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Sharing science at Arctic Change meeting

Guest post by M.Sc. student Gillian Thiel

Gillian baking muffins on a rare sunny day!

What happens when you gather many of the world’s leading Arctic researchers, northerners, enthusiastic graduate students, and government officials in one building during a the biggest snowstorm of the year? A pretty amazing conference!

During the week of Dec. 11 – 15^th, a handful of professors and students from the Cape Bounty research team braved the impending snow to attend the international Arctic Change 2017 conference in Québec City. It was possibly the final time that researchers from around the world would have the opportunity to meet under the umbrella of the ArcticNet funding program. It did not disappoint.

Student Day (Dec. 11^th) was a fantastic day planned by students for students and included an elevator-pitch competition, panel discussions, and workshops on topics such as data management and bridging northern and southern perspectives on arctic research priorities.

Over the week, I had the opportunity to attend a variety of sessions on topics including ocean biogeochemistry, rapid changes in extreme environments, and vulnerability, adaptation and resilience to climate change in the Arctic.

One of the most memorable presentations was one by Ed Zebedee about how the community of Pangnirtung, Nunavut dealt with a major power plant failure in 2015. It highlighted some of the major barriers to living in the north such as ill-equipped airports and the difficulties of shipping large equipment to remote communities. However, Mr. Zebedee’s presentation also highlighted the incredible resilience and adaptability of Pangnirtung residents, the efficacy of the emergency management plans that were in place, and the initiative of the Canadian Rangers. You can read more about the power failure here.

I also had the opportunity to attend panel discussions including one on the politics surrounding defense and development in the Northwest Passage led by the Honourable Minister Laurence Cannon and featuring Hannah Uniugsaraq (Director of Nunavut Tunngavik), Lindsay Rodman, Suzanne Lalonde, Tom Lawson, and Michael Byers. It was an impressive panel.

But, what made the whole week truly unforgettable were the people I met. Arctic Change 2017 gave me the opportunity to interact with researchers from around the world. They gave me insight into my own research, and also exposed me to science I knew nothing about in regions of the Arctic I had never even heard of! Overall, the Arctic Change 2017 was a fantastic, fun, and educational experience. 

More reflections on 2017 field work

Guest post by Jackie Hung:

Going to Cape Bounty for a second field season, the novelty of High Arctic field work has still not worn off. Seeing the Weatherhaven tents through the window of the Twin Otters as we circled the cape brought back all the memories of the previous season. That is, until we had to dig out the tents from over 2 metres of snow.

Opening camp was a completely new, rewarding, and humbling experience. Seeing the landscape transform from late-winter conditions to spring and summer growth gave me a new perspective on the amount of change that the land undergoes and the harsh environment that the flora and fauna endure here. I was able to finally see and take part in some of the research and data collection that is undertaken in the early season, including lake sampling and river channelizing. Coming to the field before the growing season has also given us the chance to see the birds in their nesting season. Camp has been frequented by several visitors so far, including large muskox herds, curious caribou, and large Arctic hares.

 

Snow sampling and working with data loggers that record soil temperature year-round at Cape Bounty. 

 The transition into July and the growing season was a welcome change for me as a soil scientist. We were keen to arrive early into the field to capture the spring-summer transition; however, that occurred a few weeks later than it did last season. The higher amount of snowfall in the Canadian Arctic this summer meant a delayed start to my sampling. My research builds on the knowledge base established from the previous season and looks to explore unanswered questions that came up during my field sampling and analysis. My Master’s research at Ryerson University looked at the spatial and temporal dynamics soil nitrogen availability and how it related to environmental variables in the wet sedge meadows. Moving forward, I am interested in examining the relationships between the soil available nitrogen, gas exchange, and the changing climate in the wet sedge meadows and mesic tundra and linking these questions to remote sensing techniques.

