Question regarding soil temperature beneath surface ponded water in cold regions
chen ding
Dear ATS users and developers,
I have a question regarding the simulation of soil temperature beneath surface ponded water in cold regions.
Many studies (e.g., Abolt, C. J. et al., 2020 in JGR Earth Surface using ATS, https://doi.org/10.1029/2019JF005349) indicate that in cold regions, soil temperature beneath surface ponded water is higher than that in non-ponded areas due to low albedo.
I set up a 2D cross-section model using ATS-master. The center of the profile represents a riverbed with ponded water, and both sides are riverbanks without ponded water. I ran two scenarios:
Normal snowfall + rainfall
No snowfall + rainfall only (rainfall amount was amplified to keep the total annual precipitation identical to scenario 1)
My results show:
Summer: In both scenarios, the temperature beneath the ponded water is lower than beneath the non-ponded area. This seems contradictory to the findings in the mentioned literature.
Winter:
In the snowfall + rainfall scenario, the temperature beneath the ponded water is significantly higher than the riverbank temperature, around 0°C. This seems reasonable.
However, in the rainfall-only scenario, there is no significant temperature difference beneath the ponded water compared to the banks.
My result and input files are attached below. I also previously asked some related questions in an earlier forum thread (link: https://groups.google.com/u/1/g/ats-users/c/Isagjh-PgGg/m/J3vRpw3wEAAJ). This issue has been puzzling me for a while.
I would greatly appreciate any insights, suggestions, or discussions to help resolve this discrepancy.
Thank you very much!
Chen
