Cold Regions Science and Technology 131 (2016) 53–64

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Cold Regions Science and Technology

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/coldregions

Investigation into freezing point depression in stormwater ponds caused

by road salt
Yuntong She ⁎, Jeff Kemp, Laurel Richards, Mark Loewen
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Alberta, 7-203 Donadeo Innovation Centre for Engineering, 9211 116 Street NW, Edmonton, Alberta T6G 1H9, Canada

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Variable and unpredictable ice cover conditions present a serious safety concern for winter recreational activities
Received 9 March 2016 on urban stormwater ponds. Ice cover formation and decay are largely controlled by thermal and hydrodynamic
Received in revised form 25 August 2016 factors; however, stormwater ponds receiving salt-laden runoff can have altered chemical properties, which may
Accepted 2 September 2016
also affect ice processes. To identify the causal factors of variable ice cover conditions, water sampling and con-
Available online 4 September 2016
tinuous water quality monitoring were conducted over two winters on four stormwater ponds located in Edmon-
Keywords:
ton, Alberta, Canada. Laboratory experiments were conducted to determine the freezing point temperatures of
Stormwater pond the water samples. It was found that the freezing point temperature correlates strongly with specific conductivity
Cold region and closely to the chloride concentration in the ponds. The magnitude of freezing point depression varied from
Freezing point depression pond to pond with a maximum magnitude of 0.353 °C. The freezing point depression was also determined for
Ice cover formation and melting the pond ice by measuring the specific conductivity of thawed ice cores, and was found to be significantly smaller
Chloride concentration than that of the pond water. A calculation of the heat transfer in a layer of ice showed that the ice growth and
Road salt melting processes were not significantly affected by freezing point depression of this magnitude. Therefore, it
Snowmelt runoff
was concluded that salt-laden runoff from nearby roads does not have a significant influence on ice formation
Water quality
or thawing in stormwater ponds.
© 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
Stormwater retention ponds have become an integral component of
urban drainage networks for the management of both the quantity and
quality of urban runoff. The ponds increase the capacity of drainage net-
works by providing temporary storage of runoff. They are also designed
to improve water quality by removing pollutants, employing processes
such as sedimentation, flocculation, and metabolism by microorganisms
and aquatic plants (Alberta Environmental Protection (AEP), 1999). In
cold regions, frozen stormwater ponds are attractive for winter recrea-
tional activities such as skating and tobogganing. However, ice covers
on stormwater ponds tend to be unpredictable as there may be
through-flow under the ice cover that transports heat and may contain
impurities, and the pond water level can fluctuate (e.g. City of
Winnipeg; City of Lethbridge). This presents a special concern about
the safety of ice covers. Ice cover formation and melting do not solely
depend on thermal and hydrodynamic conditions such as air tempera-
ture, wind speed, solar radiation, and other factors influencing heat ex-
change (Launiainen and Cheng, 1998). The chemical properties of water
⁎ Corresponding author.
E-mail addresses: yshe@ualberta.ca (Y. She), jkemp@ualberta.ca (J. Kemp),
lkrichar@ualberta.ca (L. Richards), mrloewen@ualberta.ca (M. Loewen).
can also be an important factor. In particular, the freezing point of water
can be depressed by the presence of dissolved substances such as road
salt (Marsalek et al., 2000).
Deicing salts are commonly applied to roads in cold regions to miti-
gate adverse winter driving conditions. Sodium chloride (NaCl) is the
most commonly used, but other salts, including calcium chloride
(CaCl2), magnesium chloride (MgCl2), and potassium chloride (KCl),
may be applied when lower eutectic temperatures are required
(Environment Canada, 2001). These chloride salts are readily soluble
in water and break up into cations and chloride anions. The chloride
anion is relatively stable and highly mobile; it does not get lost or bro-
ken down through natural processes. As a result, almost all chloride
eventually finds ways to enter surface water (Environment Canada,
2001). In Canada, about 5 million tonnes of salts are applied to roads
in a typical year, leading to elevated chloride levels in both surface
and ground waters (Environment Canada, 2001, 2012). Stormwater
ponds have a very high degree of exposure to road salt loadings. Much
higher chloride concentrations have been observed during the winter
months compared to the open water season (e.g. Mayer et al., 1996;
Bishop et al., 2000). Watson (Environment Canada, 2001) sampled 89
stormwater ponds in southern Ontario and related the chloride concen-
tration with the number of lanes of the road nearest the ponds. It was
shown that the mean chloride concentration in ponds near roads with
more than two lanes but fewer than six lanes was 124 mg/L (range 0–

