Research

Impacts of changing permafrost and hydrology on nutrients, dissolved organic matter, and contaminants in High Arctic catchments

Cape Bounty Arctic Watershed Observatory (CBAWO) Meville Island, and Resolute Bay, NU

My research at the CBAWO is part of a collaborative integrated watershed research program that has operated at the site since 2005. This research is focused on investigations of the effects of changes in precipitation and permafrost conditions (active layer depth and disturbances, permafrost temperature) on hydrology and solute, nutrients, and carbon dynamics in High Arctic watersheds.

Research under this program examines the movement and composition of water, nutrients, contaminants and organic carbon from a series of watersheds, ponds and lakes with varying types of vegetation, and varying degrees of permafrost disturbance.

Through these intensive fields and laboratory-based investigations, the research aims to develop an integrated understanding of the hydrological and biogeochemical processes that control water quality and C and N dynamics in surface waters.

A recent ArcticNet grant is supporting a new collaborative research project that aims to bring knowledge gained at CBAWO, community concerns and traditional knowledge about the land and water around Resolute Bay.

The objectives of the research at Resolute Bay is to develop a framework for strong and sustainable knowledge exchange with the community, to identify and address research needs, and to engage the community in partnerships and dialog that will result in co-creation of knowledge, opportunity, and capacity to investigate water and ecosystem sensitivities related to climate and permafrost change in the area.

This ongoing research has been funded through a number of grants from NSERC Discovery, ArcticNet, Environment and Climate Change Canada, and logistics support from the Polar Continental Shelf Program.

The CBAWO is the longest running integrated watershed study in the Canadian High Arctic. This natural observatory offers a unique facilities and training experience, with opportunities to participate in numerous aspects of the collaborative research that take place at this site.

For more information, you can also visit the CBAWO website and blog.

Niaqunguk (Apex) River Watershed, Iqaluit, Nunavut

Research at the Niaqunguk (also known as the Apex) River in Iqaluit was initiated in May 2013 and consists of a collaborative research program aimed at understanding of how water quantity and quality are responding to changing climate and permafrost dynamics in current or future source waters around Iqaluit.

Research here is motivated by interest and concerns by local residents and the city about changing river flows and water quality. There is an abundance of local informal land use in the watershed, and thus great interest and need for a thorough understanding of the watershed, especially in light of projected population growth and climate change.

A recently awarded Polar Knowledge Canada grant, led by Dr. Lafrenière, will support renewed research efforts in the watersheds around Iqaluit between 2021-2024. This new award involves both new and renewed collaborative research efforts involving investigators from Université de Montreal, Carleton University, University of Ottawa, and partners at the Nunavut Research Institute.

This project aims to 1) quantify how different components of the water cycle (snowfall, streamflow, subsurface flow, evaporation, evapotranspiration, and sublimation) and permafrost conditions respond to climate regimes, by applying snow surveying, hydrometric monitoring and drone remote sensing; and to 2) understand how climate-driven changes to permafrost conditions and surface water quantity will impact water quality, through geochemical analyses of water and permafrost as determined from field surveying and satellite remote sensing. This project builds on partnerships with NRI and NAC ETP staff and students to support a program of water science research in this under-studied area.

This research project offers a unique opportunity to participate in Arctic watershed research that is of direct and critical importance to northerners and the City of Iqaluit. For more information on any research opportunities please contact Dr. Lafrenière.

Hydrological and thermokarst as controls on DOM fluxes and aquatic GHG emissions 

 Eastern Arctic permafrost watersheds, including Bylot Island, NU

Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from the decomposition of carbon derived from thawing permafrost represents a potential positive feedback on global warming. Thermokarst lakes and ponds have been identified as hotspots for GHG emissions in permafrost landscapes. However we have a limited understanding of how biological, geochemical, and hydrological mechanisms interact to affect downstream aquatic GHG emissions.

This project integrates microbiological, biogeochemical and hydrological process studies determine how these processes regulate the quantity and lability of the dissolved organic matter (DOM) delivered from soils and surface waters to downstream aquatic environments, and thus exert control on aquatic GHG emissions.

Dr. Lafreniere’s research will examine how seasonal hydrological processes and thermo-erosion gully development regulate the chemical composition, size and lability of fluvial DOM. These studies will help elucidate how climatically driven changes in upland processes might impact the GHGs in downstream aquatic systems.

