NWT RESEARCH DATABASE

Regions: Inuvialuit Settlement Region, Gwich'in Settlement Area

Tags: physical sciences, water quality, climate change, ecosystem impacts, vegetation monitoring

Objective(s): To use remote sensing (Landsat, QuickBird, InSAR, Airphotos, and Remotely Piloted Aerial Systems (RPAS)) to document regional landscape change (tundra fire, infrastructure, saline flooding, slumps, subsidence, vegetation change, lake drainage / expansion, etc.). 2) Use field sampling and monitoring to determine the causes and impacts of regional changes in vegetation and permafrost.

Project Description: This licence has been issued for the scientific research application No. 5594. The main goal is to use remote sensing (Landsat, QuickBird, InSAR, Airphotos, and Remotely Piloted Aerial Systems (RPAS)) to document regional landscape change (tundra fire, infrastructure, saline flooding, slumps, subsidence, vegetation change, lake drainage / expansion, etc.). 2) Use field sampling and monitoring to determine the causes and impacts of regional changes in vegetation and permafrost. To quantify landscape change across a range of spatial scales since the 1980s the research team are using a combination of moderate and high resolution satellite images, aerial photos, and helicopter imagery. The research team also conduct low-altitude (<300 ft) multicopter RPAS surveys over small areas (1-10 ha). These surveys are in full compliance with Transport Canada’s regulations and permitting for operating an RPAS. The team are using this information to map the rate, extent, and location of landscape change across the Beaufort Delta Region and to predict areas that are likely to be most sensitive to change in the future. To identify the drivers of observed changes the team will also use statistical analyses to compare our maps of landscape change with biophysical data from a variety of sources. Objective 2) Use plot-based monitoring and intensive field surveys to determine the causes and impacts of regional changes in vegetation and permafrost. Over the past 10 years the team have established a network of sites (disturbed and undisturbed) that they are using to monitor vegetation, permafrost, soils, and water quality. Specifically, the research team are using plot or transect based methods and instruments attached to data loggers to measure vegetation (composition, structure, and population structure), soils (pH, moisture, and nutrient availability), permafrost (thaw depth and ground temperature), and snow (late-winter depth and snow water equivalent). Over the next five years, the research will continue to visit these sites to monitor change. In 2023, the fieldwork will focus on three research projects. The first project will examine the environmental factors associated with northern vegetation dynamics in the Richardson Mountains, Yukon North Slope, and the Dempster and Inuvik-Tuktoyaktuk highway corridors. The second project will explore the impacts of retrogressive thaw slumping on ground thermal regime, vegetation structure and soil carbon capture in the Tuktoyaktuk Coastlands. The third project will explore the effects of tundra fire severity and return interval on vegetation structure, biomass, soil carbon storage, and ground thermal regime. Fieldwork for these projects involves measuring vegetation structure and composition (height, stem density, and percent cover), and a suite of abiotic variables (thaw depth, soil chemistry, gravimetric moisture, etc.) at field sites across the Tuktoyaktuk Coastlands and Richardson Mountains, and at sites along the Dempster / Inuvik-Tuktoyaktuk highway corridors. Vegetation height, green vegetation fraction, and terrain characteristics (slope, potential soil moisture, etc.) will also be measured at the landscape scale (0.5 km2) using RPAS imagery. Soils will be characterized by collecting soil samples with manual soil augers and CO2 and CH4 fluxes will be measured using static chambers. Aboveground biomass will be measured using 1m2 clip plots to collect and weight aboveground vegetation. The research team will continue to provide periodic presentations (in person or via zoom) at the regular meetings of regional co-management organizations (Inuvialuit Game COuncil, Hunters and Trappers Committees, Renewable Resource Councils, Gwich’in Renewable Resource Board, Fisheries Joint Management Committee). When possible the team will arrange to make presentations at northern scientific meetings (CIMP Results workshops, Inuvialuit Research Days, Gwich’in Water Summit etc.) and present as part of the speakers series at the Western Arctic Research Centre. The fieldwork for this study will be conducted from June 30, 2023 to December 31, 2023.