I have just started my 4th year of making ice. Still trying to figure it out. I have an observation that I think makes sence but would like to hear from others.
my yard is sloping by about a foot over 26 feet. the first year was no problem and last 3 have been challenging. The first year we had early snow just before I was going to tarp it. I shoveled the 2 inch snow towards the deep end ( side ) feathered it out so it was say 5 ft wide. put the tarp in filled it and had no issues.
I am now seeing evidence that that snows melts and pulls the tarp into the rink as the snow melts.

My thought is that the earths surface is going to start warming / melting the snow under the tarp as soon as the tarp goes down and creates a barrier between the cold air and the ground surface. I may of had a lot of "over hang " of the tarp the first year but I don't recall. perhaps the same thing happened but I didn't notice because the tarp never pulled all the way in.
Mike

Welcome...I moved this over to the backyard rink forum as the forum you posted in is normally for intros. Feel free to create a new thread there to introduce yourself! Also, please edit your profile with your location and rink info so we can help answer your questions better.

As for the phenomenon you experienced with stacking the snow under your liner...it's not necessarily the earth's surface melting the snow and pulling your liner in, it's the relatively warm water. The coldest water is ever going to get is 33 degrees, which will always be warmer than snow, hence the melting. And yes, if you have a lot of snow under your liner but no excess liner, you can have tearing or pulling of the liner. As for how this relates to making ice...I think it's irrelevant. Ice is made from the top down, not the bottom up...so what's under your liner should have no impact on how much ice you have.

In the past I've put 25lbs bags of sand underneath to "prop" up the ground height...you can add a bunch of height to spots doing this...

And these don't melt - they become as hard as concrete when they freeze...then put the liner on top of them.