Base de données de recherche des TNO

Régions: Dehcho Region, North Slave Region, South Slave Region

étiquettes: satellite imagery, boreal forests, satellite data

Objectif(s): To improve understanding of the controls and impacts of a changing climate on the vulnerability and resiliency of boreal-taiga ecosystems to wildfire, addressed through field sampling and process-based ecological and hydrological modeling of the 2014-2016 wildfires of southern NWT.

Description du projet: This licence has been issued for the scientific research application No. 5972. The overall goal of the proposed research is to improve understanding of the controls and impacts of a changing climate on the vulnerability and resiliency of boreal-taiga ecosystems to wildfire. This is being addressed through field sampling and process-based ecological and hydrological modeling of the 2014-2016 wildfires of southern NWT. To conduct the proposed research, the team will address two main objectives: Objective 1: Develop and refine algorithms for biomass and soil moisture retrieval from NWT boreal ecosystems using NASA's L-band airborne radar and develop a time series of products mapping pre- and post-fire seasonal moisture at the field scale (5-30 m resolution); and Objective 2: Use the field and remote sensing data products of the Phase 1 & 2 ABoVE projects and Objective 1 as the basis to calibrate and validate ecosystem, hydrology and fire effects models for lowlands (peatlands) and uplands to improve our understanding of the interactions of wildfire and hydrology on Carbon emissions, post-fire successional trends, and to conduct projections based on expected future climate scenarios. Field crews will navigate to pre-selected sample locations (100 x 100 m sites) that were established under the previous 2 grants studying the 2014 wildfires. At each location we will collect: Soil moisture coincident to satellite and airborne radar collections (using handheld hydrosense probe); Revegetation (regrowing species composition, percent cover of different species, counts of seedlings/sprouting individuals, etc.) Active layer depth (depth to frozen ground - sampled with a thin probe) Peat depth (sampled with a thin probe) Soil temperature (measured with a probe) Photographs and GPS location Biophysical data (tree heights and diameters). All materials will be removed, as there are no permanent plots being established, and no long term instrumentation or infrastructure being left at any location. We rely on the GPS units to return to previously sampled locations The team will continue to have one on one discussions with individuals and communities, providing one-page informational sheets, and having interested individuals go into the field with us. The staff of MTRI have attended the community workshops focused on the extreme droughts and wildfire of 2014 and 2023 held in 2015, 2019 (in person) and the most recent in April 2024 (remotely). MTRI has also worked with local government and research groups to organize collaborative summer data collection to create a comprehensive understanding of these burned areas. Workshop/project partners include: The Government of the Northwest Territories, Wilfrid Laurier University, University of Guelph, Thompson Rivers University and Canadian Forest Service. In the US, partners include University of Massachusetts Amherst, National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) The fieldwork for this study will be conducted from: August 10 - August 30, 2024