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.coldregions.2016.09.003
0165-232X/© 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
54 Y. She et al. / Cold Regions Science and Technology 131 (2016) 53–64
620 mg/L) while the mean value in ponds near roads with more than six
lanes was 952 mg/L and was as high as 3950 mg/L.
Evidence has pointed to road salts as a contributor to lowered
pond function during winter and early spring (Marselek and
Schreier, 2009). High levels of chloride can lead to strong chemical
stratification which inhibits vertical mixing resulting in oxygen de-
pletion in bottom layers, increasing the dissolved fraction of some
heavy metals thereby reducing the pollutant removal by sedimenta-
tion (Marsalek, 2003; Semandeni-Davies, 2006), and can directly
and indirectly augment toxicity (Mayer et al., 2008). The impact on
the aquatic ecosystem has also been extensively studied (e.g. Van
Meter et al., 2011). However, very little research has been done to
evaluate the potential impact of road salts on pond ice processes.
Ice formed from even slightly saline water may contain some unfro-
zen brine pockets which may greatly reduce the heat required for
melting (Ashton, 1986). If pond water contains elevated concentra-
tions of salts or other dissolved solids, the freezing point will be re-
duced. It is possible that such a reduction could have a significant
influence on ice cover formation, growth, and decay.
Variable and unpredictable ice cover behavior has been observed on
the stormwater ponds in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada (personal commu-
nication with City of Edmonton Drainage Services, 2013). For example,
an ice cover 30 cm thick was observed to thaw completely in b24 h
and open leads have occurred at unexpected locations away from inlets
or outlets. Edmonton is located in a cool temperature climate with a
mean annual air temperature of 4.2 °C, an annual average of 82.6 days
with maximum daily temperatures below freezing, and an average an-
nual snowfall of 123.5 cm (Environment Canada Climate Normals,
1981–2010). In the winter of 2013–2014, 18,806 t of salts and
143,981 L of calcium chloride were used for road maintenance (City of
Edmonton). Therefore, it was hypothesized that salt-laden runoff
water may play a significant role in the variable ice conditions observed
at the Edmonton stormwater ponds. The objective of this study was to
prove or disprove this hypothesis, that is, determine the magnitude of
freezing point depression that may occur and whether it is sufficient
to have a significant effect on the ice growth and melting process in
the ponds.
2. Study ponds and methods
Four study ponds were selected from the ~ 130 Edmonton
stormwater ponds such that a range of morphometry, water quality,
and ice cover conditions would be represented. Silverberry 4 (SB4), lo-
cated in southeast Edmonton, was built in 2001 with an average depth
of 0.44 m and a storage volume of 8100 m3. The other three study ponds
are located in southwest Edmonton, within approximately 1.5 km of
each other. MacTaggart 2 (MT2) was constructed in 2005, has an aver-
age depth of 0.76 m, and a storage volume of 7800 m3. South Terwillegar
2 (ST2) was built in 2008, has an average depth of 0.85 m, and a storage
volume of 7700 m3. Terwillegar Towne 2 (TT2), built in 1999, is the
oldest and largest study ponds with an average depth of 1.78 m and a
storage volume of 39,000 m3. Details of the basin characteristics are
shown in Table 1. The bathymetry of the four ponds together with the
inlet and outlet locations is shown in Fig. 1. All four ponds are located
along bus routes, a priority for de-icing and snow removal, so salt-
laden run-off is anticipated during the winter months.
Table 1
Bathymetric and drainage basin data for the study ponds.
Study Average depth Pond surface Pond volume Drainage basin
pond (m) area (ha) (m3) area (ha)
TT2 1.78 2.18 39,000 91.4
MT2 0.76 1.03 7800 67.8
ST2 0.85 0.90 7700 40.8
SB4 0.44 1.82 8100 92.9
A total of 42 water samples were collected from the four study ponds
between February and April 2014. Of these, 9 samples were taken from
each of MT2 and ST2; 10 samples from TT2, and 13 samples from SB4.
Sampling dates were February 11, 13, and 26; March 11 and 12; and
April 23. The ice covers formed in early November and persisted
through to late April. The water samples from April 2014 were the
only open-water season samples analyzed for freezing point tempera-
ture. All of the other samples were collected by drilling holes through
the ice cover and pumping water from specified depths. Three water
samples of 1000 mL, 500 mL, and 250 mL were collected at each sam-
pling location. The 250 mL sample was used to measure the freezing
point temperature in a cold room laboratory and the 1000 mL and
500 mL samples were used for determining the pertinent water quality
parameters by the Biogeochemical Analytical Service Laboratory (BASL)
at the University of Alberta. Parameters analyzed were those known to
affect the freezing point, including chloride, major ions (calcium, mag-
nesium, sodium and potassium), other contributing ions (sulphate),
total dissolved solids (TDS), and specific conductivity. This allowed a re-
lationship between the freezing point depression and any pertinent
water quality parameters to be explored. The 95% confidence limits of
the BASL test results are 5.7% for chloride concentration, 0.3% for specific
conductivity, 0.5% for TDS, 3–10% for major ions and other contributing
ions. Specific conductivity in each pond was continuously monitored
over two winters. Eight Van Essen CTD divers (accuracy: 1% within
10 μS/cm–120 mS/cm) sampling at 6-minute intervals were deployed
in the 2013–2014 winter. The two sensors in each pond were located
near one inlet and the outlet of each pond. Note that the eight CTD di-
vers were also deployed in the 2014–2015 winter but unfortunately
this conductivity data was corrupted due to problems with the calibra-
tion procedure. Fortunately, in 2014–2015 three YSI EXO2 Sondes were
also deployed which sampled conductivity at 5 min intervals (accuracy:
0.5% within 0–100 mS/cm) near an inlet in three of the ponds. One EXO2
Sonde was utilized profiling at multiple locations within each pond a
number of times in the winter of 2014–2015. Water levels in the outlet
structures of each pond were measured using Schlumberger Mini (accu-
racy: 0.5 cm H2O) and Micro divers (accuracy: 1.0 cm H2O) with a sam-
pling interval of 3 or 6 min. The water levels were then used to calculate
pond outflows using the stage discharge relationship for the hydraulic
structure in each outlet.
Freezing point measurements were conducted in a cold room using
the experiment apparatus shown in Fig. 2. The water sample was con-
tinuously stirred by a magnetic mixer during the freezing process to en-
sure uniform mixing and to prevent skim ice formation on the water
surface. Water temperatures were recorded simultaneously by two
RBR Solo temperature loggers (RBR Ltd.). These sensors are accurate
to approximately 0.002 °C and were set to sample at 2 Hz. A third RBR
Solo temperature logger was used to monitor the cold room air temper-
ature, which was set to −5 °C.
Fig. 3 shows a sketch of two typical cooling curves (i.e. time series of
the temperature during the cooling process) for pure water and a solu-
tion. The temperature of the pure water steadily falls and may drop
below the freezing point without any solid ice formation, an effect
known as supercooling. As ice begins to form the temperature rises
slightly due to the latent heat of fusion released into the water and
then stabilizes at an approximately constant temperature. This temper-
ature is the freezing point (T0f ) at which more heat loss does not cool the
water but instead contributes to ice production. Finally the temperature
begins to decrease as heat is drawn from the completely solidified
water. The cooling curve for a solution (e.g. saline water) is slightly dif-
ferent in that it never stabilizes to a constant temperature at the freezing
point as pure water does. Instead, the temperature continues to de-
crease because the concentration of the solution increases as ice forms
from the pure solvent (Brescia et al., 1975). The freezing point can be
taken as the temperature where the slope of the cooling curve changes
abruptly. However, this point is obscured by the presence of
supercooling requiring the application of an extrapolation method.
 Y. She et al. / Cold Regions Science and Technology 131 (2016) 53–64 55

