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| Titel |
Recent Progress in Mountain Permafrost Modelling using BTS in North America |
| VerfasserIn |
P. P. Bonnaventure, A. G. Lewkowicz |
| Konferenz |
EGU General Assembly 2009
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| Medientyp |
Artikel
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| Sprache |
Englisch
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| Digitales Dokument |
PDF |
| Erschienen |
In: GRA - Volume 11 (2009) |
| Datensatznummer |
250023801
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| Zusammenfassung |
| This presentation reports on progress in mapping and modelling mountain permafrost in
North America over the past 5 years using the Basal Temperature of Snow (BTS)
technique. It describes the methodology and some of the challenges in our current
study aimed at modelling permafrost at a resolution of 30 x 30 m, for the entire
southern half of the Yukon Territory, an area of 250 x 103 km2. This mountainous
region differs from those in Europe and Asia by having a sparse population, very
limited base-line information (such as climate data) and relatively low levels of
infrastructure. However, major infrastructure projects, such as pipelines, roads, railways
and mines are being proposed and climate change is expected to affect permafrost
distribution and characteristics, including potentially triggering landslides and other
natural hazards. The research involves developing BTS-based models validated using
late-summer ground-truthing. Models have been created for three areas and work is
currently underway in five other locations in the Yukon with possible future sites in
northern British Columbia. Work to date has examined the suitability of the method in
differing climatic zones, the interchangeability of models between areas, and the
potential effects of climatic change. Current data collection is focused on the potential
impact of atmospheric temperature inversions on permafrost distribution: each of the
study areas has been equipped with a network of air, ground surface and permafrost
surface temperature sensors as well as snow-depth monitoring devices, located within
different topographic situations. Another challenge is the interpolation of permafrost
probabilities between distant study areas: information developed from a data-base
of more than 1500 rock glaciers is expected to help in this regard. The project,
which is scheduled for completion within the next 12 months, will provide essential
information relating to the spatial attributes and sensitivities of mountain permafrost
for infrastructure planning, natural hazard mapping, and climate change impact
studies. |
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