NWT RESEARCH DATABASE

Tags: physical sciences, vegetation, carbon fluxes, methane, tundra ecosystems, climate monitoring

Objective(s): To increase the knowledge of how tundra environments interact with the atmosphere and predict how changing tundra vegetation will affect future climates.

Project Description: The overall goal of this project is to increase the knowledge of how tundra environments interact with the atmosphere and predict how changing tundra vegetation will affect future climates. Tundra ecosystems exchange energy, water and carbon gases with the atmosphere, which are important elements of the climate system. As tundra vegetation reorganizes in response to global warming, these exchange will be altered and affect the rate and extent of warming. The research is based around 4 semi-permanent flux tower sites, having been previously established in 2004, 2006, 2008 and 2010. These sites represent four tundra types common in the Daring Lake region: sedge meadow, heath upland tundra, low shrub and tall shrub. At each site the research team have a semi-permanent tower (3-4 m high) outfitted with equipment to monitor meteorological variables (e.g., temperature, humidity and wind speed), energy fluxes of heat and water, and carbon dioxide exchange. Two of the towers (meadow and heath) also have equipment that measures methane exchange. At each tower the team also measure soil temperature and soil water status. The measurement form this equipment are logged on data loggers and retrieved for later computer analysis. In addition to these continuous measurements, the research team make weekly observations of snow depth, soil thaw and vegetation leaf cover whenever there are researchers in the field. On occasion, additional experiments are conducted to spot measure water and carbon exchange at the leaf and /or soil levels by chambers. The research team work out of the Daring Lake Tundra Ecology Research Station (TERS). Each year TERS, in collaboration with the researchers, hires local students/youth from Yellowknife to work as research assistants. These people are involved with data collection in our research program. The research team engage with northerners by making public presentation of the research in Yellowknife when requested (e.g., Ecology North) and frequently make presentation to the host GNWT agency, Wildlife Division of Environment and Natural Resources. The research team will participate in local conferences in Yellowknife as they arise. The fieldwork for this study will be conducted from April 26, 2019 to August 31, 2019.