A Model of IceWedge Polygon Drainage in Changing Arctic Terrain

Authors

Vitaly Zlotnik, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow
Dylan R. Harp, Los Alamos National LaboratoryFollow
Elchin E. Jafarov, Los Alamos National LaboratoryFollow
Charles J. Abolt, Los Alamos National LaboratoryFollow

ORCID IDs

Vitaly A. Zlotnik https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9601-9464

Dylan R. Harp https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9777-8000

Elchin E. Jafarov https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8310-3261

Charles J. Abolt https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6052-199X

Document Type

Article

Date of this Version

2020

Citation

Water 2020, 12, 3376;

doi:10.3390/w12123376

Comments

© 2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license

Abstract

As ice wedge degradation and the inundation of polygonal troughs become increasingly common processes across the Arctic, lateral export of water from polygonal soils may represent an important mechanism for the mobilization of dissolved organic carbon and other solutes. However, drainage from ice wedge polygons is poorly understood. We constructed a model which uses cross-sectional flow nets to define flow paths of meltwater through the active layer of an inundated low-centered polygon towards the trough. The model includes the eects of evaporation and simulates the depletion of ponded water in the polygon center during the thaw season. In most simulations, we discovered a strong hydrodynamic edge eect: only a small fraction of the polygon volume near the rim area is flushed by the drainage at relatively high velocities, suggesting that nearly all advective transport of solutes, heat, and soil particles is confined to this zone. Estimates of characteristic drainage times from the polygon center are consistent with published field observations.