Collaborative Research: Modeling Hydrologic Processes in the Arctic: A Watershed Approach for Regional and Global Climate Models

The project will modify an existing catchment-based Land Surface Model to include the effects of snow and freeze-thaw dynamics on Arctic tundra hydrology. The development of this model will fill a gap in currently available models that do not incorporate the combined effects of snow physics, permafrost dynamics and topography on tundra hydrology. The current deficiency has severely limited efforts aimed at understanding and predicting the effects of climate change on arctic ecosystems. By addressing this problem this project will have a major impact on our understanding of the responsiveness of the Arctic to climate change.