The influence of surface characteristics, topography and continentality on mountain permafrost in British Columbia

Hasler, Andreas; Geertsema, Marten; Foord, Vanessa N.; Gruber, Stephan; Nötzli, Jeannette

doi:10.5194/tc-9-1025-2015

Cited by 54 publications

(40 citation statements)

References 29 publications

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“…For example, the solar radiation arriving on some unobstructed south-facing slopes would far exceed that on a horizontal plane, and it would be much diminished in valleys or on north facing slopes (Aguilar et al, 2010). A spatial interpolation method based on few sparsely installed stations cannot effectively capture the spatial heterogeneity of solar radiation in a mountainous area, which will exert significant influences on the spatial distribution of air and ground temperatures, ET, snowmelt, and mass balance of mountainous glaciers (Gruber et al, 2017;Harris et al, 2009;Hasler et al, 2015;Hoffman et al, 2016;Luo, Jin, Marchenko, et al, 2018;Luo, Jin, Wu, et al, 2018;van Pelt et al, 2012). According to observations in the Antarctica dry valley, the ground surface temperature dropped by about 10°C in less than 4 hr following the onset of topographic shadows (Katurji et al, 2013).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Influences of Topographic Shadows on the Thermal and Hydrological Processes in a Cold Region Mountainous Watershed in Northwest China

Zhang

Cheng

et al. 2018

J Adv Model Earth Syst

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The solar radiation incident in a mountainous area with a complex terrain has a strong spatial heterogeneity due to the variations in slope orientation (self‐shading) and shadows cast by surrounding topography agents (topographic shading). Although slope self‐shading has been well studied and considered in most land surface and hydrological models, topographic shading is usually ignored, and its influence on the thermal and hydrological processes in a cold mountainous area remains unclear. In this study, a topographic solar radiation algorithm with consideration for both slope self‐shading and topographic shadows has been implemented and incorporated into a distributed hydrological model with physically based descriptions for the energy balance. A promising model performance was achieved according to a vigorous evaluation. In a control model without considering the topographic shadows, the simulated solar radiation incident in the study area was about 14.3 W/m2 higher on average, which in turn led to a higher simulated annual mean ground temperature at 4 m (by 0.41 °C) and evapotranspiration (by 16.1 mm/a), and a smaller permafrost extent (reduced by about 8%), as well as smaller maximal snow depth and shorter snow duration. Although the simulation was not significantly improved for discharge hydrograph in the base model, higher river runoff peaks and an increased runoff depth were obtained. In areas with a rugged terrain and deep valleys, the influences of topographic shadows would even be stronger in reality than the presented results, which cannot be ignored in the simulation of the thermal and hydrological processes, especially in a refined model.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Influences of Topographic Shadows on the Thermal and Hydrological Processes in a Cold Region Mountainous Watershed in Northwest China

Zhang

Cheng

et al. 2018

J Adv Model Earth Syst

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“…Hasler et al . () replaced missing data with mean GST values and mean uncertainties for comparing annual means. Magnin et al .…”

Section: Gap‐filling Algorithmmentioning

confidence: 97%

“…Hasler et al . () estimated uncertainties for entire gaps in the form of a standard error of the mean. To gain accuracy regarding the seasonal pattern and to be more flexible for quantifying mean uncertainties of aggregates and indices (see the Uncertainty Propagation for Indices section), we suggest daily uncertainty estimates.…”

Section: Gap‐filling Algorithmmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…By contrast, when intense ground cooling occurs (e.g. on ridges less influenced by snow or in coarse-blocky and porous ground material favouring convection), GST may be subject to large interannual variations in FDD or MAGST (Gisnås et al, 2014;Gubler et al, 2011;Hasler et al, 2015). During the snow-free period, air temperature is the dominating factor and the differences among GST time series are much smaller (Guglielmin et al, 2012).…”

Section: Characteristics Of Gst Time Series In Permafrostmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Gap-Filling Algorithm for Ground Surface Temperature Data Measured in Permafrost and Periglacial Environments

Staub

Hasler

Nötzli

et al. 2016

Permafrost and Periglac. Process.