Fig. 1. Bathymetry of the four study ponds. MT2 – MacTaggart 2; ST2 – South Terwillegar 2; TT2 – Terwillegar Towne 2; SB4 – Silverberry 4.

Mair et al. (1941) developed a method in which the sloping portion of
the cooling curve associated with solid phase formation is extrapolated
back to the point where it cuts the curve associated with the completely
liquid phase as illustrated in Fig. 3. The freezing point (Tf) determined
this way is not the exact freezing point; however, Mair et al. (1941)
demonstrated that the discrepancy is on the order of a couple of percent
of the freezing point depression (ΔTf = T0f − Tf) as long as the amount of
supercooling is small compared to the temperature difference between
the ambient air and the solution. This extrapolation method was consid-
ered sufficiently accurate for determining the freezing point depression
of the pond water samples.
A set of control tests were conducted on water samples with known
freezing points to ensure the accuracy of the method described above.
Two tests were done using de-ionized water which has a theoretical
freezing point of 0 °C. The measured freezing points on the two samples
were 0.00027 °C and 0.00005 °C. These errors are well within the accu-
racy of the RBR Solo temperature sensors. Control tests were also carried
out using solutions with 1% and 2% NaCl by weight since the data for
freezing point depression of various concentrations of NaCl solutions
are well established and readily available in many chemistry hand-
books. In Fig. 4 the measured freezing point depression in the control
tests are compared to the data from Lange's Handbook of Chemistry
(Speight, 2005). The actual concentration of the NaCl solutions prepared
for this control test varied in a range of 0.986–1.041% and 2–2.035%. Ac-
cording to Blagden's law (Mellor, 1912), the freezing point depression is
linearly proportional to the solute concentration for diluted solutions.
Therefore, a straight line was fitted to the handbook data for NaCl con-
centrations between 0 and 3%. This allows a comparison to the tested
56 Y. She et al. / Cold Regions Science and Technology 131 (2016) 53–64
Fig. 2. Photograph of the experimental apparatus used for the freezing point
measurements.
solute concentrations which deviate slightly from 1% and 2%. It can be
seen that most of the measurements from the control tests agree with
those from the handbook to within ±3%, especially for the 1% NaCl so-
lution. Freezing point depression measurements were then conducted
with the 42 stormwater pond samples. Fig. 5 shows an example of the
temperature data obtained by the RBR solo temperature sensors during
one of the freezing point depression experiments. For this stormwater
sample, a freezing point depression of 0.041 °C was determined using
the previously described extrapolation method.
Salt content in the ice is typically much lower than that in the parent
water it forms from due to ion rejection. Therefore, five ice cores were
sampled on March 6, 11, and 12, 2014, three from MT2 and two from
SB4. The ice cores were cut at the boundary between white and thermal
ice so that the conductivity of each ice type was measured separately.
Each sample was then melted and the conductivity measured using
the EXO2 sonde.
3. Results
Table 2 shows a summary of the freezing point measurements from
all 42 stormwater pond samples. A histogram of the same data is plotted
in Fig. 6. The mean freezing point depression of all samples is 0.040 °C
with a standard deviation of 0.028 °C. The largest freezing point depres-
sion was 0.134 °C. This sample was taken at the southeast inlet of the
Fig. 3. Typical cooling curves of pure water and a solution.
Fig. 4. Percentage by weight of NaCl versus freezing point depression.
SB4 pond at a depth of 0.5 m on February 26, 2014. The mean freezing
point depressions, as well as maximum and minimum values for each
of the four study ponds, are listed in Table 3. SB4 had the highest
mean freezing point depression while TT2 had the smallest, 0.057 °C
and 0.017 °C, respectively.
Pertinent water quality parameters including chloride concentra-
tion, specific conductivity, total dissolved solids (TDS) and sulphate
(SO4) for all samples are also listed in Table 2. The chloride concentra-
tion ranged between 11.5 and 774 mg/L with a mean concentration of
263 mg/L. SB4 had the highest chloride levels and all samples from
this pond, except those collected under open water conditions, had con-
centrations N300 mg/L. TT2 had the lowest chloride levels with concen-
trations consistently between 40 and 50 mg/L. Note that two samples
from TT2 with higher concentrations (139 mg/L and 263 mg/L) were
collected from near the bottom of the pond where the denser, more sa-
line water would be expected to accumulate.
In Fig. 7 the freezing point depression data is plotted against the
chloride concentration, revealing a strong linear correlation. The magni-
tude of freezing point depression increases linearly with increasing
chloride concentration, yielding a correlation coefficient of 0.960. Con-
ductivity is directly related to the concentration of ions in the water
and strong correlations between conductivity and chloride concentra-
tions have been found for saline intruded surface water (e.g. Novotny
et al., 2008; McNeil and Cox, 2000) and groundwater (e.g. Alhumoud
et al., 2010). Therefore, it is expected that there would also be a good
correlation between freezing point depression and conductivity as
well. In Fig. 8 the freezing point depression is plotted against the specific
conductivity, yielding a correlation coefficient of 0.997. The correlation
with conductivity is slightly stronger than that with only chloride con-
centration because other ions that may be present but contribute less
Fig. 5. A typical water and air temperature time series measured during a freezing point
depression experiment.
 Y. She et al. / Cold Regions Science and Technology 131 (2016) 53–64 57

Table 2
Freezing point and water quality parameter measurements.

