Ice-rich permafrost regions contain ice-wedge polygon terrain that occur when frozen ground cracks due to thermal contraction. Ice-wedge polygons can be high- or low-centered where the troughs in-between provide favourable locations for infiltration, water storage and flow. In a warming Arctic climate, the ground thermal regime is changing leading to ice-wedge degradation creating deep ponded troughs and the destruction of low-centered polygon rims to create high-centered polygons, altering water and energy balances in the polygonal tundra terrain. Thermokarst lakes, which are in abundance across large regions of the Arctic, are susceptible to rapid, or catastrophic, drainage due to the warming of the permafrost, especially where ice-wedge polygons occur in low-lying areas adjacent to these lakes. These drainage events are increasing as of recent, for reasons unknown, and can create extreme floods that are a risk to people and infrastructure located downstream, and the destruction of fish habitat. With instruments recently installed at an ice-wedge polygon site, northeast of the Trail Valley Creek research observatory, we will implement an ultra high-resolution hydrological model, which includes key processes controlling permafrost hydrology, to examine permafrost degradation and microtopography on this system. Changes in ice-wedge cracking and increased flow of lake water over the tops of ice-wedges will be key factors in controlling rapid lake drainage. Insights gained from this study will help consider factors controlling past changes in lake drainage and consider the future of thermokarst lakes across the western Canadian Arctic.