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  • About
  • The Global ETD Search service is a free service for researchers to find electronic theses and dissertations. This service is provided by the Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations.
    Our metadata is collected from universities around the world. If you manage a university/consortium/country archive and want to be added, details can be found on the NDLTD website.
1

Vibrational power transmission in curved and stiffened structures

Walsh, Stephen James January 1996 (has links)
No description available.
2

Fluxos de energia, evapotranspiração e desenvolvimento de pastagens no agreste meridional pernambucano

GONDIM, Patrícia Sousa de Sales 10 July 2012 (has links)
Submitted by (edna.saturno@ufrpe.br) on 2016-12-19T15:50:59Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Patricia Sousa de Sales Gondim.pdf: 776312 bytes, checksum: 11af7695721b412fe1d383953438a7ee (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-12-19T15:50:59Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Patricia Sousa de Sales Gondim.pdf: 776312 bytes, checksum: 11af7695721b412fe1d383953438a7ee (MD5) Previous issue date: 2012-07-10 / Conselho Nacional de Pesquisa e Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico - CNPq / The dairy industry stands out as the main agricultural activity of the Wasteland South, and this region, despite having the highest rainfall of the Wild, is subject to periodic droughts. Efficient use of water in agriculture ensures the crop to this end to it is necessary to study the processes of evapotranspiration from pasture. Thus, the objective was to determine the energy fluxes and evapotranspiration in Entisol cultivated with pastures in rainfed agriculture, in the microregion of Garanhuns-PE. To determine the energy balance was installed a tower in the center of the experimental area, containing two sensors measure temperature and relative humidity, and wind speed at two levels (z1 = 50 cm, e z2 = 100 cm) above the canopy of the pasture. In addition to these sensors were installed a pyranometer, a radiometer, a sensor for measuring the wind direction, and a rain gauge charts. To measure the heat flow in the soil, flowmeters were installed in two places to a depth z1 = 5,0 cm, with a soil moisture sensor at the same depth, and two horizontally installed in the thermal probes depths z1 = 2,0 cm and z2 = 8,0 cm. All the measurements mentioned above were stored as averages every 30 minutes, except where the rainfall was estimated their total value in a data acquisition system from Campbell Scientific CR 1000. There were also the following determinations in the pasture height of the vegetation cover (canopy), biomass accumulation, leaf area index and evolution of the root system. The evaporation of the culture, on average, of 1,5 mm d-1, with a total of 543,43mm. Most of the net radiation (Rn), during the analysis of the pasture, has been consumed by the sensible heat flux (H) with 58%. The latent heat flux consumed 36% and the heat flow in the soil only 6% of Rn. The water availability influenced the production of green biomass and LAI, with the highest yields of biomass and LAI occurring in the higher water availability. / A atividade leiteira destaca-se como a principal atividade agropecuária do Agreste Meridional, sendo que esta região, apesar de apresentar índices pluviométricos maiores que os do Sertão, está sujeita á secas periódicas. A utilização eficiente da água na agricultura garante a produtividade da cultura, para tal, faz-se necessário estudar os processos de evapotranspiração da pastagem. Dessa forma, objetivou-se determinar os fluxos de energia e a evapotranspiração num Neossolo Regolítico cultivado com pastagens, em agricultura de sequeiro, na microrregião de Garanhuns-PE. Para a determinação do balanço de energia foi instalada uma torre no centro da área experimental, contendo dois sensores de medidas da temperatura e da umidade relativa do ar, e da velocidade do vento, em dois níveis (z1 = 50 cm, e z2 = 100 cm) acima do dossel da pastagem. Além desses sensores, foram instalados um piranômetro, um radiômetro, um sensor para a medição da direção do vento, e um pluviógrafo. Para a medida do fluxo de calor no solo, foram instalados fluxímetros em dois locais numa profundidade z1 = 5,0 cm, juntamente com um sensor de umidade do solo na mesma profundidade, além de duas sondas térmicas instaladas horizontalmente nas profundidades de z1 = 2,0 cm e z2 = 8,0 cm. Todas as medidas foram armazenadas como médias a cada 30 minutos, a exceção da pluviometria onde foi calculado seu valor total e diário, em um sistema de aquisição de dados CR 1000 da Campbell Scientific. Foram realizadas ainda as seguintes determinações na pastagem: altura da cobertura vegetal (dossel), acumulação de biomassa, índice de área foliar e evolução do sistema radicular. A evapotranspiração da cultura, em média, foi de 1,5 mm d-1, com um total de 543,43 mm. A maior parte do saldo de radiação (Rn), durante o período de análise da pastagem, foi consumida pelo fluxo de calor sensível (H), com 58%. O fluxo de calor latente consumiu 36% e o fluxo de calor no solo apenas 6% do Rn. A disponibilidade hídrica influenciou na produção de biomassa verde e no IAF, com as maiores produções de biomassa e IAF ocorrendo no período de maior disponibilidade hídrica.
3