Sample Pond Location Depth Freezing Cl Cond TDS

date (m) point (mg/L) (mS/cm) (mg/L)
(Celsius)

11-Feb.-14 MT2 SE 1.0 −0.030 129 1.05 622

11-Feb.-14 MT2 NW 1.0 −0.062 515 2.01 1060
11-Feb.-14 MT2 SW 1.0 −0.033 209 1.15 636
11-Feb.-14 MT2 SW 2.0 −0.040 249 1.31 734
13-Feb.-14 ST2 SE 1.0 −0.036 179 1.31 700
13-Feb.-14 ST2 S_arm 1.0 −0.041 219 1.41 856
13-Feb.-14 ST2 SW 1.0 −0.042 262 1.52 852
13-Feb.-14 ST2 NW 1.75 −0.070 590 2.36 1320
13-Feb.-14 ST2 NW 1.0 −0.056 412 2.00 1100
26-Feb.-14 SB4 SE 0.5 −0.134 774 4.28 2990
26-Feb.-14 SB4 S_bend 0.5 −0.073 428 2.58 1670
26-Feb.-14 SB4 NE 0.5 −0.067 349 2.35 1490
26-Feb.-14 SB4 NW 0.5 −0.105 746 3.42 2040
26-Feb.-14 SB4 NW 1.4 −0.100 756 3.38 1980
Fig. 6. Histogram of freezing point temperatures measured in all stormwater pond
26-Feb.-14 TT2 SE 1.0 −0.013 44 0.49 272
samples.
26-Feb.-14 TT2 Center 1.0 −0.013 42 0.48 270
26-Feb.-14 TT2 Center 2.0 −0.025 139 0.83 388
26-Feb.-14 TT2 NE 1.0 −0.016 44 0.49 300 steady baseflow was always present at SB4 but not at the other ponds.
26-Feb.-14 TT2 NW 1.0 −0.012 41 0.46 252 A previous engineering investigation for the SB4 area had reported a
11-Mar.-14 MT2 North 1.0 −0.043 331 1.38 764
high groundwater table near the pond, the presence of gypsum in the
inlet
11-Mar.-14 MT2 North surface −0.039 287 1.24 684 soil, and recommended the use of sulphate resistant concrete for buried
inlet infrastructures (HBT Agra Ltd., 1994). Therefore, even though sulphate
11-Mar.-14 MT2 SE inlet 1.0 −0.041 203 1.35 832 may be present in road salt as one of the major impurities, the most like-
11-Mar.-14 MT2 SE inlet surface −0.026 147 0.84 506
ly explanation for these elevated concentrations in SB4 is groundwater
11-Mar.-14 MT2 SW surface −0.040 296 1.32 750
Outlet
inflows.
12-Mar.-14 SB4 Inlet 1.0 −0.064 561 1.20 1030 Specific conductivities were continuously monitored for the winter
bend of 2013–2014 and 2014–2015. In the first winter, conductivity sensors
12-Mar.-14 SB4 Outlet 1.0 −0.049 411 1.57 872 were placed near an inlet and the outlet; while in the second winter
12-Mar.-14 SB4 South ~0.1 m −0.073 582 2.40 1270
the sensors were installed in the forebay of the dominant inlet (i.e. the
inlet below ice
12-Mar.-14 ST2 North 1.0 −0.035 270 1.11 634 inlet that had the largest contributing catchment) at three of the
inlet ponds pond. Table 4 lists the location and depth at which the sensors
12-Mar.-14 ST2 North surface −0.005 11 0.14 168 were deployed in the two winters. Time series of air temperature, outlet
inlet
discharge and specific conductivity measured in SB4 and TT2 during the
12-Mar.-14 ST2 SE outlet 1.0 −0.044 300 1.44 768
12-Mar.-14 ST2 SW 1.0 −0.046 319 1.48 796
two winters are presented in Figs. 10 and 11. Only time series from SB4
corner and TT2 are plotted since they had the highest and lowest chloride con-
12-Mar.-14 TT2 NE 1.0 −0.016 53 0.51 250 centration, respectively and the time series from the other ponds
corner showed similar trends. The high frequency fluctuations that appear in-
12-Mar.-14 TT2 NW 1.0 −0.015 53 0.51 228
termittently in the conductivity time series are likely an indication of
centre
12-Mar.-14 TT2 NW 1.0 −0.014 55 0.51 230 mixing caused by convection, density currents or internal seiching. It
outlet can be seen that the conductivity was elevated during the winter
12-Mar.-14 TT2 SE inlet 1.0 −0.015 47 0.52 276 months. The major peaks and fluctuations appear to be associated
12-Mar.-14 TT2 SE inlet 2.0 −0.035 263 1.12 534
with run-off events as indicated by increased discharges at pond outlets.
23-Apr.-14 SB4 East 0.5 −0.024 158 0.85 518
outlet
By mid-April, the conductivity had dropped to pre-winter levels. Over-
23-Apr.-14 SB4 East 1.5 −0.024 161 0.84 474 all, TT2 had the lowest conductivity levels while SB4 had the highest,
outlet which is consistent with the conductivity measurements from the
23-Apr.-14 SB4 NE inlet 0.5 −0.016 86 0.56 348 water samples. Differences between ponds are likely due to the catch-
23-Apr.-14 SB4 North of 0.5 −0.006 25 0.24 162
ment characteristics, local bathymetry, sensor location, flow path, and
bridge
23-Apr.-14 SB4 South GRAB −0.006 22 0.25 164 residence time.
inlet The measured specific conductivity of the ice core samples are listed
Note: MT2 - MacTaggart 2; ST2 - South Terwillegar 2; TT2 - Terwillegar Towne 2; SB4 - Sil-
in Table 5. The conductivities for snow ice ranged from 0.08–0.25 mS/
verberry 4. cm with an average of 0.14 mS/cm and for thermal ice they ranged
from 0.03–0.31 with an average of 0.09 mS/cm. The snow ice samples
had higher conductivities than the thermal ice samples but all are signif-
to conductivity (e.g. SO4) also contribute to the freezing point depres- icantly lower than that of the pond water. The ice core sample with the
sion of a solution. Similarly, a strong correlation exists between freezing
point depression and TDS (Fig. 9). This is as expected since specific con-
ductivity and TDS concentration are both directly related to the concen- Table 3
Freezing point depression statistics based on water sample data.
tration of dissolved ions.
As noted above, the correlation between freezing point depression Study Mean freezing point Minimum freezing Maximum freezing
and specific conductivity is stronger than that with chloride concentra- pond depression (°C) point depression (°C) point depression (°C)
tion, suggesting other ions are also contributing to freezing point de- MT2 0.039 0.025 0.062
pression. Examining the concentrations of the different ions revealed ST2 0.042 0.005 0.070
that the sulphate concentration was high in some water samples col- TT2 0.017 0.012 0.035
SB4 0.057 0.006 0.134
lected from SB4. During the field measurements it was noticed that a
58 Y. She et al. / Cold Regions Science and Technology 131 (2016) 53–64

