Investigating Hydrologic Storage in Catchments Underlain by Continuous Permafrost

摘要

It is very difficult to quantify storage in a watershed; however, we know that the hydrologic runoff response of a catchment is intimately tied to the storage in that catchment. In the Arctic, several types of storage are possible, each having its own residence time. We investigate storage in two arctic watersheds underlain by continuous permafrost: one where the main storage mechanism is the active layer and another where surface storage (lakes, ponds, and wetlands) is dominant. In both cases, the snow water equivalent of the late winter snowpack is sufficient to fill these storage reservoirs and produce runoff. However, by summer's end, a wide range of storage conditions can prevail in these catchments depending on the warm season precipitation, evapotranspiration, and runoff. These late summer conditions carry over the winter and impact the next spring's snowmelt response.