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Arctic Science 2000 - Crossing Borders: Science and Community
Whitehorse, Yukon, Canada, Sept 21-24 2000
American Association for the Advancement of Science & Yukon Science Institute

Evaporation Modelling at Mine Sites in the Northwest Territories and Nunavut, Canada

Evaporation studies are being conducted to improve water balance calculations at mine sites in the Northwest Territories and Nunavut. Site specific evaporation data are used for water management at mine tailings containment facilities and for site restoration and abandonment plans. Weather data for evaporation modelling have been collected since 1993 at three mine sites; the Giant Mine (Pocket Lake), 62^o30' N, 114^o 24' W, near Yellowknife; the Salmita mine, 64^o03' N, 111^o 11' W, about 250 km NE of Yellowknife; and the Nanisivik mine, 73^o 02' N, 84^o 33' W, on Baffin Island. Evaporation rates were modelled with mean daily weather data using the Penman Method, a combined energy balance/aerodynamic approach (Chow, et al., 1988). Water budgets were calculated for Pocket Lake and Salmita to check the model results. The average annual evaporation rates calculated with the Penman method are 422 mm at Pocket Lake, 294 mm at Salmita and 192 mm at Nanisivik. Agreement between the Penman method and the water balance is between -9 to +12% for Pocket Lake and -8 and +20% at Salmita. Evaporation data from the Environment Canada weather stations at the Yellowknife and Resolute Bay airports were obtained for comparison with Pocket Lake data and Nanisivik data, respectively.

The evaporation data produced during this study have also been used by researchers at the University of Waterloo for developing and calibrating an alternative method for determining evaporation rates based on the mass balance of naturally occurring isotopes in the water (Gibson, et al.,1993 and 1996) The data from the isotope mass balance method are also included for comparisons.

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