Interannual variability in air temperature and snow drives differences in ice formation and growth

Rafat, Arash; Kheyrollah Pour, Homa

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-19-4335-2025

Articles | Volume 19, issue 10

https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-19-4335-2025

© Author(s) 2025. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-19-4335-2025

© Author(s) 2025. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 19, issue 10

Research article

|

07 Oct 2025

Research article |

| 07 Oct 2025

Interannual variability in air temperature and snow drives differences in ice formation and growth

Arash Rafat and Homa Kheyrollah Pour

Data sets

Thermistor-derived measurements of snow depths, ice thicknesses, and surface temperatures in Landing Lake, Northwest Territories, Canada: 2021-2023 (October-December) Rafat, A. and Kheyrollah Pour, H. https://doi.org/10.5683/SP3/QZJVYD

Short summary

Climate change in Canada’s Northwest Territories (NWT) is making lake ice less predictable, thereby affecting ice road safety for northern communities. In this study, observations of significant changes in ice formation and growth between October and December of 2021–2023 in a small NWT lake are related to changes in local snowfall and air temperatures. Collected data were used to develop simple models that can be applied to ice road planning, construction, and design under future and current climate change.