Coupled Water Flow and Heat Transport in Seasonally Frozen Soils with Snow Accumulation

A numerical model is developed to calculate coupled water flow and heat transport in seasonally frozen soil and snow. Separate equations are used to describe both unsaturated and saturated soil water flow. The effect of dissolved ions on soil water freezing point depression is included by combining an expression for osmotic head with the Clapeyron equation and the van Genuchten soil water retention function. The coupled water flow and heat transport equations are solved using the Thomas algorithm and Picard iteration. Ice pressure is always assumed zero and frost heave is neglected. The new model is tested using data from an existing laboratory soil column freezing experiment and an ongoing field experiment in a high-elevation rangeland soil. A dimensionless impedance factor describing the effect of ice pore blocking on soil hydraulic conductivity is treated as a calibration parameter for both cases. Calculated values of total water content for the laboratory soil column freezing experiment compare well with measured values, especially during the early stages of the experiment, as is also found by others. Modeling statistics for the rangeland field experiment show varied performance for soil water content and excellent performance for soil temperature, in accordance with earlier results with an older version of the model.