Niek Jesse joined NSERC PermafrostNet in 2023 as a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Victoria under the supervision of Dr. Trevor Lantz and Dr. Stephan Gruber (Carleton University). The goal of his project is to develop a permafrost terrain type classification framework. The framework will be used to support and allow for harmonization of the work of various scientific disciplines associated with permafrost research as well as stakeholders outside of academia. The ultimate objective is to facilitate a more holistic approach toward mapping permafrost and understanding how permafrost landscapes respond to environmental changes and their consequential impacts.
Niek Jesse’s research has focused on catchment hydrology in relation to permafrost processes and understanding the effect of permafrost thaw on fluvial fluxes of organic carbon. Niek Jesse did his PhD research at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (VUA), the Netherlands, and used a combination of extensive field sampling campaigns with incubation experiments, geospatial analysis, and hydrological modelling to gain a better understanding of land-ocean fluxes of permafrost organic matter.