Cold Climate Processes Research Articles

Impacts of seasonally frozen ground on streamflow recession in the Red River of the North Basin

AbstractThe projected rising temperatures due to climate change can alter the frozen ground's duration and thickness in the cold regions of the Northern Hemisphere, leading to changes in surface and subsurface contributions to streamflow. The initial step in understanding the impacts of the changing climate on the hydrologic response of the cold climate watersheds is to investigate the effects of the cold climate processes (e.g., freeze–thaw processes) on watershed response. However, complexities associated with the spatiotemporal data collection of cold climate processes have limited the capabilities of hydrologic models in simulating cold climate watershed responses. This study aims to evaluate the impacts of seasonally frozen soil on the streamflow recession in the Red River of the North Basin (RRB). To the best of our knowledge, this study is one of the first attempts to quantify the impacts of frozen soil on the storage‐discharge relationship of the RRB. We define a set of hypotheses to evaluate how cold climate processes influence the surface and subsurface flow paths and affect the linearity/non‐linearity of the storage‐discharge relationship in spring and summer. The results confirmed that the cold climate processes control the recession behavior of the RRB. It was found that the streamflow discharge is linearly related to the storage during spring, whereas during summer, the relationship was less linear. Statistical analyses revealed that the antecedent winter soil temperature and snowpack control the seasonal dynamics of hydrograph recession. Particularly, results indicated a more linear storage‐discharge relationship for antecedent winters characterized by colder soil temperatures and larger snowpack. These findings highlight the importance of the cold climate hydrologic processes in cold climate basins such as the RRB.

Periglacial landforms of Dartmoor: an automated mapping approach to characterizing cold climate geomorphology

ABSTRACT A systematic mapping approach characterizes Dartmoor periglacial landform signatures using the geomorphology of nine summit areas displaying well developed tor and blockfield landforms. This combines manual vectorisation with automatic classification and surface boulder identification, using spectral signatures to reveal patterns and distribution. Tors were classified using a three-fold scheme: T0 - summits with no tors; T1 - summits with castellated and high relief tors; T2 - summits with subdued or low relief tors. Clitter (blockfield and blockstream) features identified by automated mapping include boulder lobes and stripes and boulder-fronted lobes and terraces, arranged according to distance downslope from parent tors. This zonation of periglacial landforms is proposed as a landsystem signature for areas exposed to periglacial and permafrost processes for significant time during the Quaternary. It represents a process-form regime in which cold climate processes, acting on partially deeply weathered and pneumatolysised granite, produce castellated tors, cryoplanation benches and autochthonous blockfield (clitter), and permafrost creep develops boulder lobes that elongate and evolve downslope as allochthonous blockslopes with boulder stripes and boulder-fronted lobes and terraces. This demonstrates that automated mapping can be applied to areas of upland periglacial landforms to rapidly and systematically compile quantifiable patterns of landform assemblages.

Chapter 7 Engineering investigation and assessment

Abstract Ground affected by periglacial and glacial processes can be among the most variable formed by nature. Previous chapters have graphically illustrated this variability and explained the topographic and sedimentary associations to be expected within former and present-day cold regions. This chapter shows how that background is needed to design and execute an investigation for predicting either the ground response to engineering change or the volumes of material the ground contains. Such an investigation of the ground is also needed to explain its current and former state of stability on slopes and its natural groundwater flow. The starting point of any such investigation is a conceptual model of the ground which subsequent investigation tests and refines; investigations conducted without such a model can easily become sterile and expensive exercises in collecting data. Such a model starts with knowledge of landscape, cold climate processes and their products, initially refined with the aid of a desk study. This then develops with each phase of the investigation, starting with what is known via desk studies, and progressing through what can be readily seen by walkover surveys and shallow investigations, including surface geophysics and remote sensing, all leading towards a model that can be tested directly by various intrusive investigations. Techniques appropriate for such investigations, including sampling, in glaciated and frost-disturbed ground both onshore and offshore are reviewed. Great care must be taken with the description of coarse materials, glaciotectonic structures and the materials within them; a unique feature of this chapter is the correlation it presents between the engineering descriptions of glacial sediments, as used in ground engineering, and the descriptions used by glacial sedimentologists for the same materials. Water levels are also obtained during these investigations, and in these types of ground they are often misinterpreted by applying thinking more appropriate to aquifer hydrogeology. A surprising feature of glaciated ground is its low permeability overall, and the correct interpretation of heads measured in such environments is often that for aquitards rather than aquifers. The initial conceptual model starts with little more than an idea and a broad outline, and evolves as the investigation progresses. It should continue to evolve throughout construction as more and more of the ground is exposed and its behaviour is better known; in this way, the ground model can be thought of as a living document, especially appropriate in such variable ground. The chapter concludes with a review of how this information can be brought together as three-dimensional models that effectively communicate the knowns and unknowns of a volume of ground and their associated risks, in both deterministic and probabilistic ways.

