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Paleoclimatic reconstructions in western Canada from boreholetemperature logs: surface air temperature forcing and groundwater flow
1Northern Geothermal, 105 Carlson Close, Edmonton, Alberta, T6R 2J8, Canada
2University of North Dakota, Northern Plains Climate ResearchCentre, Grand Forks, USA
3Geological Survey of Canada, Calgary, Canada
4Department of Earth Sciences, St. Francis Xavier University,Antigonish, Nova Scotia, Canada
5Geophysical Institute, Prague, Czech Republic
6Environment Canada, Downsview, Ont., Canada
Abstract. Modelling of surface temperature change effect on temperature vs.~depth and temperature-depth logs in Western Canada Sedimentary Basin show that SAT (surface air temperature) forcing is the main driving factor for the underground temperature changes diffusing with depth. It supports the validity of the basic hypothesis of borehole temperature paleoclimatology, namely that the ground surface temperature is systematically coupled with the air temperature in the longer term (decades, centuries). While the highest groundwater recharge rate used in the modelling suggests that for this extreme case some of the observed curvature in the profile, could be due to groundwater flow, it is more likely that the low recharge rates in this semi-arid region would have minimal impact. We conclude that surface temperature forcing is responsible for most of the observed anomalous temperature profile.
Final Revised Paper (PDF, 807 KB) Discussion Paper (CPD)
Citation: Majorowicz, J., Grasby, S. E., Ferguson, G., Safanda, J., and Skinner, W.: Paleoclimatic reconstructions in western Canada from boreholetemperature logs: surface air temperature forcing and groundwater flow, Clim. Past, 2, 1-10, 2006. Bibtex EndNote Reference Manager
