Snow Cover and Ground Temperatures, Garry Island, N.W.T.

Abstract

Field measurements of the influence of snow on ground temperatures, at a depth of 90 cm., were carried out during 1968-73 at Garry Island, N.W.T. The results show that the ameliorating effect of snow can be expressed by a regression equation. The side slopes tend to have the highest mean annual temperatures; the flats the lowest; and the ridges intermediate. At Garry Island, where permafrost is thick, variations in snow cover are probably not reflected in the position of the bottom of permafrost. By contract, in the nearby alluvial islands of the Mackenzie Delta, where permafrost is thin, the effects of snow on the position of the lower permafrost surface are probably considerable.