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Opening of the permafrost exhibit at Dynamic Earth!

Written by pascaleroyleveillee

The permafrost exhibit “Under the Arctic” developed by the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry is now at Dynamic Earth, in Sudbury. The LU Permafrost Research Laboratory worked with Dynamic Earth to add a Canadian component, and participated in the opening events on Feburary 11th, 2020.

  • Virtual tour photo by OMSI
  • Photo by S Houle Drapeau for Radio Canada interview
  • Permafrost distribution in Canada

The Canadian component of the exhibit includes a large map of permafrost distribution in Canada, and photos of permafrost features found accross the country (thank you to A Lewkowicz, A Kirkwood, S Kokelj, N Mykytczuk, T Pretzlaw, N Basiliko, and A Boisson for providing photos from across the country!).

  • Talking permafrost distribution with the Dynamic Earth Bluecoats

Just before the opening, Pascale joined Dustin and Jennifer to help train the interpretive staff (the ‘Bluecoats‘) who will be working with the public in the permafrost exhibit.

  • A quick tour of Canadian permafrost landscapes
  • School kids look at drilling equipment
  • How do we study permafost if it is hidden beneath the surface?

On the day of the opening, Sudbury.com was there to make a video and article on the event, which included a press release and a presentation by Pascale, Adam, and Cassandra to a group of about 90 students (grades 4 to 6).

  • Pascale spoke briefly at the press conference
  • Showing core samples with segregated ice
  • An interview in front of the replica permafrost tunnel

We had a great time working with Dynamic Earth/Science North, and are happy to have contributed to this awesome permafrost exhibit in Sudbury!

Life at the permafrost lab, Media, Partnerships & collaborations, Teaching, Uncategorized, , , ,

Permafrost teaching lab: Doug’s scale model of oriented lakes

Written by pascaleroyleveillee

Douglas Massel is an undergraduate student from the LU Outdoor Adventure Leadership (ADVL) Program. Potentially interested in pursuing a career as a field technician for research expeditions in remote areas, Doug added a minor in Geography to his ADVL degree, and focused on physical geography courses. In the permafrost class this year, Doug is writing his term paper on the orientation of thermokarst lakes. He added a scale model experiment to his paper, to examine the hypothesis that sediment texture affects the direction of lake elongation in relation to dominant winds, as proposed in Roy-Leveillee and Burn, 2015. Doug has been busy in the lab blowing wind over trays of wet sand and silt with puddles in them to look at circulation and lake expansion patterns.

Doug’s scale model: wind is blowing (upper left), sediment is moving (bottom left), Doug is watching his lake expand.

 

In summer 2017 Doug will be working as a field assistant in the Canadian NW Arctic with Chris Burn from the Carleton Permafrost Group. Best of luck Doug, and send some photos!

 

 

 

Life at the permafrost lab, Periglacial Geomorphology, Teaching

Wrapping up the first permafrost course at LU

Written by pascaleroyleveillee

The new Laurentian University Permafrost course (GEOG4256) went well and was well attended, with 41 people registered in the class. Full time undergraduate students in the group were from a wide range of programs including Geography, Education, Environmental Sciences, Environmental Studies, Outdoor Adventure Leadership, Chemistry, Archeology, and Sports and Physical Education. A few mature students also joined the course, including people who have been involved in mining and reclamation work through careers in consulting, engineering, or geological techniques.

Group photo of the 2017 class for Permafrost (GEOG4256) at Laurentian University

Everyone has been working hard to learn the basic principles that control ground thermal regime, ground ice formation, and how permafrost responds to changes in surface conditions. The course was interspersed with hands-on exercises, opportunities for lab work, and assignments  aiming to familiarize students with basic tools for data analyses of ground thermal regimes or back of the envelope estimations of thaw and frost penetration in the ground. The equipment and facilities used were funded by Goodman School of Mines, who have been supporting efforts to develop a training program in permafrost science at Laurentian University.

Left to right: Liam prepares buckets of saturated sand for freezing; Brandon and Chris assemble a frost tube, and Justin prepares small samples of silt and clay for texture analysis.

Each student also worked on a research paper where s/he explored a topic linking their  interests or expertise to an aspect of permafrost. This year’s paper topics included:

  • the state of knowledge and common practices regarding building foundations, railway embankments, and frozen core dams in permafrost terrain;
  • the evolution of different permafrost landforms (pingos, ice wedges polygons, thermokarst lakes, and retrogressive thaw slumps);
  • the impacts of climatic change on permafrost, positive feedbacks, and methane emissions from thawing organics;
  • the state of permafrost knowledge and research in different regions of Canada and the world;
  • traditional knowledge and permafrost science;
  • wildfires and permafrost;
  • the impacts of frost heaving on the placement of artifact in relation to ground stratigraphy;
  • permafrost in political discourse and in the media;
  • risks and opportunities associated with methyl-hydrates;
  • mercury methylation in permafrost environments;
  • the integration of permafrost in the K-12 school curriculum.

Some of these projects, involved the use of GIS, remotely sensed imagery, or numerical modelling. Others included the development of scale models and experiments in the permafrost laboratory. Finally, some of the students from the Education program produced recommendations for the integration of permafrost-related topics in the Ontario K-12 curriculum, which will help train the next generation of Canadian permafrost scientists!

Josh and Emma (left) are launching data loggers to monitor ground surface temperatures and Doug (right) adjusts the water table in his scale model of oriented lakes.

 

 

Life at the permafrost lab, Teaching

Making ice lenses in the research laboratory

Written by pascaleroyleveillee

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Erin has been hard at work, preparing “fake” permafrost cores for students to handle during the new permafrost course to begin in January 2017. The quest for appreciable ice lenses is finally bearing fruit, as Palmarolle clay from the Abitibi Clay
Belt (thanks to Etienne Perrault for shipping a bucket of it our way!) has yielded the best results so far. PVC pipes are filled with clay and are placed over a thick layer of wet sand in our freezer. Everything is carefully insulated to insure that frost penetration occurs from the top down, et… voilà!

Permafrost students of 2017, prepare to assess thaw subsidence potential…

Life at the permafrost lab, Teaching