Roles of groundwater processes in the evolution of complex landscape of discontinuous permafrost
International audience The Hay River Lowland in the Northwest Territories is a 140,000 km 2 region of discontinuous and sporadic permafrost with a high density of peatlands. The landcover consists of permafrost plateaus, channel fens, and ombrotrophic flat bogs, occurring as a complex mosaic of patc...
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ftminesparistech:oai:HAL:hal-01396653v1 2024-05-19T07:41:40+00:00 Roles of groundwater processes in the evolution of complex landscape of discontinuous permafrost Rivière, Agnès Hayashi, Masaki Quinton, William, L 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) University of Calgary Wilfrid Laurier University (WLU) McGill University = Université McGill Montréal, Canada Joint Annual Meeting with CMOS and CWRA Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada 2013-05-26 https://hal.science/hal-01396653 en eng HAL CCSD hal-01396653 https://hal.science/hal-01396653 Canadian Geophysical Union scientific meetings https://hal.science/hal-01396653 Canadian Geophysical Union scientific meetings, May 2013, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada https://cgu-ugc.ca/meetings/ Scotty creek permafrost simulation Hydrology Cold Regions Processes [SDU.ENVI]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Continental interfaces environment [SDU.STU.HY]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Earth Sciences/Hydrology info:eu-repo/semantics/conferenceObject Conference papers 2013 ftminesparistech 2024-04-25T00:46:53Z International audience The Hay River Lowland in the Northwest Territories is a 140,000 km 2 region of discontinuous and sporadic permafrost with a high density of peatlands. The landcover consists of permafrost plateaus, channel fens, and ombrotrophic flat bogs, occurring as a complex mosaic of patches. The permafrost is contained within peat-covered permafrost plateaus that rise 1-2 m above the surrounding fens and bogs. The region is experiencing a rapid warming over the past several decades, and large-scale (e.g. 50 km grids), vertical energy transfer models suggest a pole-ward shift of the discontinuous permafrost zone in the future. At the Scotty Creek research basin in the Hay River Lowland, recent field-based and remote sensing observations indicate a rapid lateral thawing of permafrost and deepening of the active layer. It is expected that the lateral transfer of subsurface energy is at least partially responsible for thawing, but the relative roles of conductive transfer and advective transfer mediated by groundwater processes is not well understood. Field observation of differential thawing of the active layer also indicates the presence of strong feedback mechanism mediated by groundwater. We will use two-and three-dimensional numerical models of subsurface water and heat transfer to examine the magnitude of subsurface heat fluxes and test the feasibility of various hypotheses regarding the lateral thawing of permafrost including: 1) the circulation of warm water around permafrost plateau "island" has a significant effect on lateral thawing, 2) variable saturation of peat affects the spatial distribution of permafrost thaw rates, 3) a small depression in permafrost plateau grows into a wetland as a result of groundwater-feedback process and eventually merge into larger, interconnected wetlands and 4) the amplitude of seasonal air temperature fluctuation affects the permafrost geometry and the pathway of groundwater flow. Conference Object Hay River Northwest Territories Peat permafrost MINES ParisTech: Open Archive (HAL) |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
MINES ParisTech: Open Archive (HAL) |
op_collection_id |
ftminesparistech |
language |
English |
topic |
Scotty creek permafrost simulation Hydrology Cold Regions Processes [SDU.ENVI]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Continental interfaces environment [SDU.STU.HY]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Earth Sciences/Hydrology |
spellingShingle |
Scotty creek permafrost simulation Hydrology Cold Regions Processes [SDU.ENVI]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Continental interfaces environment [SDU.STU.HY]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Earth Sciences/Hydrology Rivière, Agnès Hayashi, Masaki Quinton, William, L Roles of groundwater processes in the evolution of complex landscape of discontinuous permafrost |
topic_facet |
Scotty creek permafrost simulation Hydrology Cold Regions Processes [SDU.ENVI]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Continental interfaces environment [SDU.STU.HY]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Earth Sciences/Hydrology |
description |
International audience The Hay River Lowland in the Northwest Territories is a 140,000 km 2 region of discontinuous and sporadic permafrost with a high density of peatlands. The landcover consists of permafrost plateaus, channel fens, and ombrotrophic flat bogs, occurring as a complex mosaic of patches. The permafrost is contained within peat-covered permafrost plateaus that rise 1-2 m above the surrounding fens and bogs. The region is experiencing a rapid warming over the past several decades, and large-scale (e.g. 50 km grids), vertical energy transfer models suggest a pole-ward shift of the discontinuous permafrost zone in the future. At the Scotty Creek research basin in the Hay River Lowland, recent field-based and remote sensing observations indicate a rapid lateral thawing of permafrost and deepening of the active layer. It is expected that the lateral transfer of subsurface energy is at least partially responsible for thawing, but the relative roles of conductive transfer and advective transfer mediated by groundwater processes is not well understood. Field observation of differential thawing of the active layer also indicates the presence of strong feedback mechanism mediated by groundwater. We will use two-and three-dimensional numerical models of subsurface water and heat transfer to examine the magnitude of subsurface heat fluxes and test the feasibility of various hypotheses regarding the lateral thawing of permafrost including: 1) the circulation of warm water around permafrost plateau "island" has a significant effect on lateral thawing, 2) variable saturation of peat affects the spatial distribution of permafrost thaw rates, 3) a small depression in permafrost plateau grows into a wetland as a result of groundwater-feedback process and eventually merge into larger, interconnected wetlands and 4) the amplitude of seasonal air temperature fluctuation affects the permafrost geometry and the pathway of groundwater flow. |
author2 |
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) University of Calgary Wilfrid Laurier University (WLU) McGill University = Université McGill Montréal, Canada Joint Annual Meeting with CMOS and CWRA |
format |
Conference Object |
author |
Rivière, Agnès Hayashi, Masaki Quinton, William, L |
author_facet |
Rivière, Agnès Hayashi, Masaki Quinton, William, L |
author_sort |
Rivière, Agnès |
title |
Roles of groundwater processes in the evolution of complex landscape of discontinuous permafrost |
title_short |
Roles of groundwater processes in the evolution of complex landscape of discontinuous permafrost |
title_full |
Roles of groundwater processes in the evolution of complex landscape of discontinuous permafrost |
title_fullStr |
Roles of groundwater processes in the evolution of complex landscape of discontinuous permafrost |
title_full_unstemmed |
Roles of groundwater processes in the evolution of complex landscape of discontinuous permafrost |
title_sort |
roles of groundwater processes in the evolution of complex landscape of discontinuous permafrost |
publisher |
HAL CCSD |
publishDate |
2013 |
url |
https://hal.science/hal-01396653 |
op_coverage |
Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada |
genre |
Hay River Northwest Territories Peat permafrost |
genre_facet |
Hay River Northwest Territories Peat permafrost |
op_source |
Canadian Geophysical Union scientific meetings https://hal.science/hal-01396653 Canadian Geophysical Union scientific meetings, May 2013, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada https://cgu-ugc.ca/meetings/ |
op_relation |
hal-01396653 https://hal.science/hal-01396653 |
_version_ |
1799481266783911936 |