Wave Energy of an Antenna in Matlab

Fang, Fang, Mehrdad, Dinkoo January 2011 (has links)
In the modern world, because of increasing oil prices and the need to control greenhouse gas emission, a new interest in the production of electric cars is coming about. One of the products is a charging point for electric cars, at which electric cars can be recharged by a plug in cable. Usually people are required to pay for the electricity after recharging the electric cars. Today, the payment is handled by using SMS or through the parking system. There is now an opportunity, in cooperation with AES (the company with which we are working), to equip the pole with GPRS, and this requires development and maintenance of the antenna. The project will include data analysis of the problem, measurements and calculations. In this work, we are computing energy flow of the wave due to the location of the antenna inside the box. We need to do four steps. First, we take a set of points (determined by the computational mesh) that have the same distance from the antenna in the domain. Second, we calculate the angles between the ground and the points in the set. Third, we do an angle-energy plot, to analyse which angle can give the maximum energy. And last, we need to compare the maximum energy value of different position of the antenna. We are going to solve the problem in Matlab, based on the Maxwell equation and the Helmholtz equation, which is not time-dependent.
4

Trophic Structure and Energy Flow in a Texas Pond

Childress, William M. 08 1900 (has links)
Annual energy flow and mean annual biocontent of eighteen compartments were determined for a 0.94 ha north central Texas pond ecosystem. Annual primary production was 7,780 kcal m^-2 yr^-2, and community production-to-respiration ratio was 1.49. One-third of annual primary production accumulated on the substrate as silt and sedimentation. Community production, production-respiration ratio, and biocontents of all compartments except aquatic insects were large in summer, small in winter. Biocontents of four trophic levels in the pond were all of the same order of magnitude, approximately 50 kcal m^-2. Suspended and benthic organic material forprimary consumers and terrestrial insects for tertiary consumers were substantial allochthanous energy imports into the pond system.
5

Ecologia trófica em arroios de baixa ordem do sul do Brasil: relação entre consumidores primários e secundários / Trophic ecology of low-order streams in southern Brazil: relationships between primary and secondary consumers