The impact of changing the land surface scheme in ACCESS(v1.0/1.1) on the surface climatology

Abstract. The Community Atmosphere Biosphere Land Exchange (CABLE) model has been coupled to the UK Met Office Unified Model (UM) within the existing framework of the Australian Community Climate and Earth System Simulator (ACCESS), replacing the Met Office Surface Exchange Scheme (MOSES). Here we investigate how features of the CABLE model impact on present-day surface climate using ACCESS atmosphere-only simulations. The main differences attributed to CABLE include a warmer winter and a cooler summer in the Northern Hemisphere (NH), earlier NH spring runoff from snowmelt, and smaller seasonal and diurnal temperature ranges. The cooler NH summer temperatures in canopy-covered regions are more consistent with observations and are attributed to two factors. Firstly, CABLE accounts for aerodynamic and radiative interactions between the canopy and the ground below; this placement of the canopy above the ground eliminates the need for a separate bare ground tile in canopy-covered areas. Secondly, CABLE simulates larger evapotranspiration fluxes and a slightly larger daytime cloud cover fraction. Warmer NH winter temperatures result from the parameterization of cold climate processes in CABLE in snow-covered areas. In particular, prognostic snow density increases through the winter and lowers the diurnally resolved snow albedo; variable snow thermal conductivity prevents early winter heat loss but allows more heat to enter the ground as the snow season progresses; liquid precipitation freezing within the snowpack delays the building of the snowpack in autumn and accelerates snow melting in spring. Overall we find that the ACCESS simulation of surface air temperature benefits from the specific representation of the turbulent transport within and just above the canopy in the roughness sublayer as well as the more complex snow scheme in CABLE relative to MOSES.

Coasts of Foxe Basin, Arctic Canada

Abstract Foxe Basin is a down-faulted arctic basin floored by Palaeozoic carbonates, surrounded by metamorphic Precambrian terrains. Quaternary deposits consist of Pleistocene–Holocene glacial drift, and frost-shattered bedrock-clasts mostly reworked by sea waves during post-glacial emergence during the last 5000–6000 yr. The shallow, primarily micro- to meso-tidal sea is covered by ice for c. 9–10 months each year. This ensures that the overall energy of the coasts is low, although strong storm waves develop during ice-free periods. Puccinellia phryganodes dominated salt marshes occur on muddy and sandy shores and grade into inland sedge-forb wetlands and Dryas -dominated tundra. Cold climate processes active on the emerged land have generated typical features such as frost heaving of bedrock blocks, solifluction lobes on slopes, frost boils in flatter areas, frost shattering and solution of surficial carbonate pebbles, thermokarst lakes, and shallow Cryosols.

A re-interpretation of the recent stratigraphical history of Utopia Planitia, Mars: Implications for late-Amazonian periglacial and ice-rich terrain

Utopia Planitia, one of the great northern plains of the Mars, is a region where landscape modification by cold-climate processes, i.e. glacial and periglacial, is thought to be widespread. In the middle latitudes of this region a metres-thick mantle, possibly comprising an ice-dust admixture, has been reported; the occurrence of putative periglacial landforms such as flat-floored (thermokarst-like) depressions, small-sized (possibly thermal-contraction) polygons and polygon trough/junction pits also has been noted. Recently, some workers have suggested that the location of the putative periglacial landforms in mid Utopia Planitia is synonymous with that of the mantle and that the former evolve as the latter degrades. By contrast, preliminary work by others has proposed that this synonymy is misperceived, for two reasons: first, the putative periglacial landforms often are observed in areas of Utopia Planitia where the mantle is absent; second, in areas where the two landscape types are observed concurrently, the putative periglacial landforms either underlie the mantle and, stratigraphically, must predate the mantle, or they are adjacent to the mantle and at a lower datum of elevation. If the geological evolution of Utopia Planitia is to be constrained properly, then each of these hypotheses must be explored.Towards this end, we have mapped the location and distribution of the mantle and putative periglacial landforms across a broad latitudinal and longitudinal swath of the Utopia Planitia and its margins (∼55°–125°E and ∼30°–60°N). This map incorporates all the relevant images of these features and provides a regional scale of analysis. Previous discussions and/or maps of cold-climate landscapes in Utopia Planitia have been much narrower in latitudinal and longitudinal focus. An evaluation of high-resolution images containing the mantle material and putative periglacial landforms, underpinned by the MOLA-based topographic profiles, comprises a local scale of analysis. This too has not been developed fully in earlier work.Using the map, high-resolution photogeological evidence and the MOLA topographic profiles, we show three things. First, in mid Utopia Planitia the reach of the putative periglacial landforms extends well beyond the location of the possible dust-ice mantle. Second, the latter overprints the former in all observed instances and, consequently, the former cannot be a product of the latter. Third, perhaps the origin and evolution of the putative periglacial landscapes in mid Utopia Planitia is not as recent as some workers have proposed.

