Permafrost hydrology
Theme leader: Dr. Henk Kooi
Permafrost degradation in response to climate warming is expected to cause major changes in the pan-Arctic hydrological system over the next decades to millennia.
Observed changes in river discharge and chemistry and changes in lake coverage have been taken as signs that the transition to a new hydro-climatic regime in northern high-latitudes has already started.
Subsurface hydrology evidently plays a central part in this process. At the same time, subsurface hydrology of permafrost settings is among the least studied and least understood hydrological systems in the world.
We aim to advance understanding of permafrost groundwater hydrology and its links with surface hydrology. Research under this theme has started in recent years and is under development.
Activities include/aim at model development, modelling studies, field investigation and use of hydrological databases.
Projects
Permafrost-groundwater modelling
In collaboration with the University of East Anglia, UK, numerical models are developed that allow simulation of coupled groundwater flow and
heat transport and which include water-ice phase changes and its impact on permeability and water storage. The codes are used in explorative modelling
studies to investigate permafrost development and groundwater system change in response to climate warming scenarios. Special attention is paid
to (a) changes in groundwater discharge and baseflow generation, (b) lake and lake-talik development in thaw-lake settings.
Towards permafrost groundwater monitoring
In order to stimulate collection of dedicated field data and international collaboration on permafrost hydrology in Europe, The University Centre of
Svalbard (H. Christiansen) and VUA (H. Kooi) organized an international workshop October 24-26, 2012,
HYDRO-PERM workshop, Longyearbyen, Svalbard.
Through this international workshop, which was funded by the Svalbard Science Forum (SSF), we aim to (1) define and establish joint future
permafrost hydrology research in Svalbard and (2) explore the potential for intra-and sub-permafrost hydrological monitoring.
August 10-20, 2014 fieldwork was conducted on Svalbard (collaboration Bar Ilan University, Geol. Survey Israel, Unis Svalbard, and VU University Amsterdam) to study radium and other
uranium series isotopes in active layer water and permafrost. The aim is to evaluate if these isotopes can provide a valuable tracer of permafrost
hydrology in the face of climate warming impacts.
MSc projects:
- Cold-season river discharge behaviour of undisturbed drainage basins in Siberia using R-ArcticNet data (Vanessa Watson)
- Constraining subsurface hydrological processes in the Adventdalen glacial river basin in Svalbard through stable isotopes and hydrochemistry (Jouke Rozema)
- Unfrozen water content of permafrost; a review (Agnes E. Wagenmaker)
Recent proposals
- 2013:
'Tracing permafrost degradation in groundwater and stream flow using radium and other U-Thseries isotopes',
In collaboration with dr. Y. Weinstein (Bar Ilan), and dr. H.H. Christiansen (UNIS), National Science Foundation (NWO),
Result: not funded
- 2013:
'PermaRadium, a radium isotope study in Zackenberg, NE Greenland',
In collaboration with dr. Y. Weinstein (UNIS), INTERACT TA (FP7),
Result: not funded
- 2012:
'Workshop to develop joint future permafrost hydrology research in Svalbard',
In collaboration with dr. H. Christiansen (UNIS), Svalbard Science Forum (SSF),
Result: Funded
- 2010/11:
'Groundwater- surface water interaction in permafrost areas in the transition to a warmer Arctic; the dynamics of thaw lake regions',
National science foundation (NWO),
Result: not funded in spite of 4 of 5 excellent ratings by reviewers
- 2010/11:
'Effect of Permafrost On the Safety case for geological disposal (EPOS)',
'Impact of Permafrost on Repository Safety (IMPRES)',
FP7 Small/medium scale collaborative project (with TNO; BGS; GTK; LGT; Posiva; SKB; NRG; Cardiff Univ.)
Result: not funded
Collaborators
Publications
- Watson, V., Kooi, H., Bense, V.F. (2013) Potential controls on cold-season river flow behavior in subarctic river basins in Siberia, Journal of Hydrology, doi:10.1016/j.jhydrol.2013.03.011
- Bense, V. Kooi, H., Ferguson, G., Read, T. (2012) Permafrost degradation as a control on hydrogeological regime shifts in a warming climate, Journal of Geophysical Research, 117, F03036, doi:10.1029/2011JF002143
- Kooi, H., Watson, V., Bense, V.F. (2012) What controls inter-basin variation in cold-season river flow recession in permafrost basins in sub-Arctic Siberia?, Abstract EGU 2012 Vienna.
- Rozema, J. (2012) Variation of stable isotope ratios (d18O and d2H) and hydrochemical parameters within an Arctic hydrological system; a reconnaissance study of the lower Adventdalen catchment, Spitsbergen, MSc Master Thesis, VU Univeristy.
- Green, T.R., M. Taniguchi, H. Kooi, J.J. Gurdak, D.M. Allen, K,M. Hiscock, H. Treidel, and A. Aureli (2011) Beneath the surface of global change: Impacts of climate change on groundwater, Journal of Hydrology 405, 532-560. doi:10.1016/j.jhydrol.2011.05.002.
- Watson, V. (2010) Cold season flow in subarctic river basins of Siberia; an assessment of possible catchment properties explaining varying discharge behaviour in the cold season. MSc Thematic Research Project Report, VU University.
- Bense, V.F., G. Ferguson and H. Kooi (2009) Evolution of shallow groundwater flow systems in areas of degrading permafrost, Geophys. Res. Lett., 36, L22401, doi:10.1029/2009GL039225.
Last modified: Mon Dec 28 15:04:43 CET 2015
