Thermokarst landscape hydrology and paleohydrology

热岩溶景观水文学和古水文学

• 批准号: 391558-2012
• 负责人: Wolfe, Brent
• 金额: $ 1.09万
• 依托单位: Wilfrid Laurier University
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Discovery Grants Program - Northern Research Supplement
• 财政年份: 2015
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2015-01-01 至 2016-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=573052
• 关键词: Thermokarst; landscape; hydrology; paleohydrology

The impact of climate change and variability on water resources is a pressing issue for northern freshwater landscapes in Canada. Water in these regions plays a central role in maintaining the ecological integrity of ecosystems, economic development and prosperity, and traditional use of the land and its resources by indigenous communities. Thermokarst landscapes are particularly vulnerable to climate change. Wapusk National Park (WNP) is located on the southwest coast of Hudson Bay on the Hudson Bay Lowlands (HBL) and thermokarst processes have contributed to creating over 10,000 shallow lakes, which provide key habitat for large populations of waterfowl and other wildlife. WNP was established in 1996 to protect a representative area of the HBL, yet little is known about the hydrology of these freshwater basins, how they have responded to climate change and variability in the past, and how they will evolve in the future. In this region, projected warming by the late 21st century is intense. Lakes in WNP typically are <1 m deep and therefore are susceptible to becoming ephemeral, which would have associated ecological consequences. Lack of baseline hydrological information impedes assessment of the future availability of water resources in the HBL. To address this knowledge gap, hydrological processes that control contemporary lake water balances across the boreal forest - arctic tundra landscape of WNP will be identified using water isotope tracers, and hydrological variability over decadal to centennial time-scales will be characterized from multi-proxy analysis of lake sediment cores. Findings will generate new knowledge of the hydrological behaviour of lakes in WNP and provide the basis to anticipate how the hydrology of this vast northern wetland ecosystem will respond to ongoing climate change and variability. Research will be conducted in partnership with Parks Canada and the Churchill Northern Studies Centre, and will provide exceptional training opportunities for students in the field of northern hydrology. Funding from the NSERC NRS program will be used to offset costs to charter a helicopter, which is essential to conduct the sampling in this remote northern location.

气候变化和变率对水资源的影响是加拿大北部淡水景观的一个紧迫问题。这些地区的水在维持生态系统的生态完整性、经济发展和繁荣以及土著社区对土地及其资源的传统利用方面发挥着核心作用。热岩溶景观特别容易受到气候变化的影响。瓦普斯克国家公园（WNP）位于哈德逊湾低地（HBL）的哈德逊湾西南海岸，热岩溶作用创造了1万多个浅湖，为大量水禽和其他野生动物提供了重要的栖息地。WNP于1996年建立，旨在保护HBL的一个代表性区域，但人们对这些淡水盆地的水文、它们过去如何应对气候变化和变率以及它们未来将如何演变知之甚少。在这个地区，预计到21世纪后期的变暖是强烈的。WNP中的湖泊通常深度小于1米，因此容易变得短暂，这将产生相关的生态后果。缺乏基线水文信息阻碍了对HBL未来水资源可用性的评估。