climatic variability, northern labrador, and tundra ecosystems
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Climatic variability, Northern Labrador, and
tundra ecosystems
Sarah Chan
Dept. of Geography
CiCATClimate impacts on Canadian Arctic Tundra
OBJECTIVE: To assess the past, present and future impacts of climate changes on arctic tundra ecosystems in Canada and the consequences of changes in tundra systems for northern communities, Canada and the globe.
Nakvak Brook
Research Objectives
• Climatology of Northern Labrador– Data interpolation from network of climate stations in
Northern Labrador and Quebec– Regional climate downscaling from GCMs: to increase
the spatial resolution of climate modeling – How consistent are seasonal trends over
annual/decadal time scales?
• TMNP research site climatology– For descriptive purposes, and for baseline data for long-
term monitoring
Research Objectives
• Linking the climate to the ecosystem= bioclimatology
– Active layer/permafrost and soil: how will the ground temperature respond to changes in air temperature?
– Can we detect changes in growing season length?
– What will the effects of changes in precipitation patterns have on the ecosystem?
2007 Field Season:Mealy Mtns
2007 Field Season:Torngats
• Climate station set-up• Snowstick network• Ground temperature loggers• OTC mission
Data & Outcomes
• Environment Canada– Data mining for past climate records
• NCAR-NCEP reanalysis project (historical atmospheric data)
• 4 days worth of climatic data from TMNP– Air temperature, ground temp., solar radiation,
wind direction/speed– Here’s hoping for a few more days of data upon
return…
Challenges• Anomalous atmospheric patterns
– Wind and precipitation?
– NAO signal; atypical 2007-8 conditions?
• Climate station destruction by a bear…
• Torngats precip gauge?
2008…
• Mealys?
• Torngats– Climate station: collect data, maintenance,
reposition station?– Gridded permafrost probing?– Collect data from mini ground temperature loggers
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