Exploring a New Air-Surface Temperature Diurnal Wave Analysis Method for Permafrost Areas

Existing air-surface temperature time series analysis methods for permafrost regions, such as n-factors, are largely limited to describing larger-scale mean conditions, while waveform analysis methods have typically focused on a single waveform propagating through a relatively uniform, primarily conductive medium (such as soil). Although the air-surface relation is more complex—there are advective inputs to air temperature, non-uniform and non-conductive interposing media, and the air and surface waveforms reflect separate (but related) heat transfer processes—air-surface waveform analysis presents a potential opportunity to analyze temperature series on an approximately diurnal scale. Using surface temperature series from sites in the Northwest Territories, a diurnal wave analysis method is proposed and evaluated as a potential means of extracting valuable information from surface temperature series that goes well beyond what can be learned from mean condition methods.