Barbosa, Amanda Saldanha 25 February 2015 (has links)
Submitted by Maicon Juliano Schmidt (maicons) on 2015-06-05T16:57:51Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Amanda Saldanha Barbosa.pdf: 1110620 bytes, checksum: ca79658c72904b34bd463d8a587dbd0e (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2015-06-05T16:57:51Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Amanda Saldanha Barbosa.pdf: 1110620 bytes, checksum: ca79658c72904b34bd463d8a587dbd0e (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015-02-25 / CAPES - Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / PROSUP - Programa de Suporte à Pós-Gradução de Instituições de Ensino Particulares / UNEMAT - Universidade do Estado de Mato Grosso / O conceito de rio continuo (RCC) afirma que ocorrem alterações das características físicas e químicas ao longo do gradiente longitudinal de arroios, o que induz ao acréscimo de espécies de diferentes hábitos alimentares. Neste sentido o objetivo deste estudo é a caracterização trófica de espécies de peixes de cabeceira de arroios subtropicais e a identificação do fluxo de energia entre macroinvertebrados e peixes. Espera-se que a biomassa de peixes detritívoros aumente conforme o gradiente longitudinal, devido ao aumento da produção primaria neste sentido. O estudo foi desenvolvido em 32 sítios de 1ª a 4ª ordem pertencentes a oito microbacias da Bacia do Rio dos Sinos. As coletas de ictiofauna foram realizadas utilizando pesca elétrica em uma área de 100m2. Macroinvertebrados foram coletados com amostrador Surber, para avaliar a disponibilidade de recurso e biomassa de consumidores primários. A riqueza e a diversidade da comunidade íctica foram calculadas. Foi avaliada a dieta das espécies de peixes mais abundantes e calculados os índices de importância relativa e de amplitude de nicho. Para verificar a transferência de energia entre consumidores primários e secundários foi quantificada a biomassa seca de peixes e macroinvertebrados. Os resultados demonstram que a diversidade, a riqueza e a biomassa aumentaram conforme o gradiente longitudinal que arroios de cabeceira, corroborando as previsões do RCC. Também constatou-se que a comunidade íctica é composta por duas guildas alimentares (insetívoros e detritívoros). Estes últimos, por sua vez, elevaram a biomassa íctica e estabeleceram duas vias de fluxo de energia atuando como consumidores primários e secundários. / The River Continuum Concept (RCC) suggests that changes in physico-chemical factors across the stream longitudinal gradient leads to the adding of species of different feeding habits. In this sense, the aim of the study is the trophic characterization of fish headwater species from subtropical streams and to identify energy flow between macroinvertebrate and fishes. It is expected that detritivorous fish standing crop increase across stream longitudinal gradient due to increase in primary production in the same direction. This study was carried out in 32 streams from 1st to 4thorder in eight microbasins in the Sinos River basin. Ichthyofauna was sampled with electric fishing in 100m2 sections. Macroinvertebrates were sampled with Surber sampler to assess resource availability and primary consumer standing crop. Richness and diversity of fish communities were also calculated. The diet of the most abundant fish species was assessed as well as relative importance and niche amplitude indexes. The results displayed that fish diversity, richness and standing crop increased across stream longitudinal gradient corroborating RCC postulates. It was also indicated that fish communities was composed by two feeding groups (insetivorous and detritivorous). The detritivorous fishes have in turn increased fish standing crop and established two directions of energy flow which act as both primary and secondary consumers.
6

Role of Terrestrial Organic Matter in Food Webs of the Rocky Intertidal Zone

Fairbanks, Douglas O. 01 July 2017 (has links)
Terrestrial organic matter (TOM) constitutes an important source of energy in many aquatic environments (streams, lakes, wetlands). This is the first study to examine the role of TOM in food webs of the rocky intertidal zone. We compared the consumption of red alder leaves (Alnus rubra) to common marine sources of drifting detritus along the southern Oregon coast (Nereocystis luetkeana, Phyllospadix spp., and Fucus gardneri). We used short term (hours to days) and long term (months) feeding experiments to compare the rate of consumption among each plant species during the Spring and Fall of 2014 and 2015. In addition, we quantified the amount of TOM in beach wrack and in the drift of two streams that flowed directly to the rocky intertidal zone. We also measured the food quality of each plant species (C:N and polyphenolic concentrations). On average, the two small streams in this study transported 1,113.6 kg AFDM/m3 of TOM per day during Fall leaf abscission to the rocky intertidal zone. Also, the biomass of terrestrial leaves in beach wrack varied from negligible (2.1 g AFDM) to the dominant source of detritus (60.7 g AFDM) depending on if it was the dominant riparian plant growing along the edges of the shore. Consistent with previous research, N. luetkeana was a high quality food (C:N = 15:1; polyphenolics = 418 mg/ml), whereas F. gardneri (C:N = 22:1; polyphenolics = 8098 mg/ml) was more recalcitrant. Phyllospadix spp. was puzzling because it had low concentrations of polyphenolics (800 mg/ml) but was not consumed. Alnus rubra had a high concentration of structural compounds (C:N = 33:1) and intermediate levels of polyphenolics (3,415 mg/ml after leaching). Both short term and long term experiments showed that the rates of consumption of Spring-shed, green leaves and freshly fallen brown leaves of A. rubra were intermediate between N. luetkeana and the less palatable marine species (F. gardneri and Phyllospadix spp.). Thus, A. rubra was eaten by common intertidal consumers and may constitute an important source of energy between brief inputs of more nutritious marine resources (e.g. N. luetkeana).
7

