Marks first attempt to formally share knowledge on hydrology-ocean interactions

The 17^th Northern Research Basins (NRB) Symposium and Workshop will be held aboard the Lyubov Orlova expedition ship as it travels from Iqaluit to Pangnirtung and then to Kuujjuaq in the Eastern Canadian Arctic from August 12 to 18, 2009. 

Sixty leading Arctic hydrologists, oceanographers and climatologists from every circumpolar nation will share their latest research with each other and with the northern communities they visit.

Young, a professor in the Department of Geography at York’s Faculty of Liberal Arts and Professional Studies, is the chief organizer for the host country, Canada.  This is the third time since 1975 that Canada has hosted the symposium. 

Both climate change and increased human activity in Arctic regions have made estimating water budgets, water chemistry and hydrological modeling difficult, leading to uncertainty for scientists, policy-makers, water managers and northern residents.

“This is also the first time terrestrial hydrologists and oceanographers have officially come together for the purpose of sharing what they know,” Young said.  

Participants at the NRB conference in northern Russia two years ago determined an urgent need for hydrologists and oceanographers to begin working together. Hydrologists, who study inland water systems, have noticed that diminishing sea ice has resulted in more open water and, with it, more fog, rain and snow and more storms. They wondered what impact the disappearing sea ice was having on water loss into the atmosphere and on runoff into rivers, lakes and oceans.

Conference participants will also discuss a range of other issues, including:

• The need to monitor runoff from the rapidly melting Greenland Ice Sheet
• The economic implications of changing times of freezing and ice break up on northern lakes
• The importance of estimating runoff correctly in unmonitored basins before the design of stream crossings for oil and gas lines
• The interaction between terrestrial hydrology and oceans in arctic coastal environments

A highlight of the trip will be a public meeting between scientists and residents of Pangnirtung who have expressed interest in getting expert opinions on the flash flood triggered by heavy rain on snowmelt that hit the village last year. In minutes, the storm tore out two bridges, leaving half the village stranded and without power, and carved a channel through permafrost right down to the bedrock. The volume of water overwhelmed the sewage plant which overflowed and contaminated the pristine Pangnirtung Fiord, home to Beluga and narwhal whales.

“We are looking forward to meeting the elders and residents of Pangnirtung to learn more about how their environment is changing and to discuss our latest research with them,” Young said.

For more information, visit the symposium Web site.

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For further information, please contact:

Killeen Kelly, Media Relations, York University, 416-736-2100 x22938 / killeenk@yorku.ca