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Simulating the freeze-thaw and buried ice melting process of the Longbasaba moraine dam (Himalayas) based on the heat transfer module of COMSOL Multiphysics from 1959 to 2100
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  • Jia Wang,
  • Xin Wang,
  • Yanlin Zhang,
  • Weijie Ran,
  • Yong Zhang,
  • Junfeng Wei,
  • Qiao Liu,
  • Dongyu Lei
Jia Wang
Hunan University of Science and Technology
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Xin Wang
Hunan University of Science and Technology

Corresponding Author:[email protected]

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Yanlin Zhang
Hunan University of Science and Technology
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Weijie Ran
Hunan University of Science and Technology
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Yong Zhang
Hunan University of Science and Technology
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Junfeng Wei
Hunan University of Science and Technology
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Qiao Liu
Institute of Mountain Hazards and Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences
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Dongyu Lei
Hunan University of Science and Technology
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Abstract

Permafrost degradation poses an increasingly serious threat of glacial lake outburst floodings (GLOFs) in the Tibetan Plateau. It is therefore of great practical significance to analyze the freeze-thaw state in moraine dams and associated impacts on dam stability. We simulated the soil temperature of the Longbasaba moraine dam based on the heat transfer module of COMSOL Multiphysics. The results show that the soil temperature of the moraine dam can be adequately simulated using the COMSOL Multiphysics heat transfer module and the simulated temperature values are generally consistent with the observed trends, yielding root mean square errors (RMSEs) less than 1.58 ℃ and Nash-Sutcliffe efficiency coefficients (NSEs) between 0.66 and 0.93. The average annual increase of the active layer depth was 0.026 m/a from 1959 to 2020. The buried ice inside the moraine dam was evidently melting and the maximum buried ice thawing depth under scenarios SSP1-2.6, SSP2-4.5, and SSP5-8.5 in CMIP6 (Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 6) is expected to be 11.3 m, 18.4 m, and 23.5 m, respectively, by the end of the century, which indicates a continuous deterioration of the moraine dam stability.