Mackenzie Delta river-ice breakup

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Freshwater ice is an integral component of northern rivers and an important modifier of related biological, chemical and physical processes. Although many concerns have been expressed about the potential impacts of climate change on ice-covered systems, our knowledge base remains relatively weak thereby making it difficult to predict the nature and magnitude of the effects of a changing climate on ice-covered systems. Moreover, even basic information on river-ice systems in northern Canada has been a problem for proper assessment of the potential environmental impact of development, including oil and gas development along the Mackenzie River and most recently directly within the Mackenzie River Delta. Although river-ice breakup is known to create the dominant hydrologic event of the year in the Delta and is essential to its ecological health, there is a lack of information about how variations in climate have controlled the timing, severity and intra-delta spatial dimensions of such events. Moreover, little is know what effects future climate will produce.