Dr. Lafreniere’s contribution to this project is funded by an NSERC Alliance supplement to the FRQNT funded research led by Dr. Peter Douglas at McGill University. The project also involves an interdisciplinary group of collaborators from McGill, INRS, and with the Centre d’études Nordique (CEN). The research is also supported for field logistics from the Polar Continental Shelf Program and NSERC Discovery grants to Dr. Lafrenière.

Investigating the controls on the response of water quality to permafrost thaw in a range of landscapes across the Canadian Arctic 

Permafrost underlies more than a third of Canada’s land surface. Rising air and ground temperatures are contributing to the thawing of permafrost across Arctic and Alpine regions, such that most permafrost will experience the loss of subsurface ice over the 21st century and beyond. Climate-driven permafrost thaw has led to irreversible landscape changes and in turn, water quality. These changes have created challenges for the effective management of freshwater systems and thus, are threatening the health and vitality of northerners.

The overarching goal of this project is to examine how the water quality impacts of permafrost thaw manifest in four contrasting permafrost landscapes and to determine what climatic, terrain, and permafrost features are responsible for this variability. The research focuses on the following landscape types and research sites: Low Arctic Polygonal Terrain (peatland streams along the Inuvik-to-Tuktoyaktuk Highway, Imaryuk Watershed, NWT), Ice-Marginal Glaciated Terrain (Miner River, Imaryuk Watershed, NWT), Forested Interior Plain (Rengleng River, Dempster Highway, NWT), and Coastal Tundra (Niaqunguk River, Baffin Island, NU). Although not exhaustive, these landscape types represent a range of terrain and permafrost conditions and are landscape types that are less known within the context of water quality studies.

This research project is funded by PermafrostNet, an NSERC Strategic Partnership Grant for Networks. PermafrostNet brings together researchers and stakeholders from Indigenous communities, business, and government agencies to improve Canada’s ability to project and adapt to large scale permafrost thaw.

Remobilization of legacy arsenic from mining-impacted soils during snowmelt runoff.

Yellowknife, NT

Our research at the Pocket Lake catchment in Yellowknife, NT, is an ongoing multi-season investigation involving fieldwork and laboratory analysis of soil and water samples throughout the catchment. This region has undergone extensive contamination as a result of stack emissions from the Giant Mine roaster beginning in the 1950’s and continuing until the early 2000’s. Although the majority of emissions occurred during the 1950’s and 1960’s, the impact on the environment is ongoing. The primary contaminant of concern in the Pocket Lake catchment is aerially distributed arsenic trioxide. Arsenic trioxide is rarely found naturally, and certainly not at such high concentrations. Previous work in this region has demonstrated that this contamination is not limited to the surface soils, but additionally includes lake water and sediments. Soil reservoirs of arsenic trioxide are believed to be continually contributing arsenic trioxide to lakes within the region. The intention of our work in the Pocket Lake catchment is to contribute to the body of knowledge around the processes involved in the long-term recovery from arsenic trioxide pollution of this landscape. Specifically, this work focuses on how arsenic trioxide is transported through surface and near-surface water flows, primarily following snowmelt. We have a particular focus on assessing how climate change and the resulting shifts in seasonal and hydrological patterns are impacting arsenic trioxide mobility in the catchment.

Work on the Pocket Lake catchment is being primarily carried out by Queen’s University graduate students Abigail Harrison (MSc student, FaBRECC lab) and Sean McHale (PhD student, Jamieson lab). Abigail collaborated throughout the spring and early summer field season with field assistant Stanley Mackenzie (Yellowknives Dene First Nation). Supervision for this project is provided by Dr. Melissa Lafreniere (Queen’s University), Dr. Heather Jamieson (Queen’s University), and Dr. Mike Palmer (Aurora Research Institute). Dr. Palmer, a Yellowknife resident, provided significant field support throughout both field work initiatives. Additional field support was provided by Dr. Palmers' employees, Seamus Daly and Nigel Rossouw (Aurora Research Institute).

This research project has been funded by the Northwest Territories Cumulative Impact Monitoring Program (CIMP), and NSERC Discovery Grants and Northern Supplements programs.

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