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

气候变化最一致的信号是湖泊上的冰盖减少。冰盖的这种变化正在改变加拿大湖泊的物理和生态系统要素，对水质和食物链产生严重影响。冰层厚度的减少使冬季湖泊学变得越来越紧迫，但也增加了这项研究的危险。冬季和过渡季节是湖泊研究最少的方面，因为在薄冰上工作存在后勤挑战。一些研究人员使用破冰船或直升机来采集冰下样本，但这些都是昂贵的解决方案，只有在更大的湖泊上才能实现。我们建议通过使用越冬气垫船作为采样平台来解决这个问题。拟议中的气垫船将提供一个安全的平台，以探测特别容易受到气候变暖影响的物理、生态和生物系统。所要求的Air Rider气垫船代表着一种新颖、经济高效的采样平台，可以克服后勤障碍，在一年中最具科学相关性和技术挑战性的时候收集数据。目前，在不能使用船只的6个月中，我们最多只能通过Skidoo到达、钻探和采集安大略省南部湖泊的冰下样本。Skidoo的采样周期是不可预测的，这使得野外工作变得复杂。此外，在对许多鱼类物种的生存和水质的最终决定因素至关重要的季节性过渡期间，不可能进行采样。我们需要了解不断变化的光照水平和冰层条件如何控制温度层结，改变冰下循环，并确定冬季浮游生物和溶解氧水平的变化。总而言之，这些变量对生态和经济产生了重大影响，影响了鱼类在冬末的生存，并决定了第二年夏天的水质。越冬气垫船将使我们的多学科专家团队(Wells、McMeans、Brown)能够将关键的物理、环境和生物采样方法联系起来。我们的外部合作者Mark Ridgway博士是位于阿尔冈昆公园的哈克尼斯渔业研究实验室的主任，气垫船将驻扎在那里。他的实验室为部署和维护这艘船提供了过冬的住宿和技术支持。气垫船采样平台是HQP培训的关键，将立即被三个研究小组的多名博士生使用。在我们的NSERC联盟项目中，我们还积极拨款从安大略省阿尔冈昆第一民族社区聘请HQP。拟议的研究将使约50名受训人员获得技能和经验，这些技能和经验将转化为未来的职业机会。所要求的冬季气垫船采样平台将使所有参与者能够安全地获取否则无法收集的物理和生物样本，加强跨学科学习，并允许进行关键的冬季湖沼学研究。

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.