Scientists scour Iqaluit for permafrost melt

Researchers are scouring the dirt below Iqaluit’s collective feet and measuring permafrost there to see how climate change is affecting Nunavut’s capital city.

Iqaluit is one of seven communities in Nunavut where scientists from Natural Resources Canada and Laval University are looking at how climate change has affected the Arctic.

Their findings will guide plans on how these communities can safely expand in the future as permafrost, which has remained frozen for centuries, becomes unstable.

That’s why the researchers have been drilling holes around Iqaluit and leaving sensors behind to reveal exactly how quickly the terrain is warming up.

Geologists will also take core samples to determine exactly what kind of earth lies underneath each site.

“Sand and clay, these different units will have different amounts of ice in them,” said project leader David Mate.

The trouble is, when this ice melts, buildings can buckle and crumble.

The temperature sensors going into the ground around Iqaluit should ideally remain in place for decades, collecting temperature readings over a long period of time.

Mate has also been gathering as many reports as he can from developers who must test permafrost conditions before building.

The information collected by the sensors and soil samples will eventually go to municipal staff so they can incorporate it into their next round of planning and zoning.

Iqaluit, Cambridge Bay, Kugluktuk, Arviat and Whale Cove must all write municipal plans and zoning bylaws to handle expansion over the next few years.

So researchers with the federal government visited these communities this summer and last.

With the climate of the Arctic changing more rapidly than anywhere else in Canada, permafrost that has remained frozen for centuries is now becoming unstable around the Arctic.

Clyde River and Hall Beach were the first two pilot communities, Mate said.

“In Hall Beach, the erosion of the shoreline is one of the primary climate change impacts identified by the community,” reads the Hall Beach Climate Change Adaptation Action Plan, completed in 2008.

To fix that, the plan recommends monitoring programs to record major storms and high waves, changes to sea ice, plus no more community expansion near the coast, and feasibilities studies into expanding the community westward or even relocating it to Igloolik.

Hall Beach and Clyde River also reported other problems, such as power line poles that tip in high winds because the permafrost that anchors them isn’t as strong as it once was.

The Clyde River plan outlines issues and solutions for the hamlet, the Hunters and Trappers Association, the Ittaq Heritage and Research Centre and other organizations to carry out.

One suggested solution asks the health centre to maintain a supply of anti-toxin to treat botulism from rotten meat, which is likely when food caches buried in permafrost get warmer.