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Sciences in Cold and Arid Regions ›› 2020, Vol. 12 ›› Issue (2): 71-82.doi: 10.3724/SP.J.1226.2020.00071.

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Estimating interaction between surface water and groundwater in a permafrost region of the northern Tibetan Plateau using heat tracing method

TanGuang Gao1,Jie Liu2,TingJun Zhang1(),ShiChang Kang3,4,ChuanKun Liu2,ShuFa Wang1,Mika Sillanpää5,YuLan Zhang3,4   

  1. 1.Key Laboratory of Western China's Environmental Systems (Ministry of Education), College of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, Gansu 730000, China
    2.Institute of Water Sciences, College of Engineering, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China
    3.State Key Laboratory of Cryospheric Science, Northwest Institute of Eco-Environment and Resources, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou, Gansu 730000, China
    4.CAS Center for Excellence in Tibetan Plateau Earth Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China
    5.Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering Florida International University Miami, FL 33199, USA
  • Received:2019-09-06 Accepted:2020-02-10 Online:2020-04-30 Published:2020-04-27
  • Contact: TanGuang Gao,TingJun Zhang E-mail:gaotg@lzu.edu.cn

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Abstract:

Understanding the interaction between groundwater and surface water in permafrost regions is essential to study flood frequencies and river water quality, especially in the high latitude/altitude basins. The application of heat tracing method, based on oscillating streambed temperature signals, is a promising geophysical method for identifying and quantifying the interaction between groundwater and surface water. Analytical analysis based on a one-dimensional convective-conductive heat transport equation combined with the fiber-optic distributed temperature sensing method was applied on a streambed of a mountainous permafrost region in the Yeniugou Basin, located in the upper Heihe River on the northern Tibetan Plateau. The results indicated that low connectivity existed between the stream and groundwater in permafrost regions. The interaction between surface water and groundwater increased with the thawing of the active layer. This study demonstrates that the heat tracing method can be applied to study surface water-groundwater interaction over temporal and spatial scales in permafrost regions.

Key words: surface water, groundwater, permafrost, heat tracing method, Tibetan Plateau

Figure 1

(a) Location of the Yeniugou (YNG) Basin in the northern Tibetan Plateau and the hydrometeorological measurement sites (S1, S2, P1, and P2), and the extent of FO-DTS measurement sites at P2 (b) and S1 (c)"

Figure 2

Boxplots of streambed temperature data at depths of 0, 20 cm, and 50 cm of (a) S1, (b) S2, (c) P1, and (d) P2 during July to September 2015"

Figure 3

Soil temperature data from boreholes near the streambed temperature observation sites (P1, P2, and S2) on June 18, August 9-10, and September 25-26 in 2015"

Figure 4

Thermal front velocities and their trends from July to September in 2015 at (a) S1, (b) S2, (c) P1, and (d) P2 along Yeniugou stream. The dashed blue lines represent a thermal front velocity of zero, and the black lines are the best linear fit"

Figure 5

Riverbed temperature variations measured by FO-DTS at (a) P2 from 19:00 September 21 to 03:00 September 23, 2015 and (b) S1 from 15:00 September 23 to 07:00 September 25, 2015"

Figure 6

Temperature variability along the cable obtained by FO-DTS at S1 (a) and P2 (b)"

Figure 7

Stream temperature data at depths of 0 cm, 20 cm, and 50 cm of S1 from July 2015 to July 2016. The blue boxes indicate the abnormal data in the measurement period"

Figure 8

Air temperature recorded at P2 in August 2015. Grey rectangles indicate days without a sinusoidal signal at 50-cm depth"

Figure 9

Thermal front velocity and water level changes at S1 from July to September in 2015"

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