Habitat Selection by Large Wild Ungulates and Some Aspects of the Energy Flow in a Sub-tropical African Savanna Woodland Ecosystem

Hirst, Stanley M. 01 May 1973 (has links)
A study of habitat selection by large wild ungulates was carried out on a 50 cm2 area in the sub-tropical Lowveld region of eastern Transvaal province, South Africa. Estimations were made of herbaceous forage net productivity and ungulate secondary productivity on the same area. Fourteen vegetation types, varying in composition and structure from open savanna to dense woodland, were delineated by association analysis. Structural and vegetational characteristics which were considered to influence ungulate distribution were measured within each vegetation type. The study area supported resident populations of seven ungulate species during the wet season; drv season densities were higher due to population influxes from surrounding areas. Densities ranged from 13 to 67 animals per km2, with impala making up from 40 to 70 percent of the total population, wildebeest 10 to 40 percent, and lesser proportions of giraffe, zebra, kudu, warthog and waterbuck. Savanna vegetation types supported total densities of up to 185 animals/km2, while wooded types support fewer animals. Waterbuck were the most selective of the ungulates and concentrated mainly in the riparian woodland. Wildebeest, zebra and giraffe made variable use of savanna and open woodland types. Warthog preferred savanna types and avoided woodland. Impala were less selective, and kudu showed no habitat preferences. Ungulate distribution was related to several habitat characteristics, and the key factors were found to differ in each case. Each species had a unique combination of habitat characteristics to which it responded in linear fashion, and this was considered to be the way in which ungulates avoided competition by achieving spatial separation. Herbaceous forage standing crops and net production were functions of vegetation composition, soil types, rainfall and extent of ungulate utilization. Standing crops ranged from 350 to 4104 kgs/ha air-dried forage. Net primary production ranged from zero to 2719 kgs/ha; vegetation types on sandy soils did not produce in years with poor precipitation. Ungulates consumed about one-fourth of the herbaceous net primary production during the wet season and more than four-fifths during the course of a full year. Ungulate biomass on the area averaged about 40 kg/ha during the wet season and 65 kg/ha in the dry season, but biomasses varied a great deal with vegetation type, ungulate population species coMposition and seasonal densities. Ungulate secondary product ion varied correspondingly and ranged from 1.3 x 10-3 kcal/m2 per day to 4.8 x 10-3 kcals/m2 per day. Overall secondary production rate for the 2-year study period was 0.97 kcals/m2 per year, produced from a mean standing crop of 7.46 kcal/m2.
8

