NWT RESEARCH DATABASE

Regions: Inuvialuit Settlement Region

Tags: physical sciences, arctic lakes, climate change, paleoenvironment, ocean physics, deglaciation

Objective(s): The research team intends to develop a high-resolution paleoenvironmental record based on lake sediments from up to six lakes in the Richardson Mountains and the Melville Hills in the NWT, to identify the magnitude and impact of hemispheric Late Glacial and Holocene climatic forcings. This region should have been one of the first to have been deglaciated following the last glaciation, and therefore the lakes may contain records 15,000 years in length or longer. This work will increase our understanding of the effects of North Atlantic and Arctic Ocean circulation on Arctic climate during the last 15,000 years and will potentially provide a link between records from the Yukon and Greenland ice sheet.

Project Description: The research will require fieldwork in the Richardson Mountains between 27 April and 8 May, 2001. Research will involve the development of a high-resolution paleoenvironmental record based on lake sediments from up to six lakes in the Richardson Mountains and the Melville Hills in the NWT. Transportation in the field for the Dempster Highway study will be by snowmobile and snowshoes. If snow cover is insufficient, transport will be by foot. Transportation in the field for the Melville Hills study will be by helicopter and on foot. The lake sediments will be accessed by use of an ice auger. Sediment coring will be carried out using a vibacorer powered by a 5.5 h.p. gasoline engine. Once collected, the sediment cores will be returned to the laboratory for detailed analysis. This work will increase our understanding of the effects of the North Atlantic and Arctic Ocean circulation on Arctic climate during the last 15,000 years and will potentially provide a link between records from the Yukon and Greenland ice sheet.