Occurrence of surface flow on arctic slopes, southwestern Cornwallis Island

Surface flow on arctic slopes is due to a rise of the suprapermafrost water table above the ground surface. The active layer therefore has to be saturated, or surface flow will be lost to infiltration.In spring, snowmelt supplies abundant water to the slopes, but a shallow frost table restricts the active layer storage capacity. This produces extensive surface flow, delivering considerable volumes of water downslope as overland flow or rill …