In 2017, my day-to-day activities included taking static CO₂ measurements, trace gas sampling, spectroradiometer work, and soil sampling. Carbon exchange autochambers and buried soil moisture and temperature loggers are allowing me to take continuous measurements in various locations to complement my seasonal data set. Soil samples taken from the field will be used towards laboratory experiments that will allow me to manipulate different biophysical features to see the microbial response the soils to elevated temperature and fertilization. This field season has given me a head start to the sampling for my new role as a Queen’s student and will help in formulating the questions that will form the basis of my Ph.D.

Important new publication

We publish most of our research results in scientific journals that are reviewed by other researchers (or peer-reviewed).  It is an important part of sharing the knowledge that we gain from research with others, much in the same way we try to share with this blog and our Facebook page.

This week an important new paper was published in Nature Scientific Reports by the CBAWO group.  You can download a copy for free at Nature Scientific Reports.  In this, we show how recent permafrost change at Cape Bounty has made a significant impact on the lakes, changing the chemical composition of some elements by up to 500% in a few years.  This is an incredible rate of change, and this work documents how quickly this can happen and that it occurred in both lakes at the same time.  We also used the otoliths (ear bones) from Arctic char in the lakes to determine if this chemical change had influenced the fish.  We found that many elements changed abruptly in the fish otoliths at the time of the rapid changes in the lakes, signalling that the fish are responding to this environmental change.  By using a fish condition measure (by looking at length and weight of each fish), we show that the condition of the fish in the East Lake is improving, so it would seem that the permafrost change we have observed in recent years is contributing to enhanced living conditions for the fish.

Ice-push ridges on the shore of West Lake, August 2017.  Notice the cloudy water that has been that way since the winter of 2011-12.  

There is likely much more to the story, as the lake ice cover has become less persistent and water temperatures have increased as well.  The West Lake also tells an interesting story with the opposite effect:  underwater landslides (or slumps) that have made the lake continuously muddy have resulted in a continuous deterioration of the condition of Arctic char. 

So it would seem that the two lakes are going in different directions, but both are showing strong impacts from recent environmental change.

Part of the reason this paper is so important is that it summarizes work that has been carried out since 2004 at Cape Bounty, when the first lake water samples were taken and the ecosystem sampled.  We have continued this work and expanded it by working with collaborators at Environment and Climate Change Canada who are experts in contaminants in northern ecosystems, and residents of Resolute that have important knowledge about the fish and lake ecosystems.  This collaborative effort is reflected in the range of authors of this paper- each person contributed important parts of the overall story. 

Like most research, these results generate many new questions but we are working hard to pursue these.  We hope to be able to share them with you in the months and years to come!

West Lake at Cape Bounty, August 2009.

Sediment research in 2017

Guest post by Casey Beel, Ph.D. candidate

This season was interesting for High Arctic hydrology. Total snowfall, and snow water equivalence estimates, was amongst the highest at Cape Bounty since monitoring began in 2003. This year also saw a significant delay in the initiation of snowmelt and channel flow, with the start of discharge not beginning until June 22 - the second latest day of first flow in our records. This change to the hydrology creates more questions about how this year will fit into our longer term record and what increased snowfall means for suspended sediment transfer.

Camping out at the West River station during a long sampling campaign.

The main objective of my research this year was to gain a better understanding of the temporal patterns of suspended sediment transfer. To do this, I spent 15 hours camped out in my waders, with a deck chair for comfort, and over 200 sample bottles, collecting water every 10 minutes from the West River. Thankfully, I choose a perfect day for this saga - with blue skies and warm temperatures. Across the river, two Greater Snow Geese have chosen a small grassy knoll to nest, and for the majority of my day, they were my only company, and as the hours drew on, I began to realize that they weren’t great conversationalists.

West River at full runoff.

One of the exciting additions to my research is that it is spatially distributed across multiple catchments. This allows me the opportunity to explore the landscape and find exciting new landscape features, fossils, and even marine shells that are emerging from degrading slopes. So far this year, we have discovered a newly forming landscape disturbance in the lower East River catchment, revisited the expanding retrogressive thaw slump to the north of camp, and collected enough rocks for my collection to warrant an extra bag of luggage for the trip home.

What grows here....

