Evidence for recent temperature-induced water migration into permafrost from the tritium content of ground ice near Mayo, Yukon Territory, Canada

Abstract

Determinations of the tritium (3H) content of ground ice collected near Mayo, Yukon Territory, indicate that since the mid-1950s atmospheric water has infiltrated permafrost to depths of up to 50 cm. The rate of tritium infiltration into permafrost at two plots irrigated with tritiated water in 1983 suggests that tritium movement is principally due to temperature-induced mass transport rather than molecular diffusion.