| Summary: | If the seasonal maximum ice thickness in a lake environment is assumed to be analogous to the active layer in terrestrial permafrost, the offset concept highlights important differences between terrestrial and lacustrine thermal regimes. The processes contributing to the unique influence of lakes on permafrost are (in order of decreasing importance): the ratio between winter (snow+surface ice freezing/conduction+free convection) and summer (forced convection) heat transfer coefficients, storage of accumulated summer heat beneath lake snow cover, and asymmetry of lake‐ice freezing and thawing geometries. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
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