Evidences from historical documents of landscape evolution after little ice age of a mediterranean high mountain area, sierra nevada, spain (eighteenth to twentieth centuries)

.The Sierra Nevada is the highest mountain system on the Iberian Peninsula (Mulhacén 3482 m; Veleta 3308 m) and is located in the extreme SE region of Spain (lat 37°N, long 3°W). Bibliographic resources, particularly from the eighteenth to twentieth centuries, provide insights into the changing summit landscape as the effects of cold, ice, snow and wind shaped its morphology.The selected references emphasize the Sierra's evolving climate reflected in the glaciers and snow hollows, and in the sparse vegetation above certain altitudes. Scientists had established bioclimatic conditions for the entire range in the early nineteenth century, and their works reflect the progression of ideas, particularly in the area of natural sciences, that influenced the period chosen for this study.This information, in addition to current knowledge about the morphogenetic dynamics of the Sierra Nevada, provides the basis for a comparison of the dominant environments from the Little Ice Age to the present, using the most significant high mountain morphological features as a guide. The most relevant findings indicate that cold climate processes (soli‐gelifluction, frost creep and nivation) were more predominant during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries than they are today.

Stratigraphical evidence of late Amazonian periglaciation and glaciation in the Astapus Colles region of Mars

Recent modeling of the meteorological conditions during and following times of high obliquity suggests that an icy mantle could have been emplaced in western Utopia Planitia by atmospheric deposition during the late Amazonian period [Costard, F.M., Forget, F., Madeleine, J.B., Soare, R.J., Kargel, J.S., 2008. Lunar Planet. Sci. 39. Abstract 1274; Madeleine, B., Forget, F., Head, J.W., Levrard, B., Montmessin, F., 2007. Lunar Planet. Sci. 38. Abstract 1778]. Astapus Colles (ABa) is a late Amazonian geological unit — located in this hypothesized area of accumulation — that comprises an icy mantle tens of meters thick [Tanaka, K.L., Skinner, J.A., Hare, T.M., 2005. US Geol. Surv. Sci. Invest., Map 2888]. For the most part, this unit drapes the early Amazonian Vastitas Borealis interior unit (ABvi); to a lesser degree it overlies the early Amazonian Vastitas Borealis marginal unit (ABvm) and the early to late Hesperian UP plains unit HBu2 [Tanaka, K.L., Skinner, J.A., Hare, T.M., 2005. US Geol. Surv. Sci. Invest., Map 2888]. Landscapes possibly modified by late-Amazonian periglacial processes [Costard, F.M., Kargel, J.S., 1995. Icarus 114, 93–112; McBride, S.A., Allen, C.C., Bell, M.S., 2005. Lunar Planet. Sci. 36. Abstract 1090; Morgenstern, A., Hauber, E., Reiss, D., van Gasselt, S., Grosse, G., Schirrmeister, L., 2007. J. Geophys. Res. 112, doi:10.1029/2006JE002869. E06010; Seibert, N.M., Kargel, J.S., 2001. Geophys. Res. Lett. 28, 899–902; Soare, R.J., Kargel, J.S., Osinski, G.R., Costard, F., 2007. Icarus 191, 95–112; Soare, R.J., Osinski, G.R., Roehm, C.L., 2008. Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. 272, 382–393] and glacial processes [Milliken, R.E., Mustard, J.F., Goldsby, D.L., 2003. J. Geophys. Res. 108 (E6), doi:10.1029/2002JE002005. 5057; Mustard, J.F., Cooper, C.D., Rifkin, M.K., 2001. Nature 412, 411–414; Tanaka, K.L., Skinner, J.A., Hare, T.M., 2005. US Geol. Surv. Sci. Invest., Map 2888] have been reported within the region. Researchers have assumed that the periglacial and glacial landscapes occur within the same geological unit, the ABa [i.e., Morgenstern, A., Hauber, E., Reiss, D., van Gasselt, S., Grosse, G., Schirrmeister, L., 2007. J. Geophys. Res. 112; doi:10.1029/2006JE002869. E06010; Tanaka, K.L., Skinner, J.A., Hare, T.M., 2005. US Geol. Surv. Sci. Invest., Map 2888]. In this study we use HiRISE (High Resolution Image Science Experiment, Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter) imagery to identify the stratigraphical separation of the two landscapes and show that periglacial landscape modification has occurred in the geological units that underlie the ABa, not in the ABa itself. Moreover, we suggest that the periglacial landscape extends well beyond the perimeter of the ABa and could be the product of “wet” cold-climate processes. These processes involve freeze–thaw cycles and intermittently stable liquid-water at or near the surface. By contrast, we propose that the ABa is a very recent late-Amazonian geological unit formed principally by “dry” cold-climate processes. These processes comprise accumulation (by atmospheric deposition) and ablation (by sublimation).