0.14
y (x)=0.000141 x
R=0.9596
0.12
Freezing Point Depression (oC)

0.1

0.08

0.06

0.04

0.02

0
0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800
Cl (mg/L)

Fig. 7. Measured freezing point depression temperatures versus chloride concentration. Fig. 9. Measured freezing point depression temperatures versus total dissolved solids
The solid line is a linear regression fitted to the experimental data. concentration. The solid line is a linear regression fitted to the experimental data.

highest conductivity of 0.31 mS/cm was comprised of thermal ice but vi-
sual inspection of the sample indicated pockets of opaque white. It is
suspected that these opaque portions are brine pockets, which would
cause higher salt content in this sample and therefore higher
conductivity.
4. Discussion
4.1. Chloride concentrations
which receives runoff from a major highway) (Environment Canada,
2001). The increase of salinity due to deicing salt was also studied by
Novotny et al. (2008) for 38 urban lakes in the Twin Cities Metropolitan
Area of Minnesota. Chloride concentrations in these lakes ranged from
31 mg/L to 505 mg/L at the surface, and 43 mg/L to 1018 mg/L near
the bottom of the lakes. They also noted that the highest chloride con-
centrations all occurred during the winter months. These values are
comparable with the chloride concentrations measured in the City of
Edmonton's stormwater ponds.

The observed chloride concentration in all four stormwater ponds is
much higher than the ambient chloride concentration (b5 mg/L) in nat-
ural lakes of northern Alberta (Canadian Council of Ministers of the
Environment (CCME), 2011). In Canada the recommended chloride
concentration limits for the protection of freshwater aquatic life are
640 mg/L and 120 mg/L for short-term and long-term exposure, respec-
tively (CCME, 2011). Although not their primary purpose, the
stormwater ponds typically have established aquatic ecosystems
(Olding, 2000). This study shows that occasionally the chloride concen-
tration level in the ponds can exceed the standards and lethality or im-
mobilization of aquatic life can occur. This is particularly the case during
the thaw events when concentrations peak.
The chloride concentration in stormwater ponds had also been stud-
ied previously, mostly in Ontario, Canada. Similar chloride concentra-
tions were observed in some Ontario ponds (e.g. 380 mg/L in Heritage
pond and 800 mg/L in Unionville pond, both located in residential set-
tings) whereas others had much higher concentrations (e.g. 1100–
2000 mg/L in the Harding Pond; 5910 mg/L in the Col. S. Smith Reservoir
4.2. Specific conductivity time series
The air temperature and specific conductivity data presented in Fig.
10 for the 2013–2014 winter reveals that the major peaks and fluctua-
tions in the specific conductivity curves were associated with thaw
events (i.e. times when the outlet discharge increased significantly). It
is also interesting to look at the outflow of the pond. Runoff caused by
a relatively small thaw event in the last week of January 2014 produced
increases in the conductivity in both TT2 and SB4. Larger thaw events
occurred starting the second week of March 2014 when air temperature
remained above 0 °C for over 10 days. This produced rapid increases in
conductivity as road salt entered the ponds during the early stages of
the thaw. However, as the thaw continued the conductivity decreased,
quite abruptly in SB4, presumably because the initial flush of relatively
saline meltwater from the surrounding roads was followed, diluted,
and flushed by increasingly fresher meltwater.
The specific conductivity time series for the winter of 2014–2015
show sequential increases with each thaw event (Fig. 11). The SB4 con-
ductivity plot for 2014–2015, in particular, is dramatically different than
that from the previous winter. The conductivity increased and stabilized
incrementally and was significantly higher during most of the winter

Table 4
Sensor locations for continuous specific conductivity measurements.

