News

NSERC PermafrostNet news, updates and activities.

RCOP 2021 Data Systems Workshop Final Report

NSERC PermafrostNet hosted a data systems workshop at the 2021 Regional Conference on Permafrost, held online in October 2021. The workshop featured invited speakers Ashley Rudy from the Northwest Territories Geological Survey and Jeanette Nötzli from the Swiss Permafrost Monitoring Network (PERMOS). Attendees participated in breakout rooms and plenary discussion to identify current problems and limitations with permafrost data systems and to recommend how efforts can be better connected or coordinated. The final report summarizes the conclusions and provides a record of the interactions and discussions that occurred.

The workshop follows the 2020 Permafrost Data Workshop, which highlighted the importance of a community of practice and ongoing communication to improve the interoperability of permafrost data. In addition to the concrete objectives of identifying challenges and recommendations, the 2021 workshop was a way for members of the permafrost community to share ideas, and to cross-pollinate knowledge between sectors and disciplines of permafrost science.

Data Systems Workshop ReportDownload
By nick brown, ago

Compendium of Permafrost Reports: Northern Transportation Adaptation Initiative (NTAI) 2011-2021.

“Climate change follows from increases in the atmospheric concentration of greenhouse gases (GHGs) such as carbon dioxide and methane. The concentration of these gases in the atmosphere was about 280 parts per million (ppm) before the Industrial Revolution and rose to 315 ppm by 1958. The value is now 418 ppm. There is no prospect of this concentration declining in the next 1,000 years, and it may well increase substantially before it stabilizes. It will take several decades to establish a carbon-neutral economy. Effective adaptation is going to be important if we are to maintain functioning overland transportation infrastructure, especially in permafrost regions.”

Christopher Burn, Carleton University

In practical terms, the climate change we are experiencing is irreversible. Now, a collection of 61 reports concerning the changing permafrost environment have been submitted to Transport Canada and expertly summarized in an important compendium.

The Northern Transportation Adaptation Initiative (NTAI) is a federal program designed to increase the capacity to adapt to climate change. Since 2011, NTAI has supported a wide range of research projects associated with highways and airports in northern Canada.

The compendium provides a comprehensive overview of permafrost research projects supported by the NTAI program from 2011 to 2021. The reports have been summarized and organized to provide convenient access to permafrost knowledge gained over the last decade. This an extremely important collection of research for the scientific and engineering communities, governments, industries, policy makers, students, and general public.

Stockton, E.J., Burn, C.R., Humphries, J., Andersen, T.S., Schetselaar, A.B., and Jardine, P.A. (eds.) 2021. Compendium of Permafrost Reports: Northern Transportation Adaptation Initiative (NTAI) 2011-2021. Carleton University, Ottawa, ON. DOI: 10.52381/CPR.NTAI.2021.
https://carleton.ca/permafrost/wp-content/uploads/NTAI_Compendium_Final_12.7.21.pdf

You can download the report here.

By Tristan MacLean, ago

Appel aux évaluations d’experts ! La carte des conditions de la glace de sol. Call for experts – The Ground Ice Map of Canada

“Ground ice maps will ever only be as good as the data behind them.”

Michel Paquette, NSERC PermafrostNet Post-doctoral Fellow, Université de Montréal

Appel aux évaluations d’experts !

Nous cherchons à obtenir les commentaires et la validation des experts de la communauté canadienne du pergélisol sur la récente carte de la glace de sol du Canada.

La carte des conditions de la glace de sol (ground ice map of Canada – GIMC) (Geological Survey of Canada, Open File 8713) présente une nouvelle cartographie à l’échelle nationale des conditions de glace de sol au Canada. L’évaluation du GIMC s’inscrit dans le cadre des efforts continus visant à fournir un retour d’information général et à évaluer des domaines spécifiques du GIMC, ce qui contribuera à la production de la première version de la carte de base du potentiel de glace de sol et des conditions géotechniques du pergélisol au Canada (GRIPv1) par PermafrostNet du CRSNG. Nous aimerions connaître votre avis d’expert sur l’exactitude de la GIMC actuelle. Votre expertise est précieuse, car les connaissances sur la glace de sol sont plutôt rares; elles dépendent fortement des connaissances du terrain et sont donc dispersées dans toute la communauté du pergélisol.