Energy flow survey of Ljusdals municipality

Fredlund, Thomas, Shoshtari, Salahedin January 2008 (has links)
<p>The aim of this project is to make an energy flow survey of Ljusdal’s municipality. The reason for the energy flow survey is to discover possibilities to utilize and refine the energy resources locally, and use the information from this survey as a base for further discussions about the energy situation in Ljusdal’s municipality. As it is today the raw material is transported to other municipalities for processing and then bought back, e.g. biomass is transported to other municipalities where they make pellets which are sold back to consumers in Ljusdal’s municipality. A local upgrading of the raw material will probably create more job opportunities in the municipality and it will probably also lead to a higher profit than just selling the raw material. The target groups for this study are the local (and regional) politicians and entrepreneurs, primarily in Ljusdal but also in other similar municipalities. Mainly bioenergy is handled in this thesis. Other energy sources e.g. hydroelectricity is handled just briefly, flows and use of electricity are described briefly for different parts of the municipality and types of consumers. To perform the energy flow survey, information about now used, and possible future, energy resources was collected in order to find out the energy quantities used per year, for different users, and the energy flows. Unexploited energy sources, and energy sources that have the potential to be increased, like forest and arable land was also included. Investigations about the wind potential are also carried out. The energy use of the consumers, divided into energy carriers, is mapped. Larger companies and institutions, particularly those with energy related business are asked about their future plans. Energy suppliers are also asked where they buy and sell energy in order to make an energy flow survey. The energy needs for different types of buildings were also considered in this energy flow survey. In order to do that, information about the numbers of buildings in the municipality and also the average energy usage, for different types of buildings e.g. apartments and single family houses, are collected from different sources. The flows of bioenergy across the municipality border are also investigated in order to be able to see where it comes from and where it goes. Nearby municipalities, projects nearby Ljusdal’s municipality, that may have an impact in the field of energy in Ljusdal’s municipality are also briefly handled. The energy flows, in and out of the municipality, were put into maps from the municipality’s Geographic Information System (GIS) in order to get a good overview of the energy flow, supply and use. Based on the gathered information, project ideas are suggested, and calculations are done to determine if biogas production, from household waste and sludge, could be a better option than today’s waste management where the waste is being transported to a nearby municipality for incineration, a service that Ljusdal’s municipality also have to pay for. The results from the calculations show that the total amount of energy that could be extracted from the annual produced biogas would reach about 1.9 GWh. The biogas could e.g.be used as a fuel in the district heating plants in the municipality. By using locally produced products a decreased import of energy carriers, e.g. light fuel oil, would be expected.</p><p>The conclusions that could be drawn from this study are that a lot of biomass is produced in Ljusdal’s municipality, which is mainly exported in the form as raw material. Large amounts of hydroelectricity is produced in Ljusdal’s municipality, about 60% of the electricity is being exported. Wind mappings show that there are some areas of national interest for electricity production through wind power in the municipality. A deregulated European electricity market will probably lead to an increased electricity price, this in combination with the green certificate would lead to a more profitable electricity</p><p>production through wind power and areas that are not of national interest at present could probably be of national interest in the future. There are also a large potential to increase the amount of biomass from the forestry remainings. Another potential energy source is the arable land where it probably would be possible to grow e.g. hemp for an energy conversion purpose. In Ljusdal’s municipality, there are possibilities in the field of energy which no one takes advantage of at present.