NWT RESEARCH DATABASE

Principal Investigator: Murton, Julian B
Licensed Year(s): 1999 1998
Summary: The main objective of the proposed research is to establish the origin of massive bodies of underground ice at three key massive-ice localities in the Mackenzie Delta area: i) Mason Bay area, NE Richards Island; (ii) the central Eskimo Lakes region and (iii) the Liverpool Bay area. The research will be carried out by an interdisciplinary team of scientists examining the geology, glaciology and c...

Principal Investigator: Dyke, Larry
Licensed Year(s): 1998 1997
Summary: Field work this year will be devoted to 1) determining the maximum extent of potassium chloride migration from sumps examined in 1997, 2) examine the Mallik L-38 sump constructed in 1972 as one of the oldest sumps in the Delta, 3) examine the sumps in Parsons Lake area where topographic relief has added the potential for salt migration due to groundwater flow. Sumps along Kumak Channel, near the m...

Principal Investigator: Raillard, Martin
Licensed Year(s): 1998
Summary: This project will take place in Tuktuk Nogait National Park in 1998 and 1999. The objective of the project is to map the vegetation of the park. As many areas of the Park as possible will be hiked and the various vegetation communities along the hiking route will be put into one of several classes, and their exact geographical location recorded. Once the field season is over, these various geograp...

Principal Investigator: Peterson, Rorik
Licensed Year(s): 1998
Summary: The objective of this work is to make physical measurements of the size, shape and distribution of earth hummocks in areas where the 1968 forest fire did not occur. We are developing a mathematical model which predicts hummock size and activity based on soil properties and environmental conditions. Because hummock activity appears to be very sensitive to environmental changes, our model, coupled ...

Principal Investigator: French, Hugh
Licensed Year(s): 1997
Summary: The researcher will be studying the cryostructures which occur in perennially frozen, unconsolidated ice rich sediments. This builds upon earlier work in the Sachs Harbour and Sachs River Lowlands undertaken in the period 1970-1985. Will use boat transportation across the Sachs Harbour Bay and possibly towards Cape Kellett. The 1997 work will be a reconnaissance visit. This work will be continue...

Principal Investigator: Mackay, Ross J.
Licensed Year(s): 1997 1996 1995 1994 1993 1992 1991 1989
Summary: Transportation to and from the field sites will be by helicopter, either from Tuktoyaktuk or Inuvik, to and from Garry Island and Illisarvik (West Point, Richards Island). Most of the equipment used in the field is for measurement purposes , such as surveying equipment for precise height, distance, and tilt determinations of bench marks already installed across ice wedges and elsewhere, temperatu...

Principal Investigator: Burn, Chris R
Licensed Year(s): 1997 1996 1995 1994 1993 1992 1991
Summary: The purpose is to collect samples of ground ice and to measure air, ground and lake temperatures. We use the information to help understand how the permafrost in the area has changed in the last few thousand years, in order to determine what might happen in the future....

Principal Investigator: Wein, Ross
Licensed Year(s): 1994
Summary: Since fire is most wide spread agent of change in the northern forest, society should know how climatic warming will influence the force. The fire history of the Mackenzie Delta Region is known only through fire suppresion records over the past 25 years. Spot checks on the landscape have been made, but no longer record of 5-20 decades is available. Tree ring approaches will be used in this study...

Principal Investigator: Wein, Ross
Licensed Year(s): 1993
Summary: The research team will be examining areas of permafrost south of Inuvik and near Hay River in order to assess the rate of loss of permafrost as a result of the warming in climate over the past twenty years. The loss in permafrost may be speeded up following a local fire. The wetlands that replace these areas of permafrost could lead to a greater production of methane (one of the gases that contr...

Principal Investigator: Vardy, Sheila
Licensed Year(s): 1993 1992
Summary: This research is part of an international project that is aimed at documenting the history of changes in the treeline during the Holocene era. While much is known about the environment and climate of this era, little is known about the development of peatlands during this time. I will collect data on peat layering, pollen and fossils in order to determine how the peatlands developed during this ...