Nous aimerions connaître votre avis d’expert. Veuillez visiter notre page web pour plus d’informations et pour accéder à notre questionnaire – GIMC page web.

Call for expert evaluations!

We are looking to get expert feedback and validation from the Canadian permafrost community on the recent ground ice map of Canada.

The Ground Ice Map of Canada (GIMC) (Geological Survey of Canada, Open File 8713) presents new national-scale mapping of ground ice conditions in Canada. Evaluation of the GIMC is part of the ongoing efforts to provide general feedback, and evaluate specific areas of the GIMC, which will inform the production of the first version of the Ground Ice Potential and geotechnical permafrost base map of Canada (GRIPv1) by NSERC PermafrostNet.

We would like expert opinions on the accuracy of the current GIMC. Expertise is highly valued, as knowledge on ground ice is quite rare and highly site dependent, and therefore scattered all across the permafrost community.

Read more about it on our GIMC page.

By Tristan MacLean, ago

Northern Transportation Adaptation Initiative (NTAI) Program Report

“The NTAI’s focus on climate change was distinctive and forward looking at the time. Now it is recognised as integral to long-term management of transportation infrastructure.”

Christopher Burn, Carleton University

Transport Canada’s Northern Transportation Adaptation Initiative (NTAI) is the first organized national program in Canada to address northern transportation infrastructure stability in anticipation of climate change. From 2011 to 2021, NTAI has helped northern agencies to prepare for challenges anticipated from climate change for transportation infrastructure built in the permafrost environment. 

The NTAI contributed to several important developments in our understanding of climate change impacts on infrastructure and potential strategies to manage these effects. When the NTAI was conceived, the primary risk to the transportation network was considered to be from thawing and loss of embankment integrity. The research conducted through the program identified a range of other geohazards, especially derived from a more active hydrologic regime and from thermokarst development close to infrastructure. 

Following the 2021 NTAI Annual Network Meeting Emma Stockton, Christopher Burn and Jen Humphries have compiled a special 24 page report on Transport Canada’s NTAI Program. You can download the report here.

“The NTAI has played a unique role in Transport Canada’s climate change agenda, influencing the way the department designs and implements programs, and helping to inform funding decisions. Northern jurisdictions own much of the transportation infrastructure in Arctic regions, and their active involvement in this program has helped target permafrost research to areas of most pressing need, ensuring the program’s continued relevance. Overall, the NTAI is a great example of how research/industry/government collaboration can drive policy change and action to enhance the climate resilience of transportation systems in Canada’s permafrost regions.”

Maxine Bilodeau, Director of Climate Change Adaptation & Planning for Transport Canada
By Tristan MacLean, ago

The 2020 NSERC PermafrostNet Data Hackathon

“The event was a great opportunity to meet some of the new network personnel and work together to make progress on some of their data-related challenges. As PermafrostNet continues to develop I hope we can have more events like this.”

Nick Brown, NSERC PermafrostNet Data Scientist

The first NSERC PermafrostNet Data Hackathon was held on August 19th, 2020, with fifteen researchers and data scientists getting together on Zoom to share best practices and discuss their latest challenges with data and coding.

PermafrostNet Hackathon Zoom

The event was organized to support members of the network in creating metadata records and publishing datasets.

The event was kicked off with a presentation by Nick Brown (NSERC PermafrostNet Data Scientist), who outlined the plan for the days activities and presented an introduction to the resources available through NSERC PermafrostNet. You can download the Hackathon presentation here.

