The InterFrost benchmark of Thermo-Hydraulic codes for cold regions hydrology - first inter-comparison results

• Main Authors: Grenier, Christophe, Roux, Nicolas, Anbergen,, Hauke, Nathaniel, Collier, Costard, F., Michel, Ferrry, Frampton, Andrew, Frederick, Jennifer, Holmen, Johan, Jost, Anne, Kokh, Samuel, Mckenzie, Jeffrey, Molson, John, Orgogozo, Laurent, Rivière, Agnès, Selroos, Jan-Olof, Therrien, Rene, Vidstrand, Patrik
• Other Authors: Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l'Environnement Gif-sur-Yvette (LSCE), Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Université Paris-Saclay-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Direction de Recherche Fondamentale (CEA) (DRF (CEA)), Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA), Frank GeoConsult GmbH, Hamburg, Germany, Climate Change Science Institute Oak Ridge (CCSI), Oak Ridge National Laboratory Oak Ridge (ORNL), UT-Battelle, LLC-UT-Battelle, LLC, Interactions et dynamique des environnements de surface (IDES), Université Paris-Sud - Paris 11 (UP11)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), MFRDC, 6 rue de la Perche 44700 Orvault, France, Department of Physical Geography & Quaternary Geology, Stockholm University, Division of Hydrologic Sciences, Desert Research Institute (DRI), Golder Associates Kapellgränd 7, 11625 Stockholm, Sweden, Milieux Environnementaux, Transferts et Interactions dans les hydrosystèmes et les Sols (METIS), Université Pierre et Marie Curie - Paris 6 (UPMC)-École Pratique des Hautes Études (EPHE), Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Maison de la Simulation (MDLS), Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ)-Institut National de Recherche en Informatique et en Automatique (Inria)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Université Paris-Saclay-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences Montréal (EPS), McGill University = Université McGill Montréal, Canada, Université Laval Québec (ULaval), Département de géologie et de génie géologique, Université Laval, 1065 avenue de la Médecine, Québec, Canada, G1V, Géosciences Environnement Toulouse (GET), Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Université Toulouse III - Paul Sabatier (UT3), Université de Toulouse (UT)-Université de Toulouse (UT)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Observatoire Midi-Pyrénées (OMP), Université de Toulouse (UT)-Université de Toulouse (UT)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Centre National d'Études Spatiales Toulouse (CNES)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Météo-France-Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Centre National d'Études Spatiales Toulouse (CNES)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Météo-France-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Centre de Géosciences (GEOSCIENCES), Mines Paris - PSL (École nationale supérieure des mines de Paris), Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL), Swedish Nuclear Fuel and Waste Management Company
• Format: Conference Object
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2015
• Subjects: [SDU.STU.HY]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Earth Sciences/Hydrology; [SDU.ENVI]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Continental interfaces; environment; permafrost
• Online Access: https://hal.science/hal-01396632

International audience The impacts of climate change in boreal regions has received considerable attention recently due to the warming trends that have been experienced in recent decades and are expected to intensify in the future. Large portions of these regions, corresponding to permafrost areas, are covered by water bodies (lakes, rivers) that interact with the surrounding permafrost. For example, the thermal state of the surrounding soil influences the energy and water budget of the surface water bodies. Also, these water bodies generate taliks (unfrozen zones below) that disturb the thermal regimes of permafrost and may play a key role in the context of climate change. Recent field studies and modeling exercises indicate that a fully coupled 2D or 3D Thermo-Hydraulic (TH) approach is required to understand and model the past and future evolution of landscapes, rivers, lakes and associated groundwater systems in a changing climate. However, there is presently a paucity of 3D numerical studies of permafrost thaw and associated hydrological changes, and the lack of study can be partly attributed to the difficulty in verifying multi-dimensional results produced by numerical models. Numerical approaches can only be validated against analytical solutions for a purely thermic 1D equation with phase change (e.g. Neumann, Lunardini). When it comes to the coupled TH system (coupling two highly non-linear equations), the only possible approach is to compare the results from different codes to provided test cases and/or to have controlled experiments for validation. Such inter-code comparisons can propel discussions to try to improve code performances. A benchmark exercise was initialized in 2014 with a kick-off meeting in Paris in November. Participants from USA, Canada, Germany, Sweden and France convened, representing altogether 13 simulation codes. The benchmark exercises consist of several test cases inspired by existing literature (e.g. McKenzie et al., 2007) as well as new ones. They range from simpler, purely ...