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Northern Infrastructure Standardization Initiative

Infrastructure in the Canadian Arctic is being affected by climate change impacts such as permafrost thaw, coastal erosion, and changing temperatures and precipitation patterns.  With this in mind, the Standards Council of Canada established the Northern Infrastructure Standardization Initiative (NISI), which creates standards that are specific to infrastructure in the north

Phase 1 of NISI (2011-2016) lead to the development of 5 standards including:

Water, mud, and bubbles: Impacts of permafrost degradation on greenhouse gas emissions from Arctic ponds and lakes

Carbon cycle dynamics in response to permafrost degradation is a ‘hot topic’ in northern research. We are particularly interested in greenhouse gases (CO2, CH4) emitted from ‘thermokarst’ aquatic ecosystems, i.e. ponds and lakes formed by the thawing of ice-rich permafrost. Such thawing results in the atmospheric release (as CO2 and CH4) of old carbon formerly trapped frozen in the ground.

Assessing Berries to Monitor Ecological Change: a collaboration with Nunavut Arctic College's Environmental Technology Program

Students of ETP have been contributing to a multidisciplinary study looking at vegetation response in a warming Arctic context, with a focus on berry ecology and productivity of 3 favourite species: Blueberry (Kigutangirnaq/Vaccinium uliginosum), Crowberry (Paurngaq/Empetrum nigrum) and Cranberry (Kimminaq/Vaccinium vitis-idaea). From 2009 to 2013 they have been collecting berries following a scientific protocol in a permanent monitoring plot near their fall camp location at Peterhead Inlet, near Iqaluit.

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