The day was broken up into sessions for group work in breakout rooms, discussions and Q+A opportunities for the participants. There was plenty of opportunity for everyone to network and talk with new members of the network and experienced researchers about the varied data challenges they faced. Many of the participants were new members to NSERC PermafrostNet, and in some cases permafrost data work. It was this opportunity to find people to share data issues and ask questions that was found to be the most valuable aspect of the Hackathon by the participants.

You can take a look at the day’s schedule and further details about the event on our 2020 Hackathon page.

By Tristan MacLean, ago

NSERC PermafrostNet Anti-Black Racism Statement

At NSERC PermafrostNet we firmly stand against racism, in solidarity with members of the Black community, as well as Indigenous Peoples and People of Colour, within our own network and beyond. We understand that strength comes from including, respecting, and celebrating diverse perspectives and backgrounds, and we are developing an Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) Committee to help foster a safe and inclusive environment where diverse voices are heard and valued.  As NSERC PermafrostNet progresses, the Committee will be available to hear your EDI-related concerns, and will work together to put the training and tools in place to foster an inclusive environment for the community.

By Tristan MacLean, ago

NSERC PermafrostNet connects a community

Stephan Gruber

NSERC Impact Story

Until recent decades, researchers could be confident that their studies about permafrost told the tale about this frozen phenomenon, which is known to underlie one-third of Canada. Permafrost is defined as ground that has remained at a temperature of zero degrees Celsius or less for two or more years. Climate change began to show its effects, and in doing so destabilized the certainties of a generation of research.

Worrying changes to the natural landscape makes new research even more imperative. For example, thawing in the north, where mining companies used to bury by-products from their operations, means that those pits are no longer seen as reliable containers. Relatively resistant to climate in the past, in 2016 the Dempster highway in the Yukon and Northwest Territories was cut in 14 places by landslides and washouts. Incidents like these signal the need not only for further studies, but also for enhanced information sharing with researchers across disciplines.

Enter NSERC PermafrostNet, a new research network based at Carleton University and involving researchers from 12 universities and over 40 partnering organizations including those in industry, Indigenous communities and government agencies nationally and internationally. PermafrostNet was one of only two Strategic Partnership Grants for Networks awarded in 2019 by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada. Awarded $5.5 million, the new network aims to boost Canada’s ability to monitor, predict and adapt to large-scale permafrost thaw. Partners and participating institutions contribute an additional $0.6 million cash and $4.4 million in-kind support.

Steve Kokelj, Permafrost Scientist at the Northwest Territories Geological Survey, says “I view the Permafrost Network to be a potential game-changer for Canadian Permafrost Research. One aspect of the network is that it will foster collaboration across a diverse community of researchers and northern stakeholders. The network can create an environment where universities, government and northern organizations work together to develop the knowledge and capacity to overcome the growing permafrost related challenges faced by northerners now and into the coming decades.”

Stephan Gruber, Canada Research Chair in Climate Change Impacts/Adaptation in Northern Canada is a principal investigator for NSERC PermafrostNet. He says that the idea for a network gained momentum at a workshop in 2017, where 60 people from different levels of government and academia across Canada gathered to assess what was needed to move forward with research and improved practice in this area.

The network has since gained support from organizations across Canada. Carolyn Relf, Director of the Yukon Geological Survey, says that “Yukon is keen to support and participate in the network’s work, as climate change adaptation is a priority for Yukon government. Permafrost degradation is impacting communities and infrastructure across the territory, and the opportunity to collaborate in this research will enhance Yukon’s capacity to map permafrost and identify susceptible areas.”

Part of the network’s mandate will be to train 24 doctoral students, 17 master’s students, four postdoctoral fellows and 16 northern research assistants, fostering the next generation of scholars, practitioners and policy makers. Today, the network involves researchers from the University of Alberta, University of Calgary, Laurentian University, Université de Montréal, University of Ottawa, Queen’s University, the Royal Military College of Canada, Simon Fraser University, University of Waterloo and the University of Victoria. Involved organizations include the Canada Nunavut Geoscience Office, Fort Severn First Nation to the Geological Survey of Canada and the Yukon government to name just a few of the 40.

