snow and that the appearance of those through taliks may drive significant changes in permafrost hydrology. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Elchin E Jafarov Ethan T Coon Dylan R Harp Cathy J Wilson Scott L Painter Adam L Atchley Vladimir E Romanovsky |
author_facet |
Elchin E Jafarov Ethan T Coon Dylan R Harp Cathy J Wilson Scott L Painter Adam L Atchley Vladimir E Romanovsky |
author_sort |
Elchin E Jafarov |
title |
Modeling the role of preferential snow accumulation in through talik development and hillslope groundwater flow in a transitional permafrost landscape |
title_short |
Modeling the role of preferential snow accumulation in through talik development and hillslope groundwater flow in a transitional permafrost landscape |
title_full |
Modeling the role of preferential snow accumulation in through talik development and hillslope groundwater flow in a transitional permafrost landscape |
title_fullStr |
Modeling the role of preferential snow accumulation in through talik development and hillslope groundwater flow in a transitional permafrost landscape |
title_full_unstemmed |
Modeling the role of preferential snow accumulation in through talik development and hillslope groundwater flow in a transitional permafrost landscape |
title_sort |
modeling the role of preferential snow accumulation in through talik development and hillslope groundwater flow in a transitional permafrost landscape |
publisher |
IOP Publishing |
publishDate |
2018 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/aadd30 https://doaj.org/article/2e39e0fe9e8b468cb83d3ca4339fb285 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(146.601,146.601,59.667,59.667) |
geographic |
Talik |
geographic_facet |
Talik |
genre |
permafrost Seward Peninsula Talik Tundra |
genre_facet |
permafrost Seward Peninsula Talik Tundra |
op_source |
Environmental Research Letters, Vol 13, Iss 10, p 105006 (2018) |
op_relation |
https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/aadd30 https://doaj.org/toc/1748-9326 doi:10.1088/1748-9326/aadd30 1748-9326 https://doaj.org/article/2e39e0fe9e8b468cb83d3ca4339fb285 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/aadd30 |
container_title |
Environmental Research Letters |
container_volume |
13 |
container_issue |
10 |
container_start_page |
105006 |
_version_ |
1776202930210209792 |