Laboratory for Water and Environmental Sustainability Science (WESS)
Sable Island National Park Reserve (Sable Island NPR) is an example of a coastal ecosystem that is highly influenced by environmental change and subsequent variability in weather extremes. Storm-surge activity and erosion has led to large-scale change in the surface hydrology of Sable Island NPR. … Continue readingVulnerability of Sable Island’s freshwater ecosystems under a changing climate
CTV Your Morning with Ben Mulroney August 24, 2018 Iqaluit ignores warnings over looming water shortage, subsequently declares emergency two years later.
CBC Northbeat July 26, 2018. Iqaluit declares water emergency
After an Arctic freshwater researcher sounded the alarm about Iqaluit’s near-future water crisis, the city took steps to save water. But is it enough? by Lindsay Jones Aug 16, 2018 Lake Geraldine in Iqaluit in July 2018. (Mark Aspland) Steel pipes have been driven and the … Continue readingMacleans: What happens when Nunavut’s rapidly growing capital city runs out of water?
“The problem is end-of-winter and they’re ignoring that” SARAH ROGERS A freshwater researcher suggests there are a number of deep lakes outside the city of Iqaluit, like the one marked in green here, which have enough capacity to replenish its Lake Geraldine reservoir, indicated by … Continue readingNunatsiaq News 2018-07-30: NEWS: Research points to a solution to Iqaluit’s freshwater shortage
Can we utilize our knowledge of biogeographic patterns and historical trends in aquatic invertebrate indicators as markers for conservation planning? Although aquatic trophic systems are important ecosystem components in northern regions, most Arctic lakes have not yet experienced large-scale changes analogous to those of … Continue readingProjecting future change informed through the past
Can we use sedimentary deposits as the baseline to compare to contemporary indicator communities as a quantitative marker of environmental stress? The utility of bioindicators is a means to qualify the environment without specifically having open-ended multi-year monitoring studies. The examination of the bioindictor allows … Continue readingUnderstanding Paleoenvironmental Change
Vulnerability of northern water supply lakes to changing climate and demand Arctic regions face a unique vulnerability to shifts in seasonality, which influences the summer recharge potential of freshwater reservoirs caused by decreased precipitation and increased evaporative stress. This pressure puts small remote northern communities … Continue readingVulnerability of northern water supply
Hydrologic monitoring tools for freshwater municipal planning in the Arctic: the case of Iqaluit, Nunavut, Canada Freshwater and the services it provides are vital to both natural ecosystems and human needs; however, extreme climates and their influence on freshwater availability can be challenging for municipal … Continue readingHydrologic Monitoring in Arctic systems
How can we quantify the effects of environmental stressors on northern trophic systems? Our baseline knowledge of northern aquatic ecosystems is often extremely limited and site-specific, forcing many studies to draw conclusions assuming overarching affects between environmental conditions and biota. Few studies have attempted to … Continue readingArctic Biomonitoring