Pond Location 2013/2014 2014/2015

Total Sensor distance Total Sensor distance

depth from bed (m) depth from bed (m)
(m) (m)

TT2 NW outlet 2.61 1.05 – –

SE inlet 2.67 1.05 – –
NE inlet – – 3.24 1.14
SB4 NW outlet 1.80 0.67 – –
NE inlet 1.90 0.65 1.86 0.33
ST2 SE outlet 1.83 0.76 – –
NW inlet 1.98 1.08 2.59 0.74
MT2 NW outlet 1.91 0.96 – –
Fig. 8. Measured freezing point depression temperatures versus specific conductivity. The
SW inlet 2.27 1.05 – –
solid line is a linear regression fitted to the experimental data.
 Y. She et al. / Cold Regions Science and Technology 131 (2016) 53–64 59

Fig. 10. Time series of air temperature, outflow discharge and specific conductivity in winter 2013/2014 (a) SB4; (b) TT2. TT2 NW – outlet; TT2 SE – inlet; SB4 NW – outlet; SB4 NE – inlet.
60 Y. She et al. / Cold Regions Science and Technology 131 (2016) 53–64

Fig. 11. Time series of air temperature, outflow discharge and specific conductivity in winter 2014/2015 (a) SB4 NE – inlet; (b) TT2 NE – inlet.
 Y. She et al. / Cold Regions Science and Technology 131 (2016) 53–64 61

Table 5 in TT2 in the winter of 2014–2015 was at a similar depth as the previous
Data obtained from ice core analysis. The freezing point depression was estimated from winter. A typical vertical profile of specific conductivity is plotted in Fig.
the specific conductivity.
12 to show the potential effect of sensor location. It can be seen in this
Pond Core Ice type Ice Specific Freezing point profile that a chemocline existed at a depth of ~1.5 m and the specific
ID thickness conductivity depression conductivity near the bed was approximately 3.7 times the value mea-
(cm) (mS/cm) (°C)
sured close to the ice-water interface. This ratio varied from 1.1 to 7.0
SB4 Core Thermal 24 0.06 0.002 with an average of 2.4 across all four ponds. The moored conductivity
1 Snow 32 0.25 0.008
sensors were deployed at depths from 0.33 m to 1.08 m from the bed
SB4 Core Thermal 32 0.05 0.001
2 Snow 26 0.11 0.003 in the two winters. The sensors deployed closer to the bed would
MT2 Core Thermal 45 0.04 0.001 have been below the chemocline more frequently and therefore mea-
1 Thermal with brine 0.31 0.009 sure higher specific conductivities compared to sensors located closer
pocket to the ice-water interface.
Snow 35 0.19 0.006
MT2 Core Thermal 26 0.03 0.001
Winter 2013–2014 was colder and had greater precipitation than
2 Snow 37 0.09 0.003 normal. The average temperature from December 2013 to February
MT3 Core Thermal 28 0.03 0.001 2014 was − 13.5 °C while the 1981–2010 normal was − 11 °C. Total
3 Snow 34 0.08 0.002 snowfall in the same period was 67.4 cm while the 1981–2010 normal
was 51 cm (EC). Winter 2014–2015, however, was much milder and
had less precipitation. The average temperature from December 2014
months as compared to that measured in the winter of 2013–2014. This to February 2015 was −9.4 °C and the total snowfall for the same period
is likely due to the sensor being installed in a local deep spot (0.33 m was only 37.6 cm. It would be interesting to explore whether the differ-
above the bed compared to 0.67 m above in the winter of 2013–2014) ences in chloride concentrations are associated with differing climatic
where the salt likely accumulated until the largest thaw related runoff conditions. However, more field studies would be required for this to
event (first week of March 2015) flushed it out. The sensor deployed be investigated.

4.3. Using conductivity as an analog for freezing point depression

As conductivity is often much easier to measure than the freezing

point, it is desirable to have an empirical relationship for predicting
the magnitude of the freezing point depression in the ponds from con-
ductivity. A linear regression of the data plotted in Fig. 8 gives the fol-
lowing equation for predicting freezing point depression from specific
conductivity data,

ΔT f ¼ 0:030c ð1Þ

where ΔTf is the freezing point depression in °C and c is the specific con-
ductivity in mS/cm.
The largest specific conductivities during both winters were ob-
served at the northeast inlet of SB4. The mean values were 2.46 mS/
cm and 6.56 mS/cm and the peak values were 9.80 mS/cm and
11.75 mS/cm in 2013–2014 and 2014–2015, respectively. Using the em-
pirical relationship developed above, the average freezing point depres-
sions in SB4 were 0.072 °C and 0.197 °C and the maximum values were
0.294 °C and 0.353 °C in the two winters, respectively. The mean and
maximum values of freezing point depression were also calculated for
the other three study ponds and are listed in Table 6. The maximum
freezing point depressions predicted in the other three study ponds
for the two winters are considerably smaller, ranging from 0.036 °C to
0.167 °C.
Freezing point depression was also calculated using the specific con-
ductivity measured from the melted ice core samples (shown in
Table 5). It can be seen that the freezing point depression of the ice
cores from both ponds were significantly smaller compared to the
pond water samples or those computed from the in-pond time series

Table 6
Freezing point depression statistics based on time series of specific conductivity measured
at pond inlets.

