PERMAFROST SCIENCE IN THE CANADIAN ARCTIC
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My arctic research began as a doctoral candidate at Queen's University under the supervision of Dr. Robert Gilbert. While at Queen's I examined the physical, thermal, and geochemical characteristics of ground ice near municipal water storage facilities on Baffin Island in arctic Canada. My publications on this work use ice wedge characteristics to reconstruct Holocene environmental change as well as to evaluate the importance of subsurface cavities in destabilizing ice-rich permafrost. Also, I have recently published two papers in the 7th international permafrost conference proceedings. These papers use cryostratigraphic and stable isotopic data to test hypotheses of ground ice origin, as well as analyzing ground temperature data to evaluate the extent to which reservoir construction has modified ground thermal regimes. 

Abstracts for these papers are given below. 
 
 
 

Ground Thermal Regimes at a Large Earthwork Reservoir on Baffin Island, Nunavut, Canada. 

Seasonal and mean annual ground temperature (MAGT) trends (1988-1991) are described for undisturbed, disturbed, and embankment sites to depths of 15 m at a large earthwork reservoir on southeastern Baffin Island. At sites away from the reservoir undisturbed and disturbed MAGT are similar, follow trends in air temperature, and indicate that climate has a greater influence on ground temperature than does thermal disturbance caused by land clearing. MAGT near the reservoir are warmest close to the high water line, and are cooler beneath a heated pumphouse, and under the crest of the embankment. Despite having the warmest absolute temperatures, water-side probes show the greatest and most rapid rates of cooling. This is attributed to the combination of climatically driven cooling trends and declining water levels in the reservoir. The validity of this hypothesis is confirmed by analytical models of temperature next to the water body. 

Reference: Hyatt, J. A. 1998.  In: A. G. Lewkowicz and Allard, M. (editors), Proceedings, Seventh International Conference on Permafrost, Yellowknife, 23-27 June 1998, Universite Laval, Collection Nordicana no. 57, p. 479-486.