Modeling Hydrology / Permafrost
We will develop a permafrost-hydrology extension to LANDIS-II based on the Simultaneous Heat and Water (SHAW) and Geophysical Institute Permafrost Lab (GIPL) models to integrate climate, succession, and fire with hydrology and permafrost dynamics. SHAW explicitly simulates energy and water fluxes, while accounting for surface vegetation and soil characteristics, and GIPL is able to simulate the melting and thawing of permafrost throughout the soil profile.
We will update SHAW by incorporating the relevant permafrost algorithms from GIPL, which will improve the simulations of mass and energy fluxes across the range of environments within our study area. Our LANDIS-II permafrost-hydrology extension will simulate the energy and water fluxes through the snowpack, litter, and unfrozen and frozen soil layers across the climatic gradient of our landscape.
Above: Ice wedge in permafrost seen from within permafrost tunnel, Fairbanks, AK.