Study pond Mean freezing point Maximum freezing point

depression (°C) depression (°C)

2013/2014 2014/2015 2013/2014 2014/2015

MT2 0.024 N/A 0.060 N/A

ST2 0.036 0.092 0.083 0.167
TT2 0.016 0.041 0.036 0.150
Fig. 12. Vertical profile of specific conductivity measured January 28, 2015 at SB4 NE –
SB4 0.074 0.197 0.294 0.353
inlet.
62 Y. She et al. / Cold Regions Science and Technology 131 (2016) 53–64
measurements of specific conductivity. This may be due to the fact that
conductivity levels in the ponds were relatively low early in the winter
(i.e. November–December) as can been seen in Figs. 10 and 11 but the
primary cause is likely the effect of ion rejection during ice growth.
The highest freezing point depression of 0.009 °C was for the ice core
sample that may have contained a brine pocket. The snow ice had larger
freezing point depression values than the thermal ice and this is likely
due to the flooding and refreezing mechanisms that cause snow ice to
form. Since snow ice forms on top of the thermal ice, ions rejected dur-
ing freezing cannot be returned to the water column and instead are
retained within the ice cover.
4.4. Effect of freezing point depression on freezing and melting
Freezing or melting of the ice is governed by the energy balance of
the ice layer as illustrated in Fig. 13. Only a single layer of ice without
a snow cover is considered here for simplicity. Following Ashton
(2011), the heat flux at the surface of the ice (ϕia) and from the water
to the ice (ϕwi) can be calculated using the linear heat transfer method.
ϕia ¼ H ia ðT s −T a Þ
ϕwi ¼ H wi ðT w −T m Þ
where Ta, Tw, Ts, and Tm are the temperature of the air, water, the upper
surface of the ice and the bottom of the ice in °C; Hia and Hwi are the heat
transfer coefficients at the surface and bottom of the ice, respectively.
Ashton (1983) analyzed the melting of lake ice and found that Hia varied
between 10 and 20 W/m2/°C where the higher values include a contri-
bution from solar radiation. The value 10 W/m2/°C is used in this study
as solar radiation is accounted for explicitly. The heat transfer coefficient
at the bottom, Hwi is calculated as,
H wi ¼ 1622U 0:8 Y −0:2
where U is the water velocity under the ice cover in m/s and Y is depth of
the water under the ice cover in m (Ashton, 1986).
Fig. 13. Schematic showing the heat exchange through the ice layer (adapted from Ashton
(1986) with changes). Ta, Ts, Tm and Tw are the temperature of air, ice surface, bottom of ice,
and water, respectively; ϕs is shortwave radiation; ϕL-net is net longwave radiation; ϕia, ϕi
and ϕwi are heat transfer between ice and air, through the ice, and between ice and water,
respectively; U is water velocity; Y is depth of water under ice; and ti is thickness of the ice
cover.
Assuming the temperature profile is linear through the ice, the heat
flux through the ice cover (ϕi) is given by,
ki ðT m −T s Þ
ϕi ¼ ð5Þ
ti
where ki is the thermal conductivity of the ice, taken as 2.21 W/m/°C
and ti is the thickness of the ice cover in m. If condensation or evapora-
tion at the ice surface is assumed to be negligible, then ϕia = ϕi and
Eq. (5) can be rewritten as:
T m −T a
ϕi ¼ ð6Þ
ti 1
þ
ki H ia
The thickening or freezing of an ice cover can then be calculated as:
ϕi −ϕwi
Δt i ¼ Δt ð7Þ
ρi L
where Δti is the increase in ice cover thickness over time Δt, ρi is ice
ð2Þ density taken as 0.916 g/cm3, L is the latent heat of fusion, taken as
333.4 J/g (Ashton, 2011).
Note that Eq. (6) is not valid when the surface temperature of the ice
ð3Þ
reaches 0 °C and heat conduction in the ice ceases, thus it is not applica-
ble when the ice is thinning or melting. The thinning of the ice cover can
be calculated using the following equation,
ϕs ð1−α Þ−ϕia þ ϕwi
Δt i ¼ Δt ð8Þ
ρi L
where Δti is the decrease in thickness in the time interval Δt, ϕs is the
incoming solar radiation and α is the albedo of the ice surface
(Ashton, 2011). Only part of the solar radiation penetrates through the
ice and this is governed by the albedo, α. The albedo varies from approx-
imately 0.3 to 0.55 for snow ice (Hicks et al., 1995) and in this study the
ð4Þ
value was assumed to be 0.5. The solar radiation term is negligible dur-
ing freeze-up but can be important during melting when the ice is
thinning.
It was assumed that there was no inflow to the ponds during freeze-
up thus the water velocity U was set to zero (i.e. zero heat flux between
water and ice). The air temperature was set to −5.4 °C which is the his-
torical daily average in November for Edmonton (Environment Canada,
1981–2010). The daily increase in ice thickness predicted using Eq. (7)
is 1.48 cm when the freezing point is 0 °C. This value decreases by ap-
proximately 0.027 cm for every 0.1 °C of freezing point depression. For
example, for freezing point depressions of 0.057 °C and 0.353 °C, the
mean and maximum values observed in SB4, the estimated daily in-
crease in ice thickness would be 1.46 cm and 1.38 cm, which correspond
to a 1.1% and 7% reduction in ice growth, respectively. The freezing point
depression measured for the ice core samples was even smaller
(b0.01 °C). Therefore, the magnitude of freezing point depression mea-
sured in this study pond does not appear to have a significant impact on
the freezing process.
The ponds receive runoff during thaw events in mid-winter and
early spring, which should be taken into account when calculating ice
thinning. The water velocity U was assumed to be 0.1 m/s, which was
estimated as the upper limit of velocity near pond inlets based on the
measured peak inflow rate divided by the cross-sectional area of the in-
flow pipe. The water depth below the ice, Y, was assumed to be 0.5 m,
which is typical for the shallower ponds such as SB4. Water temperature
measurements near the bottom of the ice show that temperatures were
approximately 1 °C during March thaw events but could be as high as
4 °C. Therefore, a range of 0–4 °C was used in the calculations. Solar ra-