</p> / <p>Syftet med detta projektarbete är att kartlägga energiflödet inom-, samt till och från Ljusdals kommun, i första hand bioenergi men även andra energiformer som t.ex. elektricitet behandlas översiktligt. Anledningen till denna energiflödesanalys är att upptäcka möjligheter att bearbeta och förädla biomassan lokalt. I dagens läge lämnar stora mängder av råmaterial kommunen för förädling utanför kommunens gränser, detta leder till förlorade arbetstillfällen i kommunen. Ett exempel på detta är att råmaterial i form av sågspån transporteras från Ljusdals kommun till en annan kommun där sågspånen förädlas till pellets som i sin tur säljs tillbaka till konsumenter i Ljusdals kommun. En lokal förädling av biomassan skulle förmodligen kunna leda till nya arbetstillfällen inom kommunens gränser samt en högre avkastning än att bara sälja råmaterialet obearbetat. Målgruppen för denna studie är lokala och regionala politiker och entreprenörer, i första hand i Ljusdals kommun, men också i liknande glesbygdskommuner med stora arealer skog och andra former av biobränslen. För att genomföra denna energiflödesanalys samlades information, angående i nuläget använda samt framtida energikällor, in med avsikt att uppskatta de kvantiteter, och olika typer av energi som omvandlas och används årligen av olika typer av konsumenter. Denna information tillhandahölls av bl.a. statistiska central byrån – SCB, kommunens energirådgivare, energibolag, större energikrävande företag samt bostads företag. Antalet enfamiljshus och flerfamiljs hus i kommunen samt antalet boende i kommunen kartlades för att kunna beräkna, enligt schabloner, de energimängder som förbrukades årligen i bostadssektorn. Även transport- och industrisektorn undersöktes med avseende på dess energianvändning.</p><p>Flödet av biomassa i kommunen samt över dess gränser analyserades med avsikt på att klargöra vilka mängder som lämnar, respektive stannar kvar inom kommunen. Även projekt i närliggande kommuner analyserades översiktligt för att se om de hade någon nämnbar inverkan på Ljusdals kommuns energiproduktion1 och energianvändning. Slutsatserna som kan dras från denna analys är i korthet att stora mängder av biomassa produceras inom Ljusdals kommuns gränser och transporteras bort i form av råmaterial, som förädlas utanför kommunens gränser. Ett sätt att eventuellt skapa fler jobbtillfällen samt se till att en större del av vinsten från biomassan stannar kvar inom kommunens gränser är att lokalt bearbeta biomassan. Inom kommunen produceras också en stor del vattenkraft där ungefär 60 % exporteras och resterande används inom kommunen, möjlighet till utökad elproduktion bör vara möjlig genom byggnation av vindkraftsparker eftersom det finns områden som är av nationellt intresse för vindkraftsproduktion. Något mer som talar för en ökad lönsamhet inom elproduktion via vindkraft är den avreglerade Europeiska elmarknaden som förmodligen kommer att leda till ökade elpriser, en annan faktor är elcertifikaten, som erhålls för varje MWh producerad med förnyelsebara källor t.ex. vindkraft eller biomassa eldat kraftvärmeverk. Biogas motsvarande ungefär 2 GWh årligen bör också kunna utvinnas ur sopor, gödsel från bondgårdar och energigrödor. Detta kräver dock investeringar i rötningsanläggningar och ytterligare utredningar angående detta föreslås göras. En markant ökad produktion av biobränsle från skogsbruket bör också vara möjlig.</p><p>Den globala ökningen av invånare i kombination med en strävan efter minskad produktion av fossila bränslen resulterar i en ökad efterfrågan av förnyelsebara bränslen, denna ökade efterfrågan leder i sin tur till ett ökat pris för dessa bränslen. Dessutom har ett antal länder skrivit på Kyoto avtalet, vilket innebär i korthet att dessa länder måste minska sina koldioxidutsläpp. Dessa faktorer kan tolkas som indikationer på att det kommer att bli en ökad användning av biobränslen. Problemet med detta scenario är att, aven i ett nationellt perspektiv, mängden av tillgänglig biomassa är begränsad om den skulle utgöra baslasten för energiproduktionen. Detta faktum öppnar nya möjligheter för kommuner med en låg befolkningstäthet i kombination med stora skogsarealer. Ljusdals kommun är en glest befolkad kommun med ungefärligen 19 400 invånare, det finns 10 100 bostäder i kommunen varav 3 700 är lägenheter och resterande är enfamiljshus. Den totala arealen av kommunen uppgår till 5 640 km2, befolkningstätheten uppgår till fyra invånare per kvadrat kilometer. Arealen per capita i kommunen är väldigt hög, vilket innebär att det finns stora mängder biomassa tillgänglig då stordelen av kommunen består av skog. Syftet med denna analys är att få en bättre översikt över dagens situation inom detta område. En bättre översikt skulle kunna hjälpa politiker och entreprenörer att se nya möjligheter inom detta område, vilket skulle kunna innebära fler arbetstillfällen inom kommunen.</p>
9

