Grant: Engage Plus Grants Program

Canada's north is particularly susceptible to devastating effects of climate change. From a ground stabilityperspective, climate change will cause permafrost degradation as ground temperatures rise in response to globaltemperatures. Melting permafrost affects all aspects of life in the north including survive-ability, personalmobility, and movement of resources. The Canadian Arctic is one of the most sensitive ecosystems in theworld. Therefore the need to predict and attenuate the effects of climate change on permafrost is paramount forthe future of Canada's north. In order to predict the future, we must first look to the past. GEO-SLOPE Int. isdeveloping new computational capabilities to use climate data as an input for ground temperature computersimulations. A newly acquired ground temperature database from Distant Early Warning (DEW) Line andNorth Warning System (NWS) sites located longitudinally across Canada's arctic is now available. Simulatingpast ground temperatures will develop new computational capabilities, which will then be used to predictclimate change effects on permafrost in Canada's north into the future.