Long, clear icicles hang from a grassy, eroded embankment above dark soil, with patches of snow and frozen ground scattered across a cold, barren landscape under a partly cloudy sky.

Seminar – 8 May – The Effects of Environmental Controls on Epigenetic Ice-Wedge Cracking.

Gabriel Karam will be presenting The Effects of Environmental Controls on Epigenetic Ice-Wedge Cracking.

Date: 8 May 2024
Time: 13:00-14:00 Eastern Time
Location: Zoom (details are posted in our Teams site).

Ice-wedge polygons are a widespread periglacial feature in the continuous permafrost regions. To better understand the mechanical aspects of their formation, the extended finite-element method was employed to simulate the cracking process. Four case studies will be presented, which evaluate the effects different environmental controls and explore the growth of wedges over multiple years.

A young man wearing glasses and a black jacket stands outdoors, smiling with mountains and a blue sky with scattered clouds in the background.
A person in a red jacket stands on a sandy beach near eroded cliffs, with grass on top and gentle waves washing ashore in the foreground. Debris is scattered along the beach.

Seminar – 1 May – Advancing Arctic coastal erosion measurement and monitoring through UAV-SfM and object-based image analysis.

Andrew Clark will be presenting Advancing Arctic coastal erosion measurement and monitoring through UAV-SfM and object-based image analysis.

Date: 1 May 2024
Time: 13:00-14:00 Eastern Time
Location: Zoom (details are posted in our Teams site).

Arctic coasts are vast and exhibit some of the highest rates of erosion in the World due to the presence of permafrost. Rates of erosion are expected to increase with warming air and water temperatures, reductions in Arctic sea ice extent and duration, sea level rise, and increased storm severity and frequency. This presentation will describe the use of emerging technologies (UAV-SfM and OBIA) to further our understanding of Arctic coastal processes, specifically, volumetric erosion, and broad scale delineation of multiple shoreline proxies for monitoring and quantification of erosion.

Andrew Clark
Aerial view of lush green islands and waterways surrounded by forested hills, under a partly cloudy sky. A video play button and timestamp of 42:34 are visible on the image.

Le secret des tourbières par Radio-Canada

Un reportage à Découverte de Radio-Canada avec Oliver Sonnentag.

Face au réchauffement de la planète, les scientifiques tirent la sonnette d’alarme : il est temps de prendre conscience des pouvoirs de la tourbe. D’un labo de biopharmacie en Irlande à la plus grande tourbière d’Europe, en passant par la cabane d’un piégeur et la plus vaste expérience sur le changement climatique, Le secret des tourbières nous dévoile la beauté et les merveilles des tourbières. Avec Oliver Sonnentag, à la minute 22:45.

Aerial view of a lush, green landscape with winding rivers and scattered lakes under a cloudy sky. French text below announces an episode airing Sunday, March 3, 2024, titled Le secret des tourbières.
Regarder ici: https://ici.radio-canada.ca/tele/decouverte/site/episodes/865999/tourbieres-foret-amazonie-planete
A person stands and presents to an audience, pointing at a screen displaying a presentation titled Performance of Drilling Waste Sumps, Western Arctic Canada. Several people are seated facing the presenter.

Ottawa-Carleton Northern Research Symposium

The OCSNRS is an annual student academic conference focusing on Subarctic, Arctic and Antarctic research from natural & physical sciences, social sciences, humanities and applied sciences.

This year the University of Ottawa hosted the meeting which featured a number of permafrost presentations from the network:

  • Galina Jonat – A proposed Framework for Improved Simulations of Permafrost Change.
  • Frederic Brieger – Permafrost Terrain Disturbance Mapping and Susceptibility Modeling in the Na-Cho Nyäk Ge (Stewart River) Watershed, Yukon.
  • Rae Landriau – Performance of Drilling Waste Sumps – Mackenzie Delta NT.
  • Pia Blake – Effects of Snow and Surface Material on Surface Offset of Intermediate Slopes.

Read more about the symposium here:

Eng: https://www.uottawa.ca/en/events-all/ottawa-carleton-student-northern-research-symposium-ocsnrs

Fr: https://www.uottawa.ca/fr/tous-evenements/symposium-recherche-nordique-ottawa-carleton-sernoc

Aerial view of a rural dirt road winding through a forested landscape with a large pond or wetland area on one side; two vehicles are driving along the road.

Seminar – 17 April – Climate change induced increases in maintenance costs for Yukon highways, 1994–2022.

Astrid Schetselaar will be presenting Climate change induced increases in maintenance costs for Yukon highways, 1994–2022.

Date: 17 April 2024
Time: 13:00-14:00 Eastern Time
Location: Zoom (details are posted in our Teams site).

Transportation networks in Canada’s North are becoming increasingly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. Rising ground temperatures and permafrost thaw have been a cause of road damage as the bearing capacity of the ground is significantly reduced. Hydrological changes may further induce hazards, such as landslides, washouts, and icings (aufeis). Astrid’s presentation will outline a retrospective assessment of climate change-induced maintenance expenditures for highways in Yukon. Changes in costs are linked to climate, physiographic, conditions and underlying permafrost.

A woman in a blue jacket stands smiling in front of dramatic rocky mountain peaks shrouded in mist under a cloudy sky.
A person in a high-visibility vest works on rocky tundra under a blue sky. Text reads: Bulletin de PermafrostNet CRSNG. Sabonner à notre infolettre. PermafrostNet and NSERC CRSNG logos are below.

Bulletin De PermafrostNet CRSNG - Hiver 2024

L'édition d'hiver 2024 de notre lettre d'information est désormais disponible en français et en anglais.