Food web architecture in natural and impounded rivers of the Upper Parana drainage basin, Brazil

Hoeinghaus, David Joseph 25 April 2007 (has links)
Freshwater ecosystems are some of the most threatened on the planet. Efforts to conserve, restore, or otherwise manage large rivers and the services they provide are hindered by limited understanding of the functional dynamics of these systems. This shortcoming is especially evident with regard to trophic structure and energy flow. In this study I use natural abundances of carbon and nitrogen isotopes to examine patterns of energy flow and food-chain length of large-river food webs characterized by different landscape-scale hydrologic features. Ten locations along an approximately 500 km stretch of the Upper Paraná River Basin, Brazil, provided the setting for this work. Carbon derived from C3 plants and phytoplankton were the dominant energy sources across all webs, but relative contributions differed among landscape types (low-gradient river, high-gradient river, river stretches downstream of reservoirs, and reservoirs). Increases in food chain length corresponded with higher relative importance of phytoplankton derived carbon, likely due to size-structured effects of the phytoplankton-zooplankton-secondary consumer trophic link. River impoundment corresponded with decreased ecological and economic efficiency of fisheries production, an important ecosystem service provided by many tropical rivers.
10

Evaluation of the energy-based runoff concept for a subalpine tundra hillslope

Che, Qian January 2012 (has links)
A major challenge to cold regions hydrology and northern water resources management lies in predicting runoff dynamically in the context of warming-induced changes to the rates and patterns of ground thaw and drainage. Meeting this challenge requires new knowledge of the mechanisms and rates of ground thaw and their implications to water drainage and storage patterns and processes. The study carries out to evaluate the concept of energy-based runoff in the perspective of ground heat flux, soil thaw and liquid moisture content, tortuosity of snow-free area, preferential flow and discharge of the hillslope. Based on field measurements, coupled energy and water flow is simulated in the Area of Interest (AOI) with a half-hour time interval by the distributed hydrological model, GEOtop. In the field, the saturated hydraulic conductivity varies exponentially between the superficial organic layer and the underlying mineral layer. In the simulation, the parameters of the soil physical properties are input by fourteen uneven layers below the ground surface. Starting from the initially frozen state, the process of soil thaw is simulated with dynamic variables such as soil liquid moisture and ice content, hydraulic conductivity, thermal conductivity and heat capacity. The simulated frost table depths are validated by 44-point measurements and the simulation of point soil temperature is also compared to data measured in an excavated soil pit. As a result, the frost table topography is dominated by both the snow-free pattern and the energy fluxes on the ground surface. The rate and magnitude of runoff derived from snow drift and the ice content of frozen soil is greatly influenced by the frost table topography. According to the simulation, the frost table depth is closely regressed with the ground surface temperature by a power function. As soil thawing progresses, ground heat flux reduces gradually and the rate of soil thaw becomes small when the frost table descends. Along with the snow-free area expanding, the average soil moisture of the AOI increases prior to that time when the average frost table is less than 25 cm deep. The snow-free patches expand heterogeneously in the AOI, which causes the spatial and temporal variation of hydraulic conductivity due to the non-uniform frost table depth. According to the simulation, the transit time of the flow through the AOI decreases to the shortest span on May 13 with the average frost table of 10 cm. Before this date, the time lag between snowmelt percolation and slope runoff is about 8-10 hours; while after this date, the time lag is no more than 5 hours. The pattern of the preferential flow in the AOI highly depends on the frost table topography. When the snow-free patches are widely scattered and the average frost table is between 0 and 10 cm, the preferential flow paths are inhibited. With soil thaw progresses, the preferential flow paths are prominent with the largest single contributing area occurring when the average frost table is between 10 cm to 15 cm. When the average frost table reaches 25 cm, the importance of preferential flow is not apparent, and matrix flow prevails.

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