Impact of Groundwater Flow on Permafrost Degradation and Transportation Infrastructure Stability
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2013-02-01
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Abstract:A warming climate has been identified as unequivocal by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change with greater and faster temperature increase demonstrated at northern latitudes, and with an overall increase in precipitation. Analysis of field data collected throughout the arctic and subarctic corroborates with these findings, demonstrating an overall warming of permafrost temperatures. As indicated by thermal modeling, the stability of permafrost below roadway embankments is greatly affected by surface temperatures; thus, as climate warms, permafrost degradation represents a major issue for the design and maintenance of embankments. While the thermal stability of embankments in a warming climate has been investigated, the impact of groundwater and the effect of advective heat transfer on permafrost degradation below embankments has been overlooked. Recent studies indicate that groundwater flow along the permafrost table will cause permafrost degradation to occur one to several orders of magnitude faster than atmospheric warming alone. Thus, it is imperative for the long-term stability of infrastructure in permafrost regions that we better understand the complex interaction among groundwater, permafrost, and overlying embankments. The overall goal of this research is to develop a relationship among groundwater flow, permafrost degradation, and embankment stability. The completion of this study requires collaboration between researchers from the University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF) and from the Université de Montréal (UdeM).
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