Soil moisture redistribution and its effect on inter-annual active layer temperature and thickness variations in a dry loess terrace in Adventdalen, Svalbard

High-resolution field data for the period 2000–2014 consisting of active layer and permafrost temperature, active layer soil moisture, and thaw depth progression from the UNISCALM research site in Adventdalen, Svalbard, is combined with a physically based coupled cryotic and hydrogeological model to...

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Published in:The Cryosphere
Main Authors: C. Schuh, A. Frampton, H. H. Christiansen
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: Copernicus Publications 2017
Subjects:
geo
Ice
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-11-635-2017
http://www.the-cryosphere.net/11/635/2017/tc-11-635-2017.pdf
https://doaj.org/article/efb6c318eedb458c96484728121831e5
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spelling fttriple:oai:gotriple.eu:oai:doaj.org/article:efb6c318eedb458c96484728121831e5 2023-05-15T13:02:51+02:00 Soil moisture redistribution and its effect on inter-annual active layer temperature and thickness variations in a dry loess terrace in Adventdalen, Svalbard C. Schuh A. Frampton H. H. Christiansen 2017-02-01 https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-11-635-2017 http://www.the-cryosphere.net/11/635/2017/tc-11-635-2017.pdf https://doaj.org/article/efb6c318eedb458c96484728121831e5 en eng Copernicus Publications 1994-0416 1994-0424 doi:10.5194/tc-11-635-2017 http://www.the-cryosphere.net/11/635/2017/tc-11-635-2017.pdf https://doaj.org/article/efb6c318eedb458c96484728121831e5 undefined The Cryosphere, Vol 11, Iss 1, Pp 635-651 (2017) envir geo Journal Article https://vocabularies.coar-repositories.org/resource_types/c_6501/ 2017 fttriple https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-11-635-2017 2023-01-22T19:07:14Z High-resolution field data for the period 2000–2014 consisting of active layer and permafrost temperature, active layer soil moisture, and thaw depth progression from the UNISCALM research site in Adventdalen, Svalbard, is combined with a physically based coupled cryotic and hydrogeological model to investigate active layer dynamics. The site is a loess-covered river terrace characterized by dry conditions with little to no summer infiltration and an unsaturated active layer. A range of soil moisture characteristic curves consistent with loess sediments is considered and their effects on ice and moisture redistribution, heat flux, energy storage through latent heat transfer, and active layer thickness is investigated and quantified based on hydro-climatic site conditions. Results show that soil moisture retention characteristics exhibit notable control on ice distribution and circulation within the active layer through cryosuction and are subject to seasonal variability and site-specific surface temperature variations. The retention characteristics also impact unfrozen water and ice content in the permafrost. Although these effects lead to differences in thaw progression rates, the resulting inter-annual variability in active layer thickness is not large. Field data analysis reveals that variations in summer degree days do not notably affect the active layer thaw depths; instead, a cumulative winter degree day index is found to more significantly control inter-annual active layer thickness variation at this site. A tendency of increasing winter temperatures is found to cause a general warming of the subsurface down to 10 m depth (0.05 to 0.26 °C yr−1, observed and modelled) including an increasing active layer thickness (0.8 cm yr−1, observed and 0.3 to 0.8 cm yr−1, modelled) during the 14-year study period. Article in Journal/Newspaper Active layer temperature Active layer thickness Adventdalen Ice permafrost Svalbard The Cryosphere Unknown Adventdalen ENVELOPE(16.264,16.264,78.181,78.181) Svalbard The Cryosphere 11 1 635 651
institution Open Polar
collection Unknown
op_collection_id fttriple
language English
topic envir
geo
spellingShingle envir
geo
C. Schuh
A. Frampton
H. H. Christiansen
Soil moisture redistribution and its effect on inter-annual active layer temperature and thickness variations in a dry loess terrace in Adventdalen, Svalbard
topic_facet envir
geo
description High-resolution field data for the period 2000–2014 consisting of active layer and permafrost temperature, active layer soil moisture, and thaw depth progression from the UNISCALM research site in Adventdalen, Svalbard, is combined with a physically based coupled cryotic and hydrogeological model to investigate active layer dynamics. The site is a loess-covered river terrace characterized by dry conditions with little to no summer infiltration and an unsaturated active layer. A range of soil moisture characteristic curves consistent with loess sediments is considered and their effects on ice and moisture redistribution, heat flux, energy storage through latent heat transfer, and active layer thickness is investigated and quantified based on hydro-climatic site conditions. Results show that soil moisture retention characteristics exhibit notable control on ice distribution and circulation within the active layer through cryosuction and are subject to seasonal variability and site-specific surface temperature variations. The retention characteristics also impact unfrozen water and ice content in the permafrost. Although these effects lead to differences in thaw progression rates, the resulting inter-annual variability in active layer thickness is not large. Field data analysis reveals that variations in summer degree days do not notably affect the active layer thaw depths; instead, a cumulative winter degree day index is found to more significantly control inter-annual active layer thickness variation at this site. A tendency of increasing winter temperatures is found to cause a general warming of the subsurface down to 10 m depth (0.05 to 0.26 °C yr−1, observed and modelled) including an increasing active layer thickness (0.8 cm yr−1, observed and 0.3 to 0.8 cm yr−1, modelled) during the 14-year study period.
format Article in Journal/Newspaper
author C. Schuh
A. Frampton
H. H. Christiansen
author_facet C. Schuh
A. Frampton
H. H. Christiansen
author_sort C. Schuh
title Soil moisture redistribution and its effect on inter-annual active layer temperature and thickness variations in a dry loess terrace in Adventdalen, Svalbard
title_short Soil moisture redistribution and its effect on inter-annual active layer temperature and thickness variations in a dry loess terrace in Adventdalen, Svalbard
title_full Soil moisture redistribution and its effect on inter-annual active layer temperature and thickness variations in a dry loess terrace in Adventdalen, Svalbard
title_fullStr Soil moisture redistribution and its effect on inter-annual active layer temperature and thickness variations in a dry loess terrace in Adventdalen, Svalbard
title_full_unstemmed Soil moisture redistribution and its effect on inter-annual active layer temperature and thickness variations in a dry loess terrace in Adventdalen, Svalbard
title_sort soil moisture redistribution and its effect on inter-annual active layer temperature and thickness variations in a dry loess terrace in adventdalen, svalbard
publisher Copernicus Publications
publishDate 2017
url https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-11-635-2017
http://www.the-cryosphere.net/11/635/2017/tc-11-635-2017.pdf
https://doaj.org/article/efb6c318eedb458c96484728121831e5
long_lat ENVELOPE(16.264,16.264,78.181,78.181)
geographic Adventdalen
Svalbard
geographic_facet Adventdalen
Svalbard
genre Active layer temperature
Active layer thickness
Adventdalen
Ice
permafrost
Svalbard
The Cryosphere
genre_facet Active layer temperature
Active layer thickness
Adventdalen
Ice
permafrost
Svalbard
The Cryosphere
op_source The Cryosphere, Vol 11, Iss 1, Pp 635-651 (2017)
op_relation 1994-0416
1994-0424
doi:10.5194/tc-11-635-2017
http://www.the-cryosphere.net/11/635/2017/tc-11-635-2017.pdf
https://doaj.org/article/efb6c318eedb458c96484728121831e5
op_rights undefined
op_doi https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-11-635-2017
container_title The Cryosphere
container_volume 11
container_issue 1
container_start_page 635
op_container_end_page 651
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