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Fieldwork near Peawanuck

Written by pascaleroyleveillee

 

 

Adam  joined Maara Packalen and Jim McLaughlin from the OMNR-F to conducted field  work from August 18th to 27th  near Peawanuck, Ontario, in the traditional territory of Winisk First Nation.

 

 

 

Before data collection, Adam, Jim, Maara, and other researchers from OMNRF participated in a 4 day outreach event (15th to 18th) to meet new community members, and reinforce existing relationships. The group of researchers camped at Hawley lake with approximately 30 community members, including  youth and elders, and conducted demonstrations and workshops. Adam got to dig a big pit with the kids to show them what permafrost is and where it is found, which was a big hit because kids enjoy playing in the mud, and so do permafrost researchers! Adam and Jessica, an OMNRF intern, had a chance to discuss opportunities for youth in science and research. This event was organized by Sam hunter, the community environmental steward.

 

 

 

An icy permafrost core from the interface between organics and mineral sediment beneath a palsa

 

 

After the camping trip, field work began to the east of Peawanuck, where Adam collected cores of active layer peat, permafrost, and thermokarst from palsas and peat plateaus. One of the cores that had over 50 cm of pure ice! He also installed stakes fitted with small temperature data loggers to monitor snow pack development through the winter, and temperature sensors into the top of permafrost to report on the relationship between snow pack and palsa degradation.

 

 

 

Adam loves field work… and helicopters

 

Though tired at the end of the trip, Adam, Jim, and Maara were happy with the work accomplished and sad to leave Peawanuck until next year.

Carbon, Field work, Hudson Bay Lowlands, Life at the permafrost lab, Partnerships & collaborations, Students

Candice, Adam, and Mary present at the International Geographical Union meeting in Quebec City

Written by pascaleroyleveillee

Candice, Adam, and Mary presented their research at the joint International Geographical Union and Canadian Association of Geographers Meeting in Quebec City, from August 6th to 10th, 2018 .

Candice, Adam, and Mary at the 2018 International Geographical Union conference in Quebec City.

Candice presented a poster with the results of her BSc thesis work on permafrost distribution near Fort Severn, ON and Mary presented a poster on her MSc thesis work on the effects of increased moisture on the thermal regime of the active layer.

Mary (left) and Candice (right) discussed their work with other conference attendees during the poster session.

Adam presented a combination of his BSc and MSc thesis results in an oral presentation that took place in the Natural Hazards and Climate session. The abstract is available here.

Adam presenting his BSc thesis results along with some preliminary results from his MSc during the session on Climate and Natural Hazards.

Once the hard work done, everyone enjoyed some time to visit Quebec City.

Enjoying some time in Quebec City

Conferences, Life at the permafrost lab, Students

Adam and Pascale present at EUCOP 2018 in Chamonix

Written by pascaleroyleveillee

EUCOP 2018 took place in beautiful Chamonix, and was a success with more than 400 conference attendees from 29 different countries. (During the conference, these attendees consumed 2000 pastries per day, 60 L of red wine, 30 L or white wine, and 2000 beers. Can you tell we were in France?)

Pascale gave the opening talk for the thermokarst lake session on Thursday the 28th. She presented a discussion of the influence of vegetation structure on the geomorphic evolution of thermokarst lakes in the forest tundra transition.

Adam presents to a full room a EUCOP, it was difficult to get a photo!

Adam attended the PYRN (Permafrost Young Researchers Network) workshops along with approximately 170 young researchers from June 22nd to 24th. He presented his undergraduate thesis research on greenhouse gas production production potential from degrading palsa fields of the Hudson Bay Lowlands  in the session on permafrost peatlands, on Tuesday the 26th. The room was overflowing, with people sitting on the floor and filling the hallway in front of the door.

Carbon, Conferences, Hudson Bay Lowlands, Periglacial Geomorphology, Students

Up North On Climate Conference, Thunder Bay, Ontario

Written by pascaleroyleveillee

Pascale and Adam attended the Up North on Climate Conference in Thunder Bay, April 24 to 26. They presented as part of a panel on peat and permafrost along with Nathan Basiliko from Laurentian University, Maara Packalen, and Jim McLaughlin from OMNRF.

The conference was a concluding event to the work conducted by David Pearson and his team in collaboration with MIRARCO‘s Climate Change Division and northern Ontario communities to improve preparedness for the consequences of a changing climate.  The conference was well attended, with representatives from more than 50 northern Ontario First Nation communities (out of 88 communities in the north of Ontario), as well as members of provincial and territorial governments and university-based researchers.

 

Elders panel at Up North on Climate Conference in Thunder Bay, April 2018. From left to right: Josephine BigGeorge, Mike Hunter, Bellamie Bighead (translator), Joel Bighead, Wilfred Wesley, and David Pearson.

 

 

Conferences, Hudson Bay Lowlands, Partnerships & collaborations, Students

Adam wins a Weston WCS-Canada fellowship in northern conservation

Written by pascaleroyleveillee
Sam Hunter and Adam Kirkwood extract a permafrost cores from a palsa in Polar Bear Park

Sam Hunter and Adam Kirkwood extract a permafrost cores from a palsa in Polar Bear Park, Ontario.

Adam Kirkwood won a Weston Wildlife Conservation Society-Canada Fellowship for his M.Sc. project on The significance and vulnerability of carbon and mercury stores frozen in palsa mires of the Ontario Far North. He will be working on cores extracted from intact, partially degraded, and degraded palsas extending along a latitudinal gradient between Peawanuck and Attawapiskat. Adam will 1) characterize the microbial community in the cores with eDNA (targeting methanogens, SRB and Hg methylation genes with sequencing and qPCR); 2) incubate the samples to assess greenhouse gas production potential; and 3) analyzed them for total mercury and methyl mercury content.

This project is a collaboration with researchers from the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry, who have equipped the palsa gradient with climate stations, permafrost monitoring stations, and flux towers, and with the BIOTRON Institute for Experimental Climate Change Research at Western University, and the Vale Living with Lakes Center at Laurentian University.

Field work on a palsa

Adam Kirkwood, Mark Crofts, and Benoit Hamel take field notes and package a permafrost core before leaving a site.

Adam’s project directly addresses concerns and priorities identified by the Muskegowuk Council, which has given its support to the project, and we look forward to sharing information with Muskegowuk communities. A poster in Cree and English (Greenhouse gas emissions from thawing permafrost in Polar Bear Provincial Park – ᑲᑎᑭᑌᐠ ᐱᑐᐡ ᑲᑎᑭᐠ ᐁ ᐃᔑ ᑭᔑᑲᐠ) with information on some aspects of this project was presented earlier this year at the Muskegowuk Climate Summit.

Awards, Carbon, Field work, Hudson Bay Lowlands, Mercury, Partnerships & collaborations, Periglacial Geomorphology, Students, Uncategorized