Base de données de recherche des TNO

étiquettes: physical sciences, water quality, hydrology, remote sensing, lake sediment

Objectif(s): To add information that will help northern communities, scientists and decision makers answer questions about water quality and changes to rivers and lakes within the NWT.

Description du projet: The results of this project will add information that will help northern communities, scientists and decision makers answer questions about water quality and changes to rivers and lakes within the NWT. The information generated from this project will provide both baseline and long term water indicator measures for the Slave River, Great Slave Lake (GSL), and the Mackenzie River, which are three of the major waterways within the Territories. The project builds on past work and sampling within the Slave River and Delta (SR&D), and will specifically aim to meet the following objectives: 1) to improve the current EO (Earth Observation) SSC (suspended sediment concentration) model for the SR&D; 2) to increase the data potential and revisit frequency of the SSC model by integrating the Sentinel-2 mission data into the current data stream; 3) to continue to engage communities along the SR&D by promoting use of the SSC and temperature data through the web-portal, and by community involvement in the sampling campaign; 4) to analyze the 10+ years of SSC and temperature archive over the SR&D to derive trends and potential causes to changes noted by traditional knowledge within the community; 5) to start sampling in GSL and the Mackenzie River to extend the SSC and water temperature data to these areas as well, using Sentinel-2, Landsat and Sentinel-3 data for GSL; and, 6) to add chlorophyll measures to GSL, as these are indicative of cyanobacteria and can be linked to health issues. The resulting information from both EO and from the community sampling to achieve these results will then be accessible to communities, scientists, and government decision makers through web-services such as the Mackenzie Data Stream, and the current C-CORE water quality site. The EO layers will also be served as web-map server layers that the GNWT Geomatics Centre will be able to integrate into their database of GIS and data archives. The study will focus the SR&D, GSL and the Mackenzie River. The sampling and model development over each of these water bodies will take place in a phased approach starting in the south along the Slave River, and progressing north as the project is executed. Sampling by community representatives will take place in a similar fashion, with currently identified sampling groups sampling in year 1 for validation purposes, and other communities further north sampling as early as year 2 to achieve similar information confidence and accuracy. Additional sampling will be done in year 3 to achieve sufficient samples to validate and confirm the model accuracy, while also raising awareness about the products and accessibility for both communities and the GNWT. The activities planned for the project can be summarized by year as follows: Year 1: a) SSC sample collection in the SR&D regions, concurrent with satellite acquisitions; b) completing validation of the SSC model for this region; c) design and release a version of the 10-year archive for this region, open to community feedback; d) update map access point and enable Web Map Service (WMS)layer accessible to NWT archives; e) hold discussions with communities along GSL and the Mackenzie River to define potential data sampling teams; f) if possible, start sampling in these regions; and, g) meet and discuss results and issues at partner meeting and during yearly review meeting. Year 2: a) continue sampling along GSL and the Mackenzie River in defined communities, concurrent with satellite acquisitions; b) final sampling for model testing at Fort Smith and Fort Resolution; c) start implementation and validation of SSC model for GSL and Mackenzie River; d) implementation of chlorophyll and SSC model for GSL; and dddress issues and comments from communities about data access; e) meet and discuss results and issues at partner meeting and during yearly review meeting; and, f) engage both community leaders and GNWT officials to promote use of historical and new information for monitoring purposes. Year 3: a) continue sampling along GSL and the Mackenzie River, concurrent with satellite acquisitions; b) complete validation of SSC model for this region and conduct final validation test to assess accuracy; c) Complete validation of Chlorophyll model and conduct final validation test to assess accuracy; d) update all archives back to 2005 (10-years from start of project); e) modify user interface for access based on user experience; f) complete and make data portal accessible to GNWT and communities; and, g) ensure that GNWT geomatics, NWT communities and officials have access to complete dataset and future datasets and trend analysis conclusions and recommendations. A previous projects focused on the SR&D area, and this project included two sampling locations, where all collection was done for developing a SSC and temperature model. A similar approach would be used on the Mackenzie River, with a northern and southern sampling location preferred. For GSL, previous projects over Lake Winnipeg have required about 100 samples along a SSC gradient spanning 5 miles across the lake. An ideal place to do this would be out of Fort Smith, as the sediment coming out of the SR&D show large variances throughout the ice-off season. The project will deliver formal results on the work through a yearly report in the format proposed by the NWT Cumulative Impact Monitoring Program. A Northern Environment Research Bulletin will also be derived each year and these will be sent to involved communities and potential communities to inform about results and impacts of monitoring. In addition to format results, the project will be delivering all sample data through the Mackenzie DataStream and through a geographic information system (GIS) enabled server. These tools are open to all community members and users for free browsing and analysis of sampling and derived EO results. The fieldwork for this study will be conducted from July 31, 2018 to September 30, 2018.