Numerical simulations of shallow groundwater flow and heat transport in a continuous permafrost setting under the impact of climate warming
Numerical simulations of coupled groundwater flow and heat transport are used to address how hydrogeological conditions can affect permafrost dynamics. The simulations are based on a 2D vertical-plane conceptual model of a study site at the Iqaluit Airport, Nunavut, Canada, which includes a 50 m dee...
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ftunivtoronto:oai:localhost:1807/93308 2023-05-15T16:55:55+02:00 Numerical simulations of shallow groundwater flow and heat transport in a continuous permafrost setting under the impact of climate warming Shojae Ghias, Masoumeh Therrien, René Molson, John Lemieux, Jean-Michel 2018-06-05 http://hdl.handle.net/1807/93308 http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/abs/10.1139/cgj-2017-0182 unknown NRC Research Press (a division of Canadian Science Publishing) 0008-3674 http://hdl.handle.net/1807/93308 http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/abs/10.1139/cgj-2017-0182 Article 2018 ftunivtoronto 2020-06-17T12:23:15Z Numerical simulations of coupled groundwater flow and heat transport are used to address how hydrogeological conditions can affect permafrost dynamics. The simulations are based on a 2D vertical-plane conceptual model of a study site at the Iqaluit Airport, Nunavut, Canada, which includes a 50 m deep permafrost terrain with a shallow active layer, overlain by a paved taxiway with winter snow-covered embankments. Coupled groundwater flow and advective-conductive heat transport with freeze-thaw dynamics, temperature-dependent porewater freezing functions and latent heat are included in the model. The simulation results show that a smooth (low-slope) freezing function with a higher residual unfrozen moisture content produced a deeper thaw front compared to that using a steeper freezing function, generating a maximum increase in the depth to permafrost of 17.5 m after 268 years. Permafrost thaw rates in high-permeability zones within a heterogeneous system were also relatively higher compared to an otherwise equivalent homogeneous soil, resulting in a maximum increase of 2.6 m in the depth to permafrost after 238 years. As recharge water cools while flowing along the upgradient permafrost table, advectively-driven heat transport is paradoxically shown to temporarily increase the height of the permafrost table in downgradient areas. The accepted manuscript in pdf format is listed with the files at the bottom of this page. The presentation of the authors' names and (or) special characters in the title of the manuscript may differ slightly between what is listed on this page and what is listed in the pdf file of the accepted manuscript; that in the pdf file of the accepted manuscript is what was submitted by the author. Article in Journal/Newspaper Iqaluit Nunavut permafrost University of Toronto: Research Repository T-Space Canada Iqaluit Airport ENVELOPE(-68.553,-68.553,63.755,63.755) Nunavut |
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University of Toronto: Research Repository T-Space |
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ftunivtoronto |
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description |
Numerical simulations of coupled groundwater flow and heat transport are used to address how hydrogeological conditions can affect permafrost dynamics. The simulations are based on a 2D vertical-plane conceptual model of a study site at the Iqaluit Airport, Nunavut, Canada, which includes a 50 m deep permafrost terrain with a shallow active layer, overlain by a paved taxiway with winter snow-covered embankments. Coupled groundwater flow and advective-conductive heat transport with freeze-thaw dynamics, temperature-dependent porewater freezing functions and latent heat are included in the model. The simulation results show that a smooth (low-slope) freezing function with a higher residual unfrozen moisture content produced a deeper thaw front compared to that using a steeper freezing function, generating a maximum increase in the depth to permafrost of 17.5 m after 268 years. Permafrost thaw rates in high-permeability zones within a heterogeneous system were also relatively higher compared to an otherwise equivalent homogeneous soil, resulting in a maximum increase of 2.6 m in the depth to permafrost after 238 years. As recharge water cools while flowing along the upgradient permafrost table, advectively-driven heat transport is paradoxically shown to temporarily increase the height of the permafrost table in downgradient areas. The accepted manuscript in pdf format is listed with the files at the bottom of this page. The presentation of the authors' names and (or) special characters in the title of the manuscript may differ slightly between what is listed on this page and what is listed in the pdf file of the accepted manuscript; that in the pdf file of the accepted manuscript is what was submitted by the author. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Shojae Ghias, Masoumeh Therrien, René Molson, John Lemieux, Jean-Michel |
spellingShingle |
Shojae Ghias, Masoumeh Therrien, René Molson, John Lemieux, Jean-Michel Numerical simulations of shallow groundwater flow and heat transport in a continuous permafrost setting under the impact of climate warming |
author_facet |
Shojae Ghias, Masoumeh Therrien, René Molson, John Lemieux, Jean-Michel |
author_sort |
Shojae Ghias, Masoumeh |
title |
Numerical simulations of shallow groundwater flow and heat transport in a continuous permafrost setting under the impact of climate warming |
title_short |
Numerical simulations of shallow groundwater flow and heat transport in a continuous permafrost setting under the impact of climate warming |
title_full |
Numerical simulations of shallow groundwater flow and heat transport in a continuous permafrost setting under the impact of climate warming |
title_fullStr |
Numerical simulations of shallow groundwater flow and heat transport in a continuous permafrost setting under the impact of climate warming |
title_full_unstemmed |
Numerical simulations of shallow groundwater flow and heat transport in a continuous permafrost setting under the impact of climate warming |
title_sort |
numerical simulations of shallow groundwater flow and heat transport in a continuous permafrost setting under the impact of climate warming |
publisher |
NRC Research Press (a division of Canadian Science Publishing) |
publishDate |
2018 |
url |
http://hdl.handle.net/1807/93308 http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/abs/10.1139/cgj-2017-0182 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(-68.553,-68.553,63.755,63.755) |
geographic |
Canada Iqaluit Airport Nunavut |
geographic_facet |
Canada Iqaluit Airport Nunavut |
genre |
Iqaluit Nunavut permafrost |
genre_facet |
Iqaluit Nunavut permafrost |
op_relation |
0008-3674 http://hdl.handle.net/1807/93308 http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/abs/10.1139/cgj-2017-0182 |
_version_ |
1766046948857479168 |