Grant: Discovery Grants Program - Individual

Arctic and subarctic landscapes are undergoing the most intense responses to climate change. Gradual transitions include shrub vegetation growth (or greening), and surface water accumulation following subsidence of ice-rich permafrost. Much more abrupt disturbances include active layer detachments and subsequent thaw slumping (landslides), catastrophic lake drainage, and fire. Gradual and abrupt changes are widespread and have major implications for nutrient cycling, downstream aquatic environments, wildlife habitat, and climate change feedbacks, however, we are uncertain of the extent to which these regions will experience change and the magnitude of their impacts. We have established an important northern climate-change research node in Old Crow Flats (OCF), Yukon where these changes are occurring. Key findings generated here during the past 15 years indicate that this landscape is in a state of transition. There has been notable greening, increases in lake drainage frequency, fire, large thaw slumping, and an increase in wetness across the landscape as summers lengthen and shoulder season rainfall increases. This has raised concerns for the Vuntut Gwitchin First Nation who, based on their knowledge and observations, declared a climate change state of emergency across their traditional territory in 2019. Innovative research techniques must continue to be implemented to monitor landscape change and drivers, and the associated impacts on the downstream environments that represent the ecological and cultural foundation of this important region. The next phase of research will engage many academic and community based HQP as we integrate high-resolution remote sensing products, terrestrial ground (active layer and permafrost) measurements, and lake and river water and sediment biogeochemical analyses to provide the holistic insight required to effectively anticipate future landscape responses to climate change. For landscape change including thermokarst (i.e., thaw slumps, surface water accumulation, and lake expansion and drainage), and vegetation (i.e., shrub growth and fire), we will be identifying 1) the magnitude and rate of change over time, and 2) impacts on downstream lake and river water and sediment properties, and 3) locations susceptible to future change and implications for water resources. This research program will refine our knowledge of relations among climate, and terrestrial and aquatic environments, and use it for widespread predictions of how sensitive permafrost landscapes will respond to future climate change. My ongoing research program represents a bridge among academic, local community, and US and Canadian government partners who aim to identify how climate change is impacting permafrost environments. Our model for conducting research in northwestern Yukon continues to address knowledge gaps associated with the climate crisis and effectively includes the people in the research process, for whom the results mean the most.