Proglacial, periglacial or paraglacial?

Abstract The terms proglacial and periglacial are well-understood descriptors of contemporary and past environments, but the paraglacial concept is more controversial and has prompted vigorous debate. Definitions are reviewed and the paraglacial concept is considered critically. It is argued that the term ‘paraglacial’ defined as ‘non-glacial processes conditioned by glaciation’ describes landscapes that are adjusted neither to Last Glacial Maximum nor to contemporary geomorphic processes. Where a landscape is paraglacial it can be characterized in terms of rate of change and trajectory of that change. It cannot be defined in relation to glaciers (as in proglacial) or by cold-climate processes (as in periglacial). Almost all paraglacial landforms and all paraglacial landscapes are transient and transitional. An interesting challenge of paraglacial landscapes is then to determine their rates of change; how far they have advanced along the trajectory from glacial to non-glacial; and how to recognize empirically the temporal and spatial relationships between proglacial, periglacial, paraglacial and fluvial landscapes. Implications of this approach to paraglacial landscapes are discussed in relation to historical and dynamic geomorphology.

Sea‐level changes, river activity, soil development and glaciation around the western margins of the southern North Sea Basin during the Early and early Middle Pleistocene: evidence from Pakefield, Suffolk, UK

AbstractThis paper outlines evidence from Pakefield (northern Suffolk), eastern England, for sea‐level changes, river activity, soil development and glaciation during the late Early and early Middle Pleistocene (MIS 20–12) within the western margins of the southern North Sea Basin. During this time period, the area consisted of a low‐lying coastal plain and a shallow offshore shelf. The area was drained by major river systems including the Thames and Bytham. Changes in sea‐level caused several major transgressive–regressive cycles across this low‐relief region, and these changes are identified by the stratigraphic relationship between shallow marine (Wroxham Crag Formation), fluvial (Cromer Forest‐bed and Bytham formations) and glacial (Happisburgh and Lowestoft formations) sediments. Two separate glaciations are recognised—the Happisburgh (MIS 16) and Anglian (MIS 12) glaciations, and these are separated by a high sea level represented by a new member of the Wroxham Crag Formation, and several phases of river aggradation and incision. The principal driving mechanism behind sea‐level changes and river terrace development within the region during this time period is solar insolation operating over 100‐kyr eccentricity cycles. This effect is achieved by the impact of cold climate processes upon coastal, river and glacial systems and these climatically forced processes obscure the neotectonic drivers that operated over this period of time. © British Geological Survey/Natural Environment Research Council copyright 2005. Reproduced with the permission of BGS/NERC. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Geological and geochemical legacy of a cold early Mars

We consider the hypothesis that Mars never experienced an early warm, wet period and the implications of a continuously cold Martian climate for the hydrology and geochemistry of the planet. Geomorphic evidence previously interpreted to indicate a more temperate early climate can be explained by cold climate processes and the transient flow of liquid water at the surface rather than a terrestrial‐like hydrological cycle. In this scenario, freezing and confinement of crustal aquifers lead to the eruption of water or brines to the surface: Hesperian events formed massive ice sheets, and triggered floods that carved the outflow channels, while smaller, present‐day aqueous eruptions are responsible for the seepage and gully‐like landforms identified in high‐resolution imaging. This process may have fluxed a significant volume of groundwater to the surface and the polar caps. A primordial source of groundwater reconciles the present D/H isotopic ratio of the atmosphere with fractionating atmospheric escape and a primordial Martian D/H inferred from hydrous phases of SNC meteorites. A cold early climate and a thin CO2 atmosphere are consistent with the ubiquity of primary igneous minerals and the apparent absence of secondary minerals and copious carbonates on the surface. Aqueous eruptions introduced soluble chloride and sulfate salts into Martian soils, leaving clays and carbonates within the crust. If the Martian crust hosts a “deep biosphere,” aqueous eruptions can bring organisms or their chemical signature to the surface. The biotic component of any recent eruptions may be preserved in transient ice in cold traps on the surface.

Soils and Quaternary Landscape Evolution

This book examines a period of spectacular environmental change, the Quaternary, with respect to soil-landscape relationships in Western Europe, the British Isles and North America. The possibilities for using soils as climatic indicators in the same way as fossils are discussed. The major themes emerging from the book are: the importance of soil stratigraphy in understanding Quaternary sedimentary sequences; the problems of soil-dating and the significance of soil colour; and the growing realisation of the importance of cold-climate processes in soil formation in Western Europe.