Read the original story on the NSERC website.

By Tristan MacLean, ago

Our new sustainable and environmentally friendly Canadian-based website

The NSERC PermafrostNet website is now powered by renewable energy, generated here in Canada, thanks to Web Hosting Canada (WHC).

Here at NSERC PermafrostNet we want to ensure that our values and ethos are applied to all aspects of our work and so we decided one of the best places to start was with our own website. Websites are hosted on servers in data centres that require considerable amounts of electricity to operate and need constant cooling to prevent overheating. In most places, this electricity is produced from fossil fuels that contribute to climate change. What we wanted to do was ensure our website was stored on Canadian servers and powered by sustainable and environmentally friendly energy. WHC data centres are powered by hydroelectric energy and the servers are temperature-controlled by outside air and water cooling technology rather than air conditioning. Furthermore, all the data is stored on Solid State Drives, which use a fraction of the power needed by traditional mechanical storage. By switching to WHC we have ensured that our data is safely secured in Canada and that we are supporting Canadian business and infrastructure, while minimizing our impact on the environment.

Green Hosting Badge

By Tristan MacLean, ago

New publication: Ground subsidence and heave over permafrost.

Ground subsidence and heave over permafrost: hourly time series reveal interannual, seasonal and shorter-term movement caused by freezing, thawing and water movement.

Heave and subsidence of the ground surface can offer insight into processes of heat and mass transfer in freezing and thawing soils. Additionally, subsidence is an important metric for monitoring and understanding the transformation of permafrost landscapes under climate change. Corresponding ground observations, however, are sparse and episodic. A simple tilt-arm apparatus with logging inclinometer has been developed to measure heave and subsidence of the ground surface with hourly resolution and millimeter accuracy. This contribution reports data from the first two winters and the first full summer, measured at three sites with contrasting organic and frost-susceptible soils in warm permafrost. The patterns of surface movement differ significantly between sites and from a prediction based on the Stefan equation and observed ground temperature. The data are rich in features of heave and subsidence that are several days to several weeks long and that may help elucidate processes in the ground. For example, late-winter heave followed by thawing and subsidence, as reported in earlier literature and hypothesized to be caused by infiltration and refreezing of water into permeable frozen ground, has been detected. An early-winter peak in heave, followed by brief subsidence, is discernible in a previous publication but so far has not been interpreted. An effect of precipitation on changes in surface elevation can be inferred with confidence. These results highlight the potential of ground-based observation of subsidence and heave as an enabler of progress in process understanding, modeling and interpretation of remotely sensed data.

Gruber, S.: Ground subsidence and heave over permafrost: hourly time series reveal interannual, seasonal and shorter-term movement caused by freezing, thawing and water movement. The Cryosphere, 14, 1437–1447, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-1437-2020, 2020.

By Tristan MacLean, ago

COVID-19: NSERC PermafrostNet response and resources

In response to the COVID-19 outbreak, NSERC PermafrostNet is ensuring operational continuity and support for our staff, volunteers, researchers, and trainees. This complements the directives of individual organizations and public health officials. Key actions being undertaken are listed below. 

  • NSERC PermafrostNet’s offices are closed and staff are working from home. 
  • In addition to email, our team can still be reached by phone, Microsoft Teams or Zoom. General inquiries should be sent to permafrostnet@carleton.ca
  • PermafrostNet-funded travel has been indefinitely postponed. 
  • The safety of all of our members, and especially our northern partners and their communities is a priority. NSERC PermafrostNet will be consulting with partners and the wider community so that we respect their decisions and concerns about health and safety.
  • NSERC PermafrostNet has cancelled field plans for summer 2020. We will begin reconsidering field work only once it is acceptable to partners and communities in those locations.
  • The network will move planned events online where possible, for example the two-day permafrost data workshop in the last week of May.
  • The Field Work Training Exercise that had been planned for May 2020 has been postponed to 2021.

Please follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn or by signing up to our newsletter for the latest updates.

By Tristan MacLean, ago