Guest post from M.Sc. student Valerie Freemantle

I am happy to say that my sampling has been going well and that Cape Bounty has started to feel like home. I wake up every morning looking out to the weather haven and West Lake. The days are long, but being outside and surrounded by science all day makes it such a rewarding place to work.

A view from the tent!

For my thesis, I am using digital pictures and satellite imagery in order to see if there has been any change in the vegetation cover at Cape Bounty since 2004. In the field, I have been revisiting plots that were sampled in 2004 and 2008 and using digital images to estimate the percent coverage of vegetation. When I return to Kingston, I will use these images to scale up to the satellite imagery this year. Then, I can relate these pictures and the data from 2004 and 2008 to satellite imagery and determine if there has been any change in vegetation between 2004 and 2017.

The vegetation in the Arctic has to be able to survive in some difficult conditions. The Arctic growing season is short and there is little on the landscape to block the wind. However, flowers still manage to survive in the slight depressions in the landscape where trickles of water flow soon after snowmelt.

For example, here are some Arctic poppies (Igutsat niqingit, Papaver spp.) blowing on a slope. They are all pointing towards the (never setting) summer sun. The areas where they have managed to establish themselves are in slight depressions where enough water flows to support lichens, mosses and flowers.

Arctic poppies

Another very common plant is the purple saxifrage (Aupilattunnguat, Saxifraga oppositifolia). This is the territorial flower of Nunavut. These little flowers provide bursts of colour all over Cape Bounty.

Purple saxifrage

The real powerhouse of sequestration in the Arctic is made up of vegetation like mosses and sedges. I need some more work learning to tell these apart, but there are many varieties of sedges and grasses at Cape Bounty. Here is a picture of some sedge and moss growing in a small water rack at the side of a rocky slope. The vegetation out here is pretty awesome.

Moss and sedges

Knowing how much vegetation is on the landscape is important. Vegetation is an important mechanism for removing carbon from the atmosphere and storing it. Generally, the Arctic has been considered a net sink of carbon, meaning that it stores more than it produces. Mosses and sedges are a big component of this storage. But, with the anticipated changes in Arctic climate due to climate change, there is the potential that this trend may change. Thus, the next step of my project will be to link any changes in vegetation cover to changes in carbon sequestration. I am planning on doing this by relating the trends in vegetation growth from the satellites to measurements of carbon intake and output from eddy covariance towers here at Cape Bounty.   

2017 field season underway

Post by Casey Beel, Ph.D. student

Casey waiting for the next sample at the West River.  Snow geese are unimpressed with hydrological research!
(photo:  P. Treitz)

This season has been interesting for High Arctic hydrology. Total snowfall, and snow water equivalence estimates, was amongst the highest at Cape Bounty since monitoring began in 2003. This year also saw a significant delay in the initiation of snowmelt and channel flow, with the start of discharge not beginning until June 22 - the second latest day of first flow in our records. This change to the hydrology creates more questions about how this year will fit into our longer term record and what increased snowfall means for suspended sediment transfer.

The main objective of my research this year is to gain a better understanding of the temporal patterns of suspended sediment transfer. To do this, I spent 15 hours camped out in my waders, with a deck chair for comfort, and over 200 sample bottles, collecting water every 10 minutes from the West River. Thankfully, I choose a perfect day for this saga - with blue skies and warm temperatures. Across the river, two Greater Snow Geese have chosen a small grassy knoll to nest, and for the majority of my day, they were my only company, and as the hours drew on, I began to realize that they weren’t great conversationalists.

One of the exciting additions to my research is that it is spatially distributed across multiple catchments. This allows me the opportunity to explore the landscape and find exciting new landscape features, fossils, and even marine shells that are emerging from degrading slopes. So far this year, we have discovered a newly forming landscape disturbance in the lower East River catchment, revisited the expanding retrogressive thaw slump to the north of camp, and collected enough rocks for my collection to warrant an extra bag of luggage for the trip home. With a month left in my season, I am hoping for more, exciting scientific and curiosity based discoveries.