A conceptual model for anticipating the impact of landscape evolution on groundwater recharge in degrading permafrost environments
Temperatures in the arctic and subarctic are rising at more than twice the rate of the global average, driving the accelerated thawing of permafrost across the region. The impacts of permafrost degradation have been studied in the discontinuous permafrost zone at Umiujaq, in northern Quebec, Canada,...
Published in: | Geophysical Research Letters |
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Main Authors: | , , , , |
Format: | Other/Unknown Material |
Language: | English |
Published: |
American Geophysical Union
2020
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Subjects: | |
Online Access: | https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11794/39410 https://doi.org/10.1029/2020GL087695 |
Summary: | Temperatures in the arctic and subarctic are rising at more than twice the rate of the global average, driving the accelerated thawing of permafrost across the region. The impacts of permafrost degradation have been studied in the discontinuous permafrost zone at Umiujaq, in northern Quebec, Canada, for over 30 years, but the effects of changing land cover on groundwater recharge is not well understood. The water table fluctuation method was used to compute groundwater recharge using four years of water level data and soil moisture readings from five field sites characteristic of different stages of permafrost degradation and vegetation invasion. Results indicate that as vegetation grows taller, groundwater recharge increases, likely due to increased snow thickness. Results were then combined with a preexisting conceptual model that describes the evolution from tundra to shrubland and forests to create a new model for describing how groundwater recharge is affected by landscape evolution. |
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