Emily Haughton
MSc student, Department of Geography, Wilfrid Laurier University (Supervisor: William Quinton)
Thesis Topic: Snowcover Distribution and Melt on a Peat Plateau - Bog Complex, Southern NWT, Canada
In the subarctic, snow covers the ground surface for over half the year, and therefore strongly influences water and energy fluxes in this region. Snowcovers exert a primary influence on soil freezing and thawing and have the potential to strongly influence the distribution of ground thaw permafrost and the rate and pattern of permafrost thaw. However, the influence of snow cover on permafrost distribution in the peatland-dominated zone of discontinuous permafrost remains poorly characterized.
This study characterizes the snowcover and snowmelt over a spectrum from treeless terrains to dense canopies and uses this information to evaluate the effect of changes to tree-covered area and canopy density on the volume and timing of snowmelt at the end of winter. This information is then used to estimate the degree to which the permafrost thaw driven conversion of forests to treeless wetlands affects the 1) aerially-weighted snow water equivalent; and 2) the proportion of the snowcover that is available for runoff and streamflow.