diation was taken as 180 W/m2, which was the average measured value
in April at the study ponds. The surface and bottom temperatures of the
ice (Ts and Tm) were set at the melting point and the air temperature Ta
 Y. She et al. / Cold Regions Science and Technology 131 (2016) 53–64
was set at 4.2 °C, the average air temperature in April (Environment
Canada, 1981–2010).
The water to ice heat flux term (ϕwi) dominates the heat balance
when the water velocity is relatively large and the depth is shallow. A
decrease in the freezing point will increase the water to ice heat flux
(see Eqs. (3) and (4)). Eq. (8) was used to estimate the time it would
take a 40 cm thick ice cover to melt for freezing point depressions of
0 °C, 0.04 °C and 0.15 °C, the results of which are plotted in Fig. 14 as a
function of water temperature. The value of 0.04 °C is the average freez-
ing point depression based on the 42 water samples which should be
representative of typical conditions in Edmonton stormwater ponds.
The 0.15 °C value was obtained by taking the maximum freezing point
depression estimated from the conductivity time series (0.353 °C) that
was measured 0.33 m above the bed in SB4 and reducing it by a factor
of 2.4 to account for the chemical stratification.
At a water temperature of 0 °C the time it takes for a 40 cm thick ice
cover to melt is estimated to be 257, 235 and 191 h for freezing point de-
pressions of 0 °C, 0.04 °C and 0.15 °C, respectively. This corresponds to
only a 9% reduction under typical conditions but a significant reduction
of 26% is predicted when the highest salt concentrations occur. Fig. 14
shows that the impact of freezing point depression decreases with
water temperature and becomes completely negligible, in this case, at
approximately 2 °C. It was found that the magnitude of freezing point
depression measured in the study ponds (Tables 3 and 5) is not predict-
ed to have a significant impact on the ice melting process.
If the freezing point is 0 °C, it would take 257 h for a 40 cm ice to melt
at locations where the water velocity is negligible (i.e. U = 0 m/s). Note
that this time does not depend upon water temperature since ϕwi = 0.
However, when the water is flowing at U = 0.1 m/s, using a water tem-
perature of 1 °C as was typically observed during thawing, the time
needed to melt a 40 cm thick ice cover reduces to 79 h a 69% decrease.
This indicates that water velocity is a more important factor than freez-
ing point depression. During a thaw event, there may be strong currents
even away from inlets and the impact of these higher water velocities
on melting can be significant at these locations. This may explain the
variability of ice thickness observed on some of the Edmonton
stormwater ponds.
5. Summary and conclusions
Freezing point depression was measured in the lab using 42 water
samples taken from four study ponds during the winter of 2013/2014.
Results showed that the freezing point depression in all four ponds
was 0.040 °C on average and varied from pond to pond, with a maxi-
mum depression of 0.134 °C. Strong linear correlations were observed
Δ °
Δ °
Δ °
Fig. 14. The time it takes to melt a 40 cm thick ice cover (t40) versus the water temperature
(Tw) The water velocity U = 0.10 m/s, water depth Y = 0.5 m, solar radiation = 280 W/m2.
63
between freezing point depression and chloride concentration, total
dissolved solids, and conductivity. An empirical equation was devel-
oped to determine freezing point depression from specific conductivity,
which is much easier to measure and continuously monitor in the field.
Continuous monitoring of specific conductivity was conducted in
two consecutive years and showed elevated conductivity in all four
ponds during the winter months. The empirical equation developed in
this study was used to compute the freezing point depression from
the measured specific conductivity. Consistent with the water sample
results, SB4 had the highest freezing point depression while TT2 had
the lowest of the four study ponds. The maximum freezing point de-
pression was 0.353 °C, which was measured close to the bed near the
inlet of SB4. It was also found that specific conductivity, and thus freez-
ing point depression, peaked during thaw events when the ponds re-
ceived salt-laden snowmelt runoff.
The average conductivity of the melted ice cores was found to be
0.11 mS/cm which indicates that the ice covers were comprised of
very fresh water. A maximum freezing point depression of 0.009 °C
was calculated for the melted ice core samples. The significantly lower
salt content in the ice compared to the pond water was likely due to
lower salt concentrations in the ponds early in the winter but primarily
ion rejection during ice formation.
The effect of freezing point depression on ice formation and melting
was evaluated using a simple heat transfer calculation assuming a single
ice layer. Comparisons were made of ice growth and melting rates with
and without freezing point depression. It was shown that the magni-
tude of freezing point depression measured in the study ponds does
not significantly impact the ice growth or melting processes. For those
ponds in Ontario located near major highways where the salt concen-
trations were up to five times higher than those observed in the Edmon-
ton stormwater ponds, freezing point depression may have a significant
impact on the melting process. A sensitivity test showed water velocity
to be a much larger factor contributing to the variability of ice thickness
observed on some of the Edmonton stormwater ponds.
Acknowledgments
This research was funded through the Natural Sciences and Engi-
neering Research Council of Canada (NSERC), and City of Edmonton
(Collaborative Research and Development Grant (CRDPJ 451210-13)).
This support is gratefully acknowledged. The authors would also like
to thank Mahyar Mehdizadeh, Evan Davies, Vincent McFarlane, and
Stefan Emmer for their assistance in the field.
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