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Ground surface temperatures (GST) are widely measured in mountain permafrost areas, but their time series data can be interrupted by gaps. Gaps complicate the calculation of aggregates and indices required for analysing temporal and spatial variability between loggers and sites. We present an algorithm to estimate daily mean GST and the resulting uncertainty. The algorithm is designed to automatically fill data gaps in a database of several tens to hundreds of time series, for example, the Swiss Permafrost Monitoring Network (PERMOS). Using numerous randomly generated artificial gaps, we validated the performance of the gap‐filling routine in terms of (1) the bias resulting on annual means, (2) thawing and freezing degree‐days, and (3) the accuracy of the uncertainty estimation. Although quantile mapping provided the most reliable gap‐filling approach overall, linear interpolation between neighbouring values performed equally well for gap durations of up to 3–5 days. Finding the most similar regressors is crucial and also the main source of errors, particularly because of the large spatial and temporal variability of ground and snow properties in high‐mountain terrains. Applying the gap‐filling technique to the PERMOS GST data increased the total number of complete hydrological years available for analysis by 70 per cent (>450‐filled gaps), likely without exceeding a maximal uncertainty of ± 0.25 °C in calculated annual mean values. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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“…Several studies have been undertaken on this topic in European mountains (Haeberli, 1973;Grüber and Hoelzle, 2001;Luetschg et al, 2008;Farbrot et al, 2011Farbrot et al, , 2013Hasler et al, 2011;Pogliotti, 2011;Gisnås et al, 2014;Ardelean et al, 2015;Magnin et al, 2016;Beniston et al, 2017), in Japan (Ishikawa, 2003;Ishikawa and Hirakawa, 2000), in the Canadian Rocky Mountains (Harris, 1981;Lewkowicz and Ednie, Lewkowicz et al, 2012;Bonnaventure et al, 2012;Hasler et al, 2015), and most recently in the Andes (Apaloo et al 2012). The snow cover acts as a buffer layer controlling heat loss at the ground interface.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Wind-driven snow conditions control the occurrence of contemporary marginal mountain permafrost in the Chic-Choc Mountains, south-eastern Canada: a case study from Mont Jacques-Cartier

et al. 2017

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Abstract. We present data on the distribution and thermophysical properties of snow collected sporadically over 4 decades along with recent data of ground surface temperature from Mont Jacques-Cartier (1268 m a.s.l.), the highest summit in the Appalachians of south-eastern Canada. We demonstrate that the occurrence of contemporary permafrost is necessarily associated with a very thin and wind-packed winter snow cover which brings local azonal topo-climatic conditions on the dome-shaped summit. The aims of this study were (i) to understand the snow distribution pattern and snow thermophysical properties on the Mont JacquesCartier summit and (ii) to investigate the impact of snow on the spatial distribution of the ground surface temperature (GST) using temperature sensors deployed over the summit. Results showed that above the local treeline, the summit is characterized by a snow cover typically less than 30 cm thick which is explained by the strong westerly winds interacting with the local surface roughness created by the physiography and surficial geomorphology of the site. The snowpack structure is fairly similar to that observed on windy Arctic tundra with a top dense wind slab (300 to 450 kg m −3 ) of high thermal conductivity, which facilitates heat transfer between the ground surface and the atmosphere. The mean annual ground surface temperature (MAGST) below this thin and wind-packed snow cover was about −1 • C in 2013 and 2014, for the higher, exposed, blockfield-covered sector of the summit characterized by a sporadic herbaceous cover. In contrast, for the gentle slopes covered with stunted spruce (krummholz), and for the steep leeward slope to the southeast of the summit, the MAGST was around 3 • C in 2013 and 2014. The study concludes that the permafrost on Mont Jacques-Cartier, most widely in the Chic-Choc Mountains and by extension in the southern highest summits of the Appalachians, is therefore likely limited to the barren windexposed surface of the summit where the low air temperature, the thin snowpack and the wind action bring local cold surface conditions favourable to permafrost development.

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The influence of surface characteristics, topography and continentality on mountain permafrost in British Columbia

Cited by 54 publications

References 29 publications

Influences of Topographic Shadows on the Thermal and Hydrological Processes in a Cold Region Mountainous Watershed in Northwest China

Influences of Topographic Shadows on the Thermal and Hydrological Processes in a Cold Region Mountainous Watershed in Northwest China

Gap-Filling Algorithm for Ground Surface Temperature Data Measured in Permafrost and Periglacial Environments

Wind-driven snow conditions control the occurrence of contemporary marginal mountain permafrost in the Chic-Choc Mountains, south-eastern Canada: a case study from Mont Jacques-Cartier

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