Winterized hovercraft: a necessary sampling platform to study lakes in a changing climate.

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The most consistent signal of climate change is reduced ice-cover on lakes. Such changes in ice cover are altering physical and ecosystem elements of Canadian lakes, with serious implications for water quality and the food chain. Reductions in ice thickness makes winter limnology increasingly urgent, but also increase the dangers of this research. Winter and the transition seasons are the least-studied aspect of lakes because of the logistical challenges of working on thin ice. Some researchers use icebreakers or helicopters to collect under-ice samples, but these are expensive solutions only possible on larger lakes. We propose to address this problem by using a winterized hovercraft as a sampling platform. The proposed hovercraft will provide a safe platform to probe physical, ecological, and biological systems uniquely vulnerable to the warming climate. The requested Air Rider hovercraft represents a novel, cost-efficient sampling platform that can overcome logistical barriers to permit data collection during the most scientifically-relevant and technically-challenging times of the year. Currently, we can only reach, drill, and collect under-ice samples from lakes in Southern Ontario by skidoo for at most 6 weeks out of the 6 months when boats cannot be used. The skidoo sampling period is unpredictable, complicating fieldwork. Furthermore, sampling is not possible during the seasonal transition-times critical to the survival of many fish species and ultimate determinants of water quality. We need to understand how changing light levels and ice conditions control the thermal stratification, alter under-ice circulation, and determine changes in plankton and dissolved oxygen levels over winter. Together, these variables have substantial ecological and economic impact, affecting the survival of fish in late winter and determining the water quality the following summer. The winterized hovercraft will enable our multidisciplinary team of experts (Wells, McMeans, Brown) to link key physical, environmental and biological sampling approaches. Our external collaborator, Dr Mark Ridgway, is director of the Harkness Laboratory of Fisheries Research in the Algonquin Park, where the hovercraft will be based. His lab has winterized accommodation and technical support to deploy and maintain the vessel. The hovercraft sampling platform is essential for HQP training and will be immediately used by multiple PhD students across the 3 research groups. In our NSERC Alliance project, we have also proactively allocated funds to hire HQP from the Ontario Algonquin First Nations community. The proposed research will allow ~ 50 trainees to gain skills and experience that will translate into future career opportunities. The requested winterized hovercraft sampling platform will give all participants safe access to physical and biological samples otherwise impossible to collect, enhancing interdisciplinary learning, and permitting crucial winter limnology research.