Ce numéro présente les événements récents et à venir, des détails sur le soutien aux assistants de recherche nordique et partage les publications récentes du réseau que vous avez peut-être manquées. En novembre dernier, le réseau s'est réuni pour sa cinquième assemblée générale annuelle. Des photos, des affiches, des présentations et d'autres détails de l'événement sont disponibles sur notre site web, où vous pouvez également télécharger un rapport complet sur la réunion.

Lire le bulletin d'information ici.

Two people in safety vests sit on rocky tundra under a blue sky, with text promoting the NSERC PermafrostNet Newsletter and a Subscribe here button displayed over the image.
The study area showing the Hudson Bay Railway extending from Churchill to The Pas, Manitoba.

A study of thermal modeling parameters and their impact on modelled permafrost responses to climate warming

A study of thermal modeling parameters and their impact on modelled permafrost responses to climate warming

Une étude par Khatereh Roghangar et Jocelyn Hayley a évalué les effets des paramètres de modélisation thermique sur la réponse du pergélisol au réchauffement climatique. Ils ont analysé comment les variations de profondeur, de teneur en eau et de type de sol affectent les prévisions des profondeurs futures des couches actives et du tassement selon divers scénarios climatiques en utilisant les caractéristiques du sol le long du corridor ferroviaire de la baie d'Hudson.

Les résultats indiquent que, pour les sols à grains fins, la profondeur du modèle est un paramètre plus significatif que pour les sols à grains grossiers. La teneur en eau de tous les types de sol est un facteur essentiel pour déterminer le moment auquel le pergélisol dégèle et la profondeur à laquelle se situe la couche active, car une teneur en eau plus élevée entraîne des changements plus importants dans la couche active et un tassement plus important dans la plupart des cas. Ces découvertes ont des implications importantes pour la gestion des infrastructures et de l’utilisation des terres dans la région arctique.

Roghangar, K. and Hayley, J.L. (2024). A study of thermal modeling parameters and their impact on modelled permafrost responses to climate warmingCold Regions Science and Technology, 221, 104155, DOI: 10.1016/j.coldregions.2024.104155.

The study area showing the Hudson Bay Railway extending from Churchill to The Pas, Manitoba.
Zone d'étude montrant le chemin de fer de la Baie d'Hudson s'étendant de Churchill à The Pas, au Manitoba.

A cracked roadway in a remote, mountainous landscape with snow-capped peaks, brown hills, and a clear blue sky. Overlaid text reads: Annual General Meeting Report 2023, PermafrostNet NSERC.

Report on the 2023 NSERC PermafrostNet AGM

We hosted our fifth network Annual General Meeting (AGM) in Victoria, BC. The meeting was both in-person and virtual with keynote presentations on individual research projects, poster presentations, as well as updates on theme progress and synthesis products from the theme leaders.

The live-streamed presentation recordings can be viewed on our website and the posters, and pdfs of presentations, are available on the website here.

You can download and read the public meeting report here, while members can access the full network report in our members area.

A cracked roadway in a remote, mountainous landscape with snow-capped peaks, brown hills, and a clear blue sky. Overlaid text reads: Annual General Meeting Report 2023, PermafrostNet NSERC.
Core in the core boat on the MSCL track.

Non-destructive multi-sensor core logging allows for rapid imaging and estimation of frozen bulk density and volumetric ice content in permafrost cores.

Non-destructive multi-sensor core logging allows for rapid imaging and estimation of frozen bulk density and volumetric ice content in permafrost cores

Des recherches passionnantes dans le laboratoire scientifique Permafrost ArChivesPACS Labde l'Université de l'Alberta a démontré une nouvelle application de la diagraphie multicapteurs pour l'analyse des carottes de pergélisol.

Les mesures des propriétés physiques principales sont généralement destructrices et prennent beaucoup de temps.

L’enregistrement multicapteurs non destructif (non-destructive multi-sensor core logging ou MSCL) peut analyser efficacement des échantillons de pergélisol et fournir des informations à haute résolution sans ces problèmes. Cette nouvelle technique permet une imagerie rapide, une mesure de la densité apparente et une estimation de la teneur en glace des carottes de pergélisol. L'équipe a pu visualiser des cryostructures et estimer la densité apparente gelée, la susceptibilité magnétique et la teneur volumétrique en glace.

La nouvelle technique est décrite dans l'article publié dans la revue The Cryosphere by Duane Froese’s lab: Pumple, J., Monteath, A., Harvey, J., Roustaei, M., Alvarez, A., Buchanan, C., and Froese, D.: Non-destructive multi-sensor core logging allows for rapid imaging and estimation of frozen bulk density and volumetric ice content in permafrost cores, The Cryosphere, 18, 489–503, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-489-2024, 2024.

Core in the core boat on the MSCL track.
Cœur dans le support de cœur (« core boat ») sur le rail de MSCL.

A group of people wearing orange safety vests and boots examine a muddy, rocky hillside under a cloudy sky, with one person climbing the slope while others watch and explore the area.

NSERC CREATE LEAP

Taking Climate Action through Permafrost Training

“What happens in the North, doesn’t stay in the North”

Le sous-thème LEAP program aims to train tomorrow’s Leaders in Permafrost thaw and northern research by training and providing research funding to graduate students who will work alongside co-applicants or partnered universities across Canada on permafrost science and research. Undergraduate students are also welcome to apply for unfunded research opportunities alongside the program’s co-grantee and collaborators, which they can use to complete their thesis.

You can read more about the NSERC CREATE LEAP program in the feature on Carleton University’s news on experiential learning.

A section of glacier ice exposed beneath dark volcanic ash and soil, surrounded by rugged terrain and distant green hills, illustrating a mix of ice, earth, and contrasting textures.