Modeling Impacts of Thaw Lakes to Ground Thermal Regime in Northern Alaska
Publication: Journal of Cold Regions Engineering
Volume 18, Issue 2
Abstract
In northern Alaska, the ground is largely underlain by permafrost. Many engineering problems in this region can be attributed to the variations of ground thermal regime. Engineering projects such as construction of gas pipelines must be based on a good understanding of ground thermal regime and its interaction with seasonal climate changes. Numerical modeling is used to simulate a multimedia system with transient heat transfer in this research. The system includes a snow cover on the top, a shallow lake in the middle, and soils beneath the lake. The finite-element method is used for the spatial domain solution, and the finite-difference method is used for the temporal domain solution. The model is applied to three sites in northern Alaska for a nine-month period during the winter of 1995–1996. The result reveals the impacts of thaw lake on the ground thermal regime, the formation of the talik, as well as the formation of ice in the lake. The model is verified against field observations. The difference between the simulated and observed ice thickness is less than 3%.
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Published In
Journal of Cold Regions Engineering
Volume 18 • Issue 2 • June 2004
Pages: 70 - 87
Copyright
Copyright © 2004 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: May 19, 2003
Accepted: Jan 13, 2004
Published online: May 14, 2004
Published in print: Jun 2004
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