My High Arctic research continues to evaluate the processes leading to the sustainability of ponds and wetlands across various scales (local to regional) and climatic regimes (polar desert to polar oasis). Since 2007, my students and I have worked at Polar Bear Pass, a large wetland in the middle of Bathurst Island, Nunavut. We now know that not all ponds are created equal. Depending on their location in the landscape, linkages with other water sources, and substrate type, ponds, including wet meadows can respond quite differently to extended dry periods or extreme rainfall events. This is an important finding as we consider how northern wetlands will respond to future mining and oil & gas development here, including global warming. Much more work is still required to better understand runoff processes and storage changes in our High Arctic wetlands. In 2014-2015, considerable emphasis will be placed on evaluating groundwater flow and watershed runoff at Polar Bear Pass. This research is supported by NCE-ArcticNet: Sub-projects No. 2.1-Freshwater Resources of the Eastern Canadian Arctic (P.I.: Warwick Vincent, Laval U); No. 1.3-High Arctic hydrological, Landscape and Ecosystem Responses to Climate Change (co P.Is: Scott Lamoureux, Melissa Lafreniere, Queen’s University).

In the future, we plan to extend our hydrologic research to Iceland-the Land of Ice and Fire!