Multiple Methods for Assessing the Sustainability of Shallow Subarctic Ponds in Churchill Region: Hudson Bay Lowland, Canada
This thesis examines the occurrence of hydrologic variability in subarctic ponds within the Churchill region of the Hudson Bay Lowland (HBL) and investigates the utility of using remote sensing studies to characterize changes in pond surface area. The thesis also characterizes hydro-climatic change...
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University of Waterloo
2011
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ftunivwaterloo:oai:uwspace.uwaterloo.ca:10012/6309 2023-05-15T16:35:25+02:00 Multiple Methods for Assessing the Sustainability of Shallow Subarctic Ponds in Churchill Region: Hudson Bay Lowland, Canada Parrott, Jennifer Alisha 2011 http://hdl.handle.net/10012/6309 en eng University of Waterloo http://hdl.handle.net/10012/6309 Hydrology Subarctic Remote Sensing Open Water Features Geography Master Thesis 2011 ftunivwaterloo 2022-06-18T22:59:16Z This thesis examines the occurrence of hydrologic variability in subarctic ponds within the Churchill region of the Hudson Bay Lowland (HBL) and investigates the utility of using remote sensing studies to characterize changes in pond surface area. The thesis also characterizes hydro-climatic change over the past ~60 years, and compares this to pond sustainability within the region of Churchill. A multiple-methods approach incorporating field research, simple water balance modeling and remote sensing is used to address these objectives. Research findings demonstrate the occurrence of natural fluctuations in pond surface area and water levels in the Canadian subarctic. These fluctuations in pond water levels (and thus surface area) are caused by differences in antecedent hydrologic conditions, which are easily detected using remotely sensed imagery and may produce unrepresentative estimates of pond surface area change. Resulting from a 4.5 - 11.8 cm variation in water depth, pond surface areas were significantly altered by antecedent precipitation (average: 3,711 m²), intra-seasonal variability (average: 2,049 m²) and inter-annual climatic variations (average: 1,977 m²). These noteworthy pond boundary and water level differences reinforce the importance of accounting for hydrologic variability when delineating representative pond coverage and sustainability. Contemporary pond sustainability findings reveal significant regional climatic change, changing pond hydrologic conditions and overall pond physical stability between 1947 and 2008. Specifically, the Churchill region has become warmer and wetter. Occurring at a rate of 1.37 mm/yr over the study period, changing atmospheric conditions caused a decrease in open water pond hydrologic deficits. During the hydrologic recharge period, modeled pond water levels exhibited an increasing trend (August +0.72 mm/yr, September 0.51 mm/yr), which suggests ponds are filling closer to their maximum storage capacity prior to freeze-up. A remote sensing analysis of pond ... Master Thesis Hudson Bay Subarctic University of Waterloo, Canada: Institutional Repository Canada Hudson Hudson Bay |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
University of Waterloo, Canada: Institutional Repository |
op_collection_id |
ftunivwaterloo |
language |
English |
topic |
Hydrology Subarctic Remote Sensing Open Water Features Geography |
spellingShingle |
Hydrology Subarctic Remote Sensing Open Water Features Geography Parrott, Jennifer Alisha Multiple Methods for Assessing the Sustainability of Shallow Subarctic Ponds in Churchill Region: Hudson Bay Lowland, Canada |
topic_facet |
Hydrology Subarctic Remote Sensing Open Water Features Geography |
description |
This thesis examines the occurrence of hydrologic variability in subarctic ponds within the Churchill region of the Hudson Bay Lowland (HBL) and investigates the utility of using remote sensing studies to characterize changes in pond surface area. The thesis also characterizes hydro-climatic change over the past ~60 years, and compares this to pond sustainability within the region of Churchill. A multiple-methods approach incorporating field research, simple water balance modeling and remote sensing is used to address these objectives. Research findings demonstrate the occurrence of natural fluctuations in pond surface area and water levels in the Canadian subarctic. These fluctuations in pond water levels (and thus surface area) are caused by differences in antecedent hydrologic conditions, which are easily detected using remotely sensed imagery and may produce unrepresentative estimates of pond surface area change. Resulting from a 4.5 - 11.8 cm variation in water depth, pond surface areas were significantly altered by antecedent precipitation (average: 3,711 m²), intra-seasonal variability (average: 2,049 m²) and inter-annual climatic variations (average: 1,977 m²). These noteworthy pond boundary and water level differences reinforce the importance of accounting for hydrologic variability when delineating representative pond coverage and sustainability. Contemporary pond sustainability findings reveal significant regional climatic change, changing pond hydrologic conditions and overall pond physical stability between 1947 and 2008. Specifically, the Churchill region has become warmer and wetter. Occurring at a rate of 1.37 mm/yr over the study period, changing atmospheric conditions caused a decrease in open water pond hydrologic deficits. During the hydrologic recharge period, modeled pond water levels exhibited an increasing trend (August +0.72 mm/yr, September 0.51 mm/yr), which suggests ponds are filling closer to their maximum storage capacity prior to freeze-up. A remote sensing analysis of pond ... |
format |
Master Thesis |
author |
Parrott, Jennifer Alisha |
author_facet |
Parrott, Jennifer Alisha |
author_sort |
Parrott, Jennifer Alisha |
title |
Multiple Methods for Assessing the Sustainability of Shallow Subarctic Ponds in Churchill Region: Hudson Bay Lowland, Canada |
title_short |
Multiple Methods for Assessing the Sustainability of Shallow Subarctic Ponds in Churchill Region: Hudson Bay Lowland, Canada |
title_full |
Multiple Methods for Assessing the Sustainability of Shallow Subarctic Ponds in Churchill Region: Hudson Bay Lowland, Canada |
title_fullStr |
Multiple Methods for Assessing the Sustainability of Shallow Subarctic Ponds in Churchill Region: Hudson Bay Lowland, Canada |
title_full_unstemmed |
Multiple Methods for Assessing the Sustainability of Shallow Subarctic Ponds in Churchill Region: Hudson Bay Lowland, Canada |
title_sort |
multiple methods for assessing the sustainability of shallow subarctic ponds in churchill region: hudson bay lowland, canada |
publisher |
University of Waterloo |
publishDate |
2011 |
url |
http://hdl.handle.net/10012/6309 |
geographic |
Canada Hudson Hudson Bay |
geographic_facet |
Canada Hudson Hudson Bay |
genre |
Hudson Bay Subarctic |
genre_facet |
Hudson Bay Subarctic |
op_relation |
http://hdl.handle.net/10012/6309 |
_version_ |
1766025633879556096 |