Subsea and terrestrial permafrost of the central and eastern Canadian Arctic Archipelago

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Permafrost affects about 22% of the exposed land area of the northern hemisphere. Climate warming has led to an increase in surface temperatures at northern latitudes and this warming occurred at a faster rate (Arctic amplification) than elsewhere on the planet. Consequently, permafrost has been degrading at the global scale in the northern hemisphere. Permafrost degradation drives major landscape and ecological changes, and adversely impacts Arctic communities, the water cycle, Green House Gases emissions, geological resources, and the stability of infrastructure. The geomorphological response of permafrost to warming rests essentially on the stability of ground ice, which can be seen as the backbone of northern biogeosystems. However, the lack of knowledge on ground ice, permafrost properties, and permafrost temperatures for the eastern Canadian Arctic Archipelago considerably reduces the accuracy of numerical simulations of terrestrial and subsea permafrost's response to climate change. My long-term research program addresses the transient response of Canadian northern biogeosystems to past and on-going climate changes through time. During the next phase of my research program, I intend to focus my work on the permafrost of the Canadian High Arctic. Collectively the research projects of this proposal will produce a global estimate of near-surface ground ice content for the eastern Canadian Arctic polar desert and Arctic tundra along a 2000-km latitudinal gradient. The research will significantly improve knowledge on subsea permafrost extent in Canada as well as permafrost properties of the central and eastern Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Datasets from this research will be used to improve the accuracy of the Ground Ice Map of Canada in collaboration with the Geological survey of Canada, and to simulate the response of Canadian permafrost to future climate change using the CLASSIC land system model during the NSERC PermafrostNet program. The result of the research will be useful for coupled land system models to improve the simulations of subsea and terrestrial permafrost at the circumpolar scale by providing new and reliable permafrost data. Ultimately, the outcome of this phase of my research program will contribute to a better evaluation of the potential trajectory of Canadian permafrost biogeosystems and of their role in the global climate system. The results and conclusion from this research program will help eastern Nunavut communities, the territorial and federal governments, and the industry to develop strategies to adapt to climate and environmental changes that will affect the permafrost landscape, the water and carbon cycles, the extraction of natural resources and infrastructure of northern Canada.