Download Threatened Arctic Lakes: Pressures from

Threatened Arctic Lakes: Pressures from Climate Change and Resource Development
Lindsey Witthaus
Ashley Zung
Department of Environmental Engineering
University of Kansas
Department of Geography
University of Kansas
CONCLUSIONS
BACKGROUND
RESEARCH OBJECTIVES
Lakes are a dominant feature of the arctic landscape in
Northern Canada. There are over 45,000 thermokarst lakes in
the Mackenzie Drainage Basin. Lakes are essential habitats.
They serve as support systems for arctic food webs year-round,
and provide key resources for human communities, such as
freshwater, locations to hunt waterfowl during migratory
seasons and to fish year-round, and navigation routes through
the tundra to hunting camps
1) summarize our current understanding of the mechanisms that drive thermokarst lake drainage by reviewing literature on the topic, from both western
science and indigenous perspectives; 2) analyze the factors that contribute to lake drainage in an area of northwestern Canada and determine the
potential for lake drainage in the region; and 3) evaluate current water resource policies in the Northwest Territories to determine how (or if) lakes and also
traditional ecological knowledge are included in the policies.
Increased temperatures can cause
permafrost melting and an influx of runoff
into thermokarst lakes. The heat flux can
both further thaw surrounding permafrost
around and below the lake, resulting in
larger lake areas and deeper talik. As the
talik develops deeper below the lake it can
eventually reach the groundwater table
and hydraulic potential will cause
subsurface drainage of the lake.
Study Area
Northern Canada
Potential Impacts of Oil and Gas Development
Mechanisms of Lake Drainage
Rising temperature can degrade
permafrost and cause erosion and
slumping of lake edges and stream
channels. As stream channels open from
the lake, rapid drainage can occur.
In order to assess the potential impact of human activity on lake drainage on the Tuktoyaktuk
Peninsula, we focused the proposed Parsons Lake Gas Processing Facility and gathering pipeline.
Assuming a 1 km area around the proposed pipeline route, and that the entire lease area near
Parson’s Lake would be impacted, we estimated that at least 250 lakes in the area would be
directly impacted by construction of the facility. We would expect many more to be impacted
considering the interconnected nature of deranged drainage networks.
The proposed 62,500 square meter gas conditioning
facility north of Parsons Lake includes tanks, pump
houses, living quarters, and a drilling pad. Extraction of
natural gas and oil have caused land subsidence in the
Arctic and warming of excess ground ice, causing
further subsidence. Human constructs alter snow
cover dynamics on the tundra, and construction and
maintenance of the facility would disrupt vegetative
cover further accelerating permafrost thaw, likely
promoting permafrost degradation and lake drainage,
and undoubtedly altering hydrological networks.
Parson’s Lake Study Area
Potential Impacts of Climate Change
In this analysis, we focused on the effect of climate on permafrost degradation which can
lead to thermokarst creation and lateral lake drainage, especially in ice-rich permafrost
zones such as the Tuktoyaktuk Peninsula. Long-term climate data from stations at
Tuktoyaktuk and Inuvik were obtained from Canada’s National Climate Archive at
http://www.climate.meteo.gc.ca/climateData/canada_e.html)
Water Use Policy in the Northwest Territories
•
•
• Rising air temperature, increased snow cover, and negative
precipitation anomalies increase permafrost thaw rates and may
accelerate lake drainage in the Arctic.
• Human alteration of the landscape through vehicular traffic, removal
of vegetation, construction of barriers, and other activities can
further accelerate permafrost degradation and potentially lake
drainage.
• Increasing MAT and MWT and construction of the gathering pipeline
and gas processing facility around Parson’s Lake may significantly
alter subsurface thermal regimes, leading to permafrost
degradation. Possible subsidence and lake drainage of 250 lakes
could significantly alter surface hydrology.
• Observations from northern Canadian indigenous communities
indicate that rapid change is already occurring due to climate change
and development.
• Further lake drainage and alteration of regional hydrology due to
climate change and the Mackenzie Gas Project may be critically
threaten to the livelihoods and culture of people who live there.
• While the Canadian Government may claim that they are powerless
to reverse global climate change and the inevitable changes that will
occur to water resources in First Nations communities, the
Government does have an active role in approving development
projects and natural resource extraction activities within its
territories.
• The impacts of the Mackenzie Gas Project could be significant,
seriously altering water and food resources, seemingly in contrast to
the rights set forth in the Mackenzie Valley Resource Management
Act.
• We have several concluding questions:
1. What will be the consequences of the Mackenzie Valley Project for
the people living downstream of the project (i.e. the people living in
the Inuvialuit Settlement Area)?
2. Will the right to unaltered water quality and quantity be enforced
by the Canadian government?
3. If and when additional changes to water occur – will the Indigenous
voices be heard?
LAKE DRAINAGE IN GREENLAND
Northwest Territories Water Act (1992) is the central water
Catastrophic lake drainage is also a problem in Greenland
Mackenzie Valley Resource Management Act (1998) establishes a co-management
framework for land and water regulations between First Nation Tribes.
In warmer years supraglacial meltwater lakes are 3.5 times more likely
to drain due to fractures in lake bed, which carry water to ice sheet bed
(Liang et al. 2012)
“in relation to waters when on or flowing through their first nation lands or waters
adjacent to their first nation lands, the right to have the quality, quantity and rate of
flow remain substantially unaltered by any person” (Mackenzie Valley Resource
Management Act - S.C. 1998, c. 25 (Section 75)).
Proposed Mackenzie Gas Project
Pipeline and Facilities
•The Tuktoyaktuk Peninsula is located near the mouth of the Mackenzie
River in the Northwest Territories, Canada.
•Arctic tundra here is underlain by the most ice-rich continuous
permafrost in the Canadian Arctic (Lantuit & Pollard 2007).
•Pingos and arctic lakes dot the landscape.
•The Mackenzie Gas Project is a consortium of oil and gas companies,
who have proposed construction of a 1,196 km pipeline system running
through the Northwest Territories from the Arctic Ocean to northern
Alberta (Imperial Oil, Limited 2003).
•The proposed Parsons Lake Gas Conditioning Facility would be built on
the Arctic coastal plain, a landscape dominated by glaciofluvial and
lacustrine sediments and numerous thermokarst lakes.
• Northwest Territories Northern Voices, Northern Waters: Water Stewardship
Strategy integrates traditional knowledge systems into the NWT water management
plans.
MAT and MWT at Tuktoyaktuk increased 4.3 C and 3.7 C,
respectively. Increased MAT and MWT have been
associated with increased permafrost thaw rates in
modeling and observational studies across the Arctic.
There was a lack of long-term data from Inuvik, and we
cannot confidently comment on climatic trends at that
location. MAP from 1974-2007 was 164.7 mm, varying
from 89.1 mm to 248.7 mm. The ten year running average
of MAP confirms that precipitation decreased during the
period of record. Average winter snow cover was 189.5,
ranging from 75 cm in 1985 to 377.7 cm in 1981. Ten year
running averages show snow cover has also decreased.
IPCC global climate projections
Decreased precipitation and snow thickness may retard
anticipate 5°C warming in the arctic
permafrost degradation. Annual precipitation anomaly
by 2080. Increased temperatures
averaged + 4.5 mm from 1974-2007. A positive annual
have the potential to alter
precipitation anomaly could support lake area expansion;
permafrost and regional hydrology
however, high inter-annual variability could still
accelerating lake drainage.
significantly alter surface water hydrology in the region.
Open Channel Partially Drains Lake
William Paul: “Used to be a little water
fall there, it was like a tap, now it’s wide
open. This happened maybe in 2008? It
really fell in.
Interview conducted by Trevor Bennett
September 12, 2010
Slumping and Declining Lake Levels
William Paul (at Wilson’s Camp): “A tree
has fallen in, really changing now.
Really dried out the lake.”
Interview conducted by Trevor Bennett
September 12, 2010.
Images from Inuvialuit Observations
Diagram: University of Chicago
http://geosci.uchicago.edu/research/glaciology_files/meltpond_formation_rese
arch.shtml
Photo: Credit: ©James Balog