Reduction of ground surface temperatures beside highway embankments by snow compaction, central Yukon, Canada.

Snowbanks accumulate beside roads in permafrost regions, raise ground temperatures, may degrade permafrost locally and lead to deterioration of the embankment. Field experiments were conducted at tundra and taiga sites to determine whether compaction of snowbanks by snowmobiles would reduce ground temperatures, as simulated previously by numerical modelling. In taiga compaction affected the whole snowpack. Mean snow depth was reduced from 71 cm at undisturbed sites to 40 cm in compacted snow. The mean snowpack density increased from 185 kg m-3 to 327 kg m-3. In tundra compaction principally effected depth hoar: snow depths were reduced from 70 to 61 cm and densities increased from 271 to 311 kg m-3. Compaction reduced temperatures by 2 - 3 °C at both sites, despite estimated mean thermal resistance reductions of 8.5 to 1.2 m2KW-1 in taiga and 5.9 to 3 m2KW-1 in tundra, suggesting greater thermal influence of depth hoar in tundra.

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Science (M.Sc.)

Level thesis:degree_level

Master's

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Geography

Grantor dc:publisher

Carleton University

Year dc:date.issued

2023

Author dc:creator

• Jardine, Patrick

Statement dc:rights

• Copyright © 2023 the author(s). Theses may be used for non-commercial research, educational, or related academic purposes only. Such uses include personal study, distribution to students, research and scholarship. Theses may only be shared by linking to the Carleton University Institutional Repository and no part may be copied without proper attribution to the author; no part may be used for commercial purposes directly or indirectly via a for-profit platform; no adaptation or derivative works are permitted without consent from the copyright owner.

Language dc:language.iso

en

DOI

10.22215/etd/2023-15658

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:carleton.scholaris.ca:20.500.14718/41036