Grant S.A., Iskandar I.K. Contaminant hydrology cold regions modeling

London, New York, Washington, D.C.: Lewis publishers, 2000. — 262 p.Approximately 50% of the Earth’s land mass is frozen at some time during the annual cycle: 20% of the land contains permafrost, and the other 30% is underlain with discontinuous permafrost or is subjected to several freeze/thaw cycles per year.
Terrestrial environmental contamination in cold regions is an increasing concern in many areas of the world because it affects some of the most traditionally pristine areas and because environmental cleanup in cold regions presents substantial operational difficulties that may increase costs considerably. Moreover, the extreme temperature range, soils and geology, the unique biological diversity, the freezing and thawing of pollutants, and the impact on human activities make environmental site assessments and remediation challenging tasks.
While much has been learned about contaminant fate and transport in cold regions, much more remains to be done, especially in understanding the effects of cold region environments and predicting the effectiveness of candidate remedial actions. Additionally, it is difficult for decision makers to keep abreast of the results of the most recent research, and thus they are less able to make cost-efficient and effective choices. This lag in understanding prolongs remediation of contaminated sites, extends the diversion